75 cj to yj spring questions

[Cl89]

A previous owner has put yj spring into the 1975 CJ5 I bought. My question, should the front shackle mounts be moved so that they are more perpendicular? Both front and rear just have adapters that bolt to the original spring mounts, and are flared out to accept the wider springs, is that acceptable? Thanks

 

[Sam5038]

YJ springs require a different mount. Here is the Rocky Road mounts.

 

[caveman]

It's not right, But It's acceptable as long as the shackles are thick enough to withstand the stress that is given. Also with the picture, we can't see if there's a cross brace between the shackles. It would be better if there was one there. If you do hard offroading or hit