A few leaf spring questions

[Josh C.]

97 2wd ex4.0
I'm going to be doing a lift and after reading through many of the leaf spring threads I've decided to go with AAL's. I have a few questions that I couldn't find answers to (or at least the answer didn't stand out to me). My ex does have the sag, I will measure the difference tomorrow. I am going to go with the long AAL over the short to avoid the harsher ride. It is my daily driver so a lot of this is for looks, but a few times a year we go out to the desert to shoot or go camping and it would be fun to have something else to do. Spindles in the front, 32x11.5x15 BFG AT on 8" rims.

I saw that you can order new bands that you have to cut off to add in the long AAL's, does anyone have a part number for these?

I don't plan on getting the WAR shackles if I dont have to (to extend the life of the spring arch). If the 1 AAL doesn't get me as high as I would like would it be more beneficial to add one more leaf or just put on the shackles?

If adding in another leaf, should I go with 1 more long or a short? A short would be easier and then I dont have to worry about a larger band?

Will the stock U bolt work with 2 AAL's?

Procomp AAL vs Superlift AAL? Procomp is a little cheaper.

I'd appreciate any input or thoughts. And thanks to everyone who has posted and added to threads on this forum, everyones info is really helpfull.

 

[frankcal]

I did kinda the same thing you plan on doing and got some pretty good lift out of just doing leaf spring swap. I did mine with a 4 door leaf pack, short aal and a leaf from my original sport pack. I was able to use the stock u bolts on them but only because I took out the metal spacers jn between each leaf. I really don't know how much lift I got because I never measured but I ended up doing a 1 1/2 shackle lift and am at about 37inchrs from floor to top of the rear wheel well. I got my clamps and Plastic circle pads that go at the end of the leafs from deaver over in Santa Ana. I would say just do the long aal and short to not have to do it twice. I ended up doing mine like 3 times and got sick and tired of doing it though so maybe your experience will be different.

 

[Josh C.]

I didn't think about removing the spacers. What job do they perform? I originally was going to have Deaver re-arch my spring pack but decided against because of cost. I heard nothing but good things about them and they were cool guys on the phone.

 

[renegade1]

******* pack it. go to the junkyard and get another set of leafs from an explorer - just add one or two more - this will be cheaper and give a more comfortable ride - plus youll have a large selection of extra leafs to add as needed

 

[frankcal]

Not really sure what the exact purpose of the spacers are for but from what I've read its to reduce noise on em. But I talked to the guys over at deaver and he told me they just create a weak spot on the leafs and could lead to cracking or breaking the leafs easier. Instead he recommended using a dry moly lube spray. Couldn't get it from them but I got em online for pretty cheap. They really have kept the ride really quiet, before using the spray my ride was really squeaky and sounded like an old truck over every little bump or crack. Another reason why I had to rebuild my pack for the last time.

 

[Josh C.]

Frank - I'll try the dry moly lube and remove the spacers, its a plus if I dont have to replace the ubolts. The guys at Deaver know there stuff and you had a positive experience with it. How many miles on your leafs since you put the lube on?
Renegade - Thats a good idea. There is a truck wrecking shop called Rocco's in Santa Ana near me that will probably have some lying around. If they are cheap I will pick up a set. My only concern with those is that instead of putting in a new fresh leaf I would be using a leaf that already has wear and tear on it, but I guess that depends on the used leaf pack I pick up, they could be in better condition then the set I have on?

 

[frankcal]

Yeah getting to re-use the u bolts and keep cost down for me was a big plus. I guess its not recommended but it worked for me. I'll check later how many miles i've put on it since then but its been about 6 or 7 months and no squeaking at all and the ride is not bad. I have some leafs left over from my sport left over that I didn't use, theyre the longer ones I only used the smallest one, that you can have if you'd like. I'm not sure if its you or not but I think I bought some cladding from a sport you were parting out last year that got crashed by a mother in law head on

 

[Josh C.]

