AZ89MJ

I have a set of Rubicon Express 5.5" leaf spring off of my old XJ that have less than 1000 miles on them. I know that the springs are not interchangeable, but was thinking about cutting the eyes off of the RE springs and putting them under the MJ main leaf. I already have SOA converted but I miss the smooth ride of my old XJ.

1. Is this doable and practical?

2. Has anyone done something similar to this?

I'm mostly looking to soften up the rear end, it is so stiff unless I have the bed loaded up which is rarely. Looking for more off road performance than street/load capacity. If I can use them great but if not I will just deal with the rough ride and sell the springs.

zebvance

What does the shackle angle look like? To me it seems as if there is a reason it riding rough. Figure that reason out then fix it. Seems like a lot of work to try and make the xj springs work on a mj, esp if you just have a bad shackle angle and some shackle relocation boxes could fix the issue.


Furthermore, Im not sure of the spring rate on your xj leafs but I beat its a stiffer spring than the mj's. The reason being is a xj has a lot more weight sitting on the rear than a mj does.

And last, SOA in a mj gets you about +5 inches of lift alone, so if you were to try and put the xj leafs on it you would surly be sitting at atleast 9+ inches of lift in the rear...

chilly

Mixing springs usually won't give a softer ride. Your mj might have metric ton springs under it. But then again an mj does not ride as smooth as an xj because it should be set up as a truck, super soft springs won't let you haul anything hardly.

shackle might have something to do with it as well. Sell your lift springs and buy some stock mj springs if its that bothersome. You can always get a custom pack with a soft rate made as well.

AZ89MJ

My phone won't upload a picture of the shackle angle right now but they are the stock shackles with a SOA nothing fancy.... And they look ok, I would say they are at about 4:30

And as far as the spring rate being strong aren't the MJ springs stronger as they were designed with carrying heavy loads in the bed of the truck?

I just know the RE springs in my XJ were so much softer then the block/add a leaf I hawd in previously and was hopeing to carry that plush ride over to my MJ.

The truck is a lot smoother with weight in the bed .

zebvance

Shackle angle looks good. I see what you saying about the xj riding smoother but you have to think about how much weight was on it at all times. the whole rear body of the xj. I would venture to say there is only about 500 pounds of weight over the rear of a mj empty vs prob 1200 over the rear of a xj.

Also leafs dont have everything to do with the ride quality.

Shocks play a very very big role. You might want to invest about 175 into a very nice set of shocks for the rear and the see how much that helped. When I took the white bodied rough country shocks off my mj and put some bilsiten 5150s under it I noticed a big difference. Even with a bad (90 degree) shackle angle.

AZ89MJ

Thanks for all the quick reply's!!!

I know it's not the shocks as I have drove with no shocks before and the springs were still stiff.

The ride isn't that bad, I just have a g/f with a broken tailbone and she complained last night driving it to the store...

Goin to just sell the springs and put the money elseware.

Thanks again for the quick reply's!!! And I love the new Comanche section.... Finally we can be recognized!!!

kgm

I'd strangle a kitten for that shackle angle! Ha

That Jeep Guy XJMJ

small fun facts for ya.. MJ leafs were rated at 1280 and 1700 lbs (depending on if your mj was metric ton package or not)

While the XJ springs were rated from 545-755 lbs.


Shocks would be a good route to look into.