quick flex

[72k5mike]

I know youre all reading "quick flex" and thinking "not again" but:

I have a trip coming up within the next 2 weeks and I am looking to get a little more flex up front. I have 63" springs in the back already and they are great!, but they leave a little to be desired up front. As it sits now, I have the TC EZ rides up front with the two lower leaves removed, 6" shackles and 14" bilsteins.

I am planning on a coil/radius arm setup this winter, but its not gunna happen before my next wheeling trip.

I was thinking of taking XJ springs and fixing the longer end to the frame, and putting a shackle between the front spring hanger and the front eye of the spring. I have some leaves from a rear pack at home that I can stiffen them up if need be. Pretty much I would be doing a shackle reversal (like the ford setups). I would not do much road driving at all as I am probably going to trailer the truck to the trails.

What do you guys think? Its just to get my by this time.

 

[dhcomp]

Do it right the first time. A homebrew, custom, never before tried setup isn't the way to go in a pinch.

 

[MTBLAZER89]

What is wrong with your current setup? I imagine the TC ex rides flex well combined with 63's out back its not like you are driving a rig with 12" lift springs

I don't understand. You want to put XJ springs up front and move the shackle to the front of the spring?

How long are XJ springs? How wide are they?

Why do you want the shackle up front? There is a reason the Jeep guys reverse them.

I would say for a quick mod that would net some downtravel is move the shackle hangar forward like the 52" swap. This should give you a better shackle angle than the stock spot with lift springs. Make sure you check things like brake lines, shocks, driveshaft with any additional droop you gain.

 

[blazinzuk]

So what you are proposing sounds like a buggy leaf setup but on the front of the leaf spring?

If I am understanding this right. If that is in fact what you are thinking, the axle will just flop all over the place you won't even be able to drive or even move it

How about drilling out the rivets on your shackle hanger and moving it forward so the shackle angle is better than just straight up and down. That will help flex a ton in the front. Shouldn't take more than a day to do either.

 

[MTBLAZER89]

How about drilling out the rivets on your shackle hanger and moving it forward so the shackle angle is better than just straight up and down. That will help flex a ton in the front. Shouldn't take more than a day to do either.

Hey isn't that what I just said

 

[72k5mike]

haha, no not a buggy leaf. picture swapping xj springs in the front with the long side rearward (springs are 23"/28-5/8" for a total of 51.5ish and 2-1/2" wide). instead of relocating the front hanger fwd 1", i was thinking of using the front hanger as a shackle mount and putting the spring hanger on the bottom of the frame. this would be like the ford/jeep/zuk factory front leafspring/shackle arrangement.

Like everyone else, i was questioning my TC EZrides, until I found a thread on here that stated first gen TC lifts are 500 lbs/in instead of the 300 for the newer gens. The front rides rather violently especially now that I have the 63" rears

The other thing I was thinking is taking the other leaf out of my pack and going with a single leaf, but I dont know how safe that is either

Just throwing around some ideas. I feel like I am very limited by the front springs and the back ones are doing all the work.....

 

[blazinzuk]

Didn't think you were just didn't quite get what you were saying.

Only real problem I see is the fact that your frame is just c channel. I had a second gen blazer where I put the shackle hanger under the frame, it eventually ripped the frame put me in a bad spot a couple times.

If you are going to fix it soon with coils why even bother. I understand the want for more flex for sure, but it sounds like the coils are not too far away.

So the only problem I can see with what you propose is the fact you have to tie the top and bottom leg of the c of your frame together where you put the spring hanger.

 

[72k5mike]

yea, I hear ya. I just have access to a free set of xj springs and I thought I might give it a last ditch effort to get a little flex for the last trip of the season. do you think there will be problems controlling the leaf spring from the eye that was meant for a shackle? I will probably put a larger bolt than what was there from the factory, I would like to go 9/16" at a minimum