I bought new rear leaf springs for my 1994 XJ and the new springs have a bolt in the center holding the leafs together. The bolt has a nut on the side of the leaf that is away from the axle and a round head (round flat, not rounded) on the side towards the axle. The leaf I removed had a hole that fitted into a pin that is on the perch on the axle.
My question is: Is the thing that looks like a pin in the perch, is that removable? Is that not supposed to be there? Is there supposed to be a hole instead of a pin on the perch. Everything is factory/stock. The pin in the perch looks like it is welded there but it might just be rusted. I appreciate any advice on the subject.

 

The perch has a hole in it..the leaf back should have a centering pin that fits in the hole of the axle perch.

If there was a hole in your leaf pack, and a pin on the perch, chances are part of the centering pin broke off inside the perch...

 

The pin looked like it was welded on the perch but maybe it was just rusty. If it's a broken off pin stuck in there, then I'll try penetrating oil, heat, etc., and pry it out of there.

The pin on the perch looks a lot smaller than the "pin" on the new leaf spring. Should I make the pin on the new leaf spring smaller (file it down), or drill the perch bigger?

 

The perch should have a hole in it to accept the head of the bolt.

And there's nothing "special" about the "leaf spring centering pin" - all it really is, is a socket head capscrew. Nothin' to it. (Typically 1/4" or 5/16" SAE, 1-ton and up may have a 3/8" SAE or maybe an M10 ISO.)

 

Thank You Xj88 and 5-90 for the help. My old leaf springs were extremely rusty so the center pin/bolt must have broken off and stuck in the perch. I will get it out of there and hopefully the hole will be the same size as the bolt/pin that is already in the new leaf springs (the new leaf springs came bolted together with a bolt that had a pin type head).

Thanks 5-90 for the great write-up and all the information about replacing leaf springs, I am using your tried and tested methods for doing this job. Without getting your great advice in advance I probably might have broken a bolt by trying to hard to twist it off. The warning about the inner sleeve on the bushing rusting tight to the front eye bolt was very important. I used a cutting wheel to cut away the eye, then I sliced a section out of the rubber bushing with a utility knife, then pried the remaining rubber bushing off, then cut a slit in the inner bushing sleeve and sprayed penetrating oil in there and hacked it up enough until it was loose enough to slide the bolt out.
I also used the Bernzomatic MapPro-Oxygen set to put some heat on and it did the job but was a pain to work with, very messy with lots of carbon crap drifting from the flame when getting the flame adjusted.