Good video by the way, thanks for sharing.

I was actually speaking with an "old timer" a couple weeks ago and leaf springs came up. He said that they used to re-bend the springs and run them again. They would chalk out the bend they wanted to achieve on the floor, disassemble the spring pack and then reassemble each spring to the "new bend". May or may not work, if you had the time it could be worth a try? Or just spend the few hundred bucks and get another set of 033RB.

I did tons of research and own the exact same springs. All the info I went through, I never remember anyone having their OME springs go flat like that. A number of guys even pulled trailers or had moto racks attached regularly. No sag for 10+ years. No clue what happened to your's after only 5 years. Keep us posted as to how you address this.

 

The factory springs going flat is a common thing. As far as re arching a leaf spring goes, it can be done two ways. One is to hammer more arc onto them. Hammering surface hardens the metal. The preferred way is to put them in a forge and heat them to cherry red, set the arch and quench them in oil then aneal at 400°F. The latter will make them like new

 

Don't add a leaf. That will add more stress to the springs and stiffen the ride.
It looks like you have extended bump stops. With the extended shackle that may have been appropriate when new but I wonder if with the flattening of the spring you are hitting the bump stop prematurely. Going with a OE size bump stop would be a easy and inexpensive experiment.

 

Good eye on the extended stop. I was limiting my change in suspension behavior to when I wasn't bottoming out on the bump stops. There is an obviously end to the movement when I get down to the stops that is completely different that was I was trying to describe in my first post.


I was able to estimate my additional sprung weight by summing the following add-ons to get +210 lb above stock.
rear bumper (+75 lb)
tire carrier (+75 lb)
oversized spare size (+30 lb)
roof rack (+30 lb)

I was able to estimate my typical payload range between 200lb (just me) to 800 lb (2 humans + gear). Therefore, max payload could be around 1000 lb over the factory vehicle sprung weight when fully loaded with gear, with the factory rated payload being 1150 lb

After talking to two commercial suppliers, here are the comments/recommendations I've received:

Supplier 1: No comment about the leaf pack condition.
Recommend to add an addition leaf (D22XL) to the existing CS033RB pack.

Supplier 2: The leaf pack wear was accelerated by the use of an extended shackle (1" longer than stock) and shackle relocation bracket (moving the framerail mount point down 3" and forward 1.5"). Both components will force the rear of the spring excessively down and cause the observed fatigue.
Recommend to return to the stock shackle length, remove the shackle relocation bracket (or install a bracket that allows for forward/rearward adjustment without adding lift), install CS033RA leaf pack (+0.75" over the CS033RB) and perhaps the extra leaf (D22XL) to compensate for payload.

The only problem I have with path 2 is that I originally added the shackle relocation bracket and extended shackle (5 years ago) to achieve a better shackle angle vs. the various forum posts on here with people using OME CS033RB springs.

 

With the heavier rear bumper and tire carrier with spare (plus you might have missed the weight of the wheel) the problem is amplified as the weight is overhanging the spring. I believe that makes that weight seem even higher to the spring. The overhang acts like a lever. Moving the location point forward also making that lever length longer and more of an issue.

It seems that supplier #2 knows what he is talking about. Supplier #1 seems to have little technical understanding of the issues.

 

I agree with Third Coast. I was not aware that the extended shackle would add additional force to the spring but Supplier #2's explanation does make sense. With your current set up the 033RA pack might be the ticket. If I remember correctly they tout the "RA" as the towing pack.

 

per the application guide, both are “medium duty” with no info regarding spring rates and capacity.

https://arbusa.com/site/wp-content/u...CherokeeXJ.pdf

 

Yeah, I have the exact same pages saved on my computer from my search on these. Funny. They also list them as 2.5" lift springs as well. Which we all know is total BS as everyone gets upwards of 4"+ of lift with these.

The way I think of them is the RB is Medium duty, the RA is the Heavy Duty (or towing) spring. Their description is RB = 2.5"-3" and the RA description is 2.5"-4". There are companies out there who sell 3" OME lifts, they use the RB spring. There are companies out there who sell a 4" OME lift, they use the RA spring.

Another option would be the RE spring packs. They have a higher spring rate vs the OME but then again, with your set up, they may ride rougher than OME because of that. You have a wild card in all of this with your shackle set up. If you wanted to keep your current shackle set up it sounds like you need a "stiffer" more HD spring pack. That would be the OME 033RA or something along the lines of the RE pack. I remember someone put together a list of springs from various manufacturers along with their supposed spring rates. Not sure if it was on this forum or another but I remember the RE springs were among the stiffest.

 

We used to re-arch springs back in the day but you normally needed to add an extra leaf to keep the stack from going back flat. I have not seen a coil spring conversion but I like the concept. Who sells a coil conversion kit?

 

Several companies. Ironman4x4fab
ironrockoffroad
Claytons just to name a few