I let a shop do my lift about six months ago for dual reasons of needing it done quickly and a medical condition known as laziness (scientific term). They did an add-a-leaf lift. Yesterday I noticed the leaf they added has somehow worked itself loose and is within 1/2" of the inner sidewall of the rear driver's tire! Couple questions I was hoping folks could help me with.

It looks like there should be some extra U-Bolts holding that lower leaf in place. Most pictures I see of these online seem to show that. Is this the case?

Is the design of the add-a-leaf not able to hold up to light wheeling or did the shop do something wrong? Both sides of the jeep have the same issue

The harbor freight c-clamp I had wasn't able to re-align this. If I jack it up and loosen all the bolts holding this in place would that work or do I need to take the whole assembly off?

 

You are correct, part to hold the stack together is missing.

 

It also looks like it might be a rebound spring (not sure if I'm using the correct terminology) which in some applications I'm seeing aren't clamped onto the spring pack outward of the axle. Just the two u-bolts at the axle. But I haven't been able to find more than one reference to something like this online. And that guy's was off by a very small amount. I just don't see how this could be normal operation.

I'm tempted

 

It is not normal.

I would raise it up. Take the weight off. Loosen up the pack. Clamp it together with am C clamp and secure it with something like this....


Not sure that is the right one for you, just for reference.

 

If it were me I would try taking off the wheel and giving it a couple taps with a baby sledge first.
Just to see if it would move or not.

 

^^^^^ that. And then spring clamps so it doesn't happen again.

Did the shop have you come back after ~100 miles of driving to retorque the u-bolts and spring bolts?

 

No, they didn't have me come back to retorque.

I spoke with the shop a little bit earlier and apparently they replaced the entire spring pack, it wasn't add a leaf. The more I look at these pictures the more it feels like gross negligence on someone's part. I'm torn over just fixing it myself or bringing it in. Easier to do it myself but I feel like 4WP needs to be aware that this is what they're putting on the road. This would have blown out the tire eventually and at highway speeds that could be deadly.

 

All the hardware involved should have been torqued at least one more time after about 100 miles. After I did my lift I was so paranoid checked every nut and bolt 5 times. 20 miles, 50 miles, 100 miles, 300 miles, and 500 miles