Originally Posted by jeep93

Like 99 purple said, you will need a couple of c or G clamps to keep the leafs under control - even your old worn out ones will surprise you with how much strength they still have in them!.
This was the first "big" job I ever did on any vehicle - I honestly have next to no mechanical skills.. I fumbled about for a bit trying to figure it out, and then I did the following. (did one side completely first, and then the other)
The first side I did was kind of a learning experience, and I did it the hard way, by stripping the old leafs apart leaving only the old primary leaf attached to the jeep, and then rebuilding them one leaf at a time.. Nightmare!. On the other side, I did it this way..
1. Got the wheel off. Jacked jeep up and put stand under the axle, then lowered the jeeps weight fully onto the axle stand to take the tension out of the ubolts. Placed another couple of stands snug under the frame, just incase.
2. Old ubolts were rusted solid. I put 2 c-clamps on the leaf packs to hold them together, and used an angle grinder to cut through the old ubolt shafts. Cut them quite far down close the curve, and after I freed them up by hitting them with a hammer (a lot), I was able to pull them up and out of through the retaining plate that sits on top of the leaf pack.
3.Jacked the jeep back up and stuck a couple of stands under the frame and lowered the jeep onto them.. letting the axle hang down (like 99 purple xj said). My centre pin had a large washer on top of the retaining plate, so the plate was still attached to the top of the leaf pack. I cut the top off the old centre pin and pulled it out the bottom of the old leaf pack. The plate came off the top and all I was left with was 4 old leafs c-clamped together.
4. I used a heavy screwdriver to prise back and open up the old leaf packs built in clamps. Then I very carefully loosened off the c-clamps, and started to slide in the new leafs, alternating old, new, old, new etc. I say "slide", but it was more of a wrestling match. I used a long screwdriver in the top of the leaf pack to make sure I had all the centrepin holes lined up. Everytime i added a leaf, I wiggled it around until the screwdriver dropped down through the centrepin hole. You could probably add 2 without loosening off your shocks, but I quickly ran out of space between the leaf pack and the axle, so I had to disconnect the lower shock bolt to let the axle drop another couple of inches.. I was worried it would be rusted solid, but it was actually quite easy to remove (despite how it looked).
5.Once all the leafs were in place, I clamped them down hard with the c-clamps, and hammered those built in leaf clamps back in place. I pulled the screwdriver out and fed a new centre pin through the pack. Didnt need to drill the centre pin holes because it was a new xj leaf pack that I was using. I cant remember the exact order, but I basically re-attached the shocks, lowered the jeeps axle gradually onto an axle stand till the leafs were resting on the mount, put the top plate back on, and fed the new ubolts through and tightened them down hard - and I think that was it. Wheel back on, and onto the other side. Took me about 2 1/2 hours for one side, but Im not naturally skilled, so I was probably quite slow.

After about 600 miles I started to hear a faint knocking sound when going over pot holes. Took the wheels off and noticed that the springs had settled a little, and some of the tension had gone out of the ubolts. Re-tightened them, and theyve been fine since. Over 4 months the ride height settled by 1/2 an inch, but the ubolts stayed tight.

Hope this helps with your AAL plans!.

Originally Posted by OOdynamite

Yea I totally agree, Jeep93 is the man.

And 1993 jeep cherokee, when you do yours, you should take pics along the way and do a write up or at least post them.