Leaf spring conversion

[49willy]

I decided to post this here becuase its a general thread that could be done on any type of vehicle. i realized today that my 49 willy's leaf springs are accualy mounted underneath the axle, which sucks because i was planning on doing one of the block lifts where you put one of the lifting blocks between the axle and springs, now i cant unless i switch around the leaf springs so that they are on top of the axle. doing that will give me an approximate 5" raise by it self. problem, obviously is that there is a mounting plate casted onto the axle. so it narrows my options down. has anyone done one of these conversions? what did you do? should i just make my own plate and put it on the axle some how (limited tools no welder, or torches) or just by a new axle (limited money )

 

[Bounty__Hunter]

The spring over axle (SOA) swap you're referring to isn't that hard, but takes plenty of planning. Welding on new spring perches is one of the easier parts. You have to plan for proper pinion angles, caster angle, ujoint angles, driveshaft length, etc.

Stay away from lift blocks. Go with the SOA, or a SUA spring lift, or use a body lift in conjunction with the other two.

Installing heavier (usually wider) axles into your jeep requires outboarding the spring hangers, which is quite a bit of fabrication work. You have to outboard the front spring hangers or the pass. side leaf spring would mount directly on top of the differential with the wider axle centered under the jeep.

 

[49willy]

thanks for the much needed info, another question. to do this i would have to first cut off the old perches, and then buy new ones? where do i get that kind of stuff for a 1949 cj3a or would i look for one that fits the type of axle i have. and what other parts am i going to need to buy for this?

 

[TerryMason]

I've got no experiance with these guys myself - it just came up in a google search

http://www.rockymountainsusp.com/jeep_CJ.htm

Bounty knows more about this stuff than I do, but I've learned there are alot of little things that you need to account for, like longer brake lines.

 

[Bounty__Hunter]

You can use universal spring perches as long as they are the correct width to match the springs.