Ok I picked up some V8 thunder bird springs for my bastard pack lift I am working on. So the springs are a lot thicker than stock. At the base they are hanging up and I cant get them in at all. can I put a j hook through the hole where the stock spring retainer is or do you think its not safe.
I followed mostly these postings also i did try to grind at the base a little but no luck.

http://pennythejeep.wordpress.com/wr...strut-springs/

http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=68842

The base of the spring is pretty much equally distributed. Only fear I have is could they pop off when flexing? But I bought some of these J bolts and I just not sure if they will hold it in place. I was going to drill a hole at the base and put two J hooks. One I could use he hole from the stock retainer. like these

http://www.google.com/search?um=1&hl...og&sa=N&tab=wi

Well I worked on it for a little and I still cant get them down all the way but if I rotate the spring so that the end of the spring is about 1.5in past the base retainer. I can clamp it there. Anyone got any thoughts? I really want to get this thing off jack stands Ive had the tranns out, new flex plate, all new seals etc. Once I am done this I can start her up

Sorry havent been on to reply to your message. Anyway, I didn't have your problem and I used the stock retainer. However, I have found the J hooks that I used are fine if you don't flex much but will bend out if you try to flex too much. What I would recomend is to drill two holes in the base like you were talking about and run two bolts through. Use a heavy strip of metal to go out past the spring to hold it on. Thats what was recomended to me to replace the J hooks I have on the top anyway.

ok Thanks A lot I think I'm going to go to the JY and get another set of springs there and make sure they will fit a Cherokee in the yard. I'm wondering if something may have just changed a lite in diameter in 1997. Thanks A lot for your help