aflemke

I'm looking for an answer to an axle problem. I just put 28 inch tires on my XJ, stock suspension. Now I realize with the slightly larger tires that the rear drivers side tire is not centered in the wheel well. It is rear of center, causing it to rub on the side when I hit bumps. All other tires have perfect clearance. What would cause the rear axle to be set back so far in the wheel well on only one side? Thanks for the help!

94XjSport94

Take a picture of the wheel well with the tire on from a few feet away and then a few of the u bolts and u bolt plates behind the brake assembly.

Jeepxj1234

This sounds somewhat similar to a problem I had. My center pin broke on my drivers side causing my axle to rotate upwards and slide a little bit. I would recommend checking to see if your leafs are all lined correctly and that your unolts are good and tight.

aflemke

Here is the rear wheel: (running board and cap is coming off) Wheel is rubbing on right side of well.



More pictures of suspension at this wheel:











Is the problem this rear shackle? It is resting up against the frame in back as seen in the last photo. The passenger side is not sitting the same way.

Jeepxj1234

Definitely could be part of the problem. If you have the time, I'd just take that whole side apart or at least where the shackle bolts on. Might want to grab the pb blaster and torch though judging on those pics lol.

Big David

From the pic, it looks like you are in PA or NY. Lots of crud on there.
One of the advantages of living in the south, little to no rust.

aflemke

I sprayed it a couple days ago in anticipation of the bolts having to come off. I'm hoping it won't be too much trouble. This is Minnesota rust! We like our salt up here too...

With the Jeep in this condition will a budget boost, 1.5 - 2 inches, raise more problems for me? Adding spacers up front and shackles in the rear. Could this BB solve the axle problem?

jedijeb

Could someone in the past have replaced that spring and gotten it backwards? I know that the center pin is not centered but offset a little, just not sure how much.

aflemke

The springs are stock originals. I'm thinking I'll have to replace the leafs and bushings because these are old and saggy anyways. Hopefully that will solve the problems. Is replacing the leafs something a guy with no suspension experience can do? Looks like they are just bolt on a go once the old ones are off.

Jeepxj1234

Yeah your biggest problem is going to be getting the bolts off it looks like. Start pb blasting every day!

aflemke

The pb blasting has begun! How likely will it be that the nut inside the frame will break? I really don't want to go through trying to fix that!

Here is what I know now. The leaf is broke and causing the axle to shift back. Instead of buying two new leafs and the mounting hardware; I was thinking of getting a junkyard leaf to replace the broke one. It will be WAY cheaper and less work (hopefully). Does anyone have any insight into that?

Also, how often does the nut welded inside the frame break and have to be repaired during removal?

Gee oh Dee

Adding leafs to a sagging pack is a bad idea.

Plan on getting all new hardware. Even if you got that apart successfully I wouldn't want to reuse that stuff.

And at this point you shouldnt worry about the nut breaking off, you should just plan that its gonna go bad.

I'm surprised no one asked why your shackle is contacting the rear of the box...thats bad....

aflemke

I was planning to replace the leaf pack with a junk yard pack; not pulling leafs and adding leafs.

The shackle is pushed back due to the broken and separating leaf.

I am planning on getting new shackle and bushings and new u bolts. Should I replace the mounting plate too?

chipmaker

If your going to use JY parts, I'd recommend getting both leaf packs off of the same donor xj. Otherwise you will run the risk of having springs with diffrent amounts of sag resulting in a jeep with the "Gangsta Lean". By all means replace all the hardware and as many bushings as your budget allows. Just my 2 pennies.