DougyFresh

I am considering swapping to full widths under the XJ and upon doing some measuring I found something I find interesting.

I have a 79 Bronco rolling chassis sitting in my yard that would be giving up its axles. I would also probably use the leaf springs.

Here are my (rough) measurements:

* XJ spring spacing - 39.5"
* XJ spring length - 51.5"
* XJ spring width - 2.5"

* Bronco spring spacing - 40.25"
* Bronco spring length - 55"
* Bronco spring width 3"

Seems as if i were to mount the springs in the factory front pocket (after pushing the outside out like some people do the front LCA pockets when using WJ LCA's) to fit the 3" wide springs, I would end up with 40" center-center leaf spring spacing. A 1/4" difference in spacing, which is better than some vehicle's factory tolerances.

I would also gain 1" in wheelbase and 3.5" longer overall spring length which would help with shackle angle.

Does anyone see any downfalls to this? Sure, the shock mounts would have to be modified, but that beats having to do the perches AND the shock mounts.

xjmarc

You would have to completely redo the spring hangers and you'd have to relocate the rear shackle plus those springs would be much stiffer than XJ springs since a Bronco weighs quite a bit more. It would prob ride like a tank. The rear is a good canadate for a swap and you can even use the factory perches but the front has cast wedges and your only real option is to use or modify the factory radius arms. Lots of people have done it and they work just like most long arm/radius arm setups but that model of D44 is weaker than most since there isn't a tube under the cast wedges.

DougyFresh

Thanks for the warning/advice. I looked at it closer just now and honestly it looks as though this would be easier than I originally thought. I won't go into detail until I get my build thread going, but it will be easy. As for the leaf springs being stiffer, they are a 4 leaf plus overload pack and I would be going down to 2-3 leaves and no overload to help soften them up, should help a lot.

For the front, I will be using the radius arms as is for now, I will eventually wrist the passenger side arm.

DougyFresh

When you say "use the factory perches" are you referring to using them in the factory location? I have heard of this being done, but cannot find any info on it. It's only 3/8 difference per side, so I can see it working.

xjmarc

Yes that's what I meant. My D60 I'm running now came out of a F250 and all I did was add new shock mounts.

DougyFresh

thank you kind sir!

I have decided to go ahead with the d44/9 swap in my XJ. It'll be much easier to do shock mounts than EVERYTHING. Plus I kinda promised my wife that I would not have the XJ out of commission for a period longer than 2 days!

The rear shouldn't take much longer than swapping out the d35 for the 8.25 did, and that only took about 5 hours. Add in a few hours for welding on shock mounts and figuring out brake lines and I should be good for less than a day back there.

The front MIGHT break my time constraints but shouldn't be by much.

sandaddik2

ranger springs would work nice too. im not sure what the wheel base would be but i flipped them and landed at a 109 inch wb

heres the only pic with a half decent view of my shackle setup. i just boxed the hanger with 1/4 inch plate, welded a piece of 2x2 on the bottom with a bushing in it. the ranger leafs ride like a Cadillac too, took me one day to get the rear suspension set up.
Dont flip the leafs like i did and you should be able to stay close to a stock wb

XJwonders

Lol. Does that girl there know the xj is coming after her?

DougyFresh

I actually ended up scrapping the Bronco springs because when i started to take them off of the chassis i found 3 broken leaves.

I'm thinking I will probably just build a bastard pack and leave the wheelbase alone