Yeah that was me, I remember you now. I was going to pull the leaf springs off of the busted Ex before I finally got rid of it but I had a guy how wanted the rear-end so I told him he could have it for free if he got rid of the whole car. I might actually be going up to Perris in a few weeks to go shooting. I throw you a PM when/if it happens. Thanks

 

[gmanpaint]

How much for the long & short AAL's? Last I looked it was a couple hundred bucks after shipping for them.

There is another way to get the 2" of lift and still have a nice ride, and no worries of premature leaf arch inversion or pinion seal damages you can get with lift shackles.

Get a set of F-150 leaf packs from the salvage yard. 80-96 2wd packs are what you need. They are 2.5" wide just like yours. You use your main leaf, and all the leafs except the main leaf from the F-150 packs. You need a new center bolt and nut, and thats all for hardware. I did mine with extra leafs for 4" of lift for $100.

Here is a link to my post in my registry showing what I did for my application. The work will be close to the same for you, except the additional leafs, and skid armor. This is a mod that will take an afternoon to accomplish. I eventually swapped in some grade 8-5/8" U-bolts for strength.

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2718595&postcount=956

 

[frankcal]

I actually take my gf to school at occ every tuesday, from what I remember you lived somewhere around there but not sure where. I could drop em off to you one day if you want, we're usually in costa mesa from 12 till around 3. Are you going shooting up in nuevo? If so I live about 10 minutes from the hills where people go up to shoot, I actually got stuck there the last time I went up there about 4 months ago.

 

[frankcal]

How much for the long & short AAL's? Last I looked it was a couple hundred bucks after shipping for them.

There is another way to get the 2" of lift and still have a nice ride, and no worries of premature leaf arch inversion or pinion seal damages you can get with lift shackles.

Get a set of F-150 leaf packs from the salvage yard. 80-96 2wd packs are what you need. They are 2.5" wide just like yours. You use your main leaf, and all the leafs except the main leaf from the F-150 packs. You need a new center bolt and nut, and thats all for hardware. I did mine with extra leafs for 4" of lift for $100.

Here is a link to my post in my registry showing what I did for my application. The work will be close to the same for you, except the additional leafs, and skid armor. This is a mod that will take an afternoon to accomplish. I eventually swapped in some grade 8-5/8" U-bolts for strength.

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2718595&postcount=956

Nice write-up, you make it look so easy. I've been wanting to do the f-150 swap for awhile but have gotten lazy. I wanna get rid of my lift shackles because I started to get a clunking in the drive shaft ever since I installed them and they've started to sag a big now so I might just be doing the swap in the next month when the junkyard has 50% again. Just a question though where did you get your upgraded u-bolts from? (hi-jack over, sorry)

 

[gmanpaint]

New bolts are from a national spring shop. You can find them online. Ruffstuff sells them, and I think 4wheel supply as well.

 

[Josh C.]

Frank- I would love to meet up on Tuesday. I moved but I still work in the area, a few blocks from OCC. I throw you some $$ or buy you lunch for your leaves. I'll PM you on Monday.I've never been up to Perris for shooting. But a new buddy said they go up there to some gov land. Normally I go to the Calico mountains around Barstow to blow things up

Gman - From summit the short AAL are $38ish and the long are $70ish. Shipping is free if you have an order over $100. That was an awesome write up and your rig looks mean. I think the F150/******* pack is the way to go for me. I can add or remove a leaf to achieve the height I want (I would like to be level with the front) Off to Roccos this week to see what dead F150's they have

 

[frankcal]

No worries dude its all good theyve just been sitting there and better for another member to get some use out of it.

 

[Josh C.]

Gman, what length are your u-bolts / how much did you cut off? I noticed ruff stuff sells them at 10" long and you just cut off the excess. I might order them from summit because I'll get free shipping with some other stuff I'm ordering but they aren't as long.

 

[gmanpaint]

I wouldn't worry about them being too long when ordering them. Just cut off what you need to after you have it all together with a grinder cut off wheel or sawzall, then file the thread end clean. I really can't remember off hand how long they are off the top of my head. You can measure yours for an idea of how long they should be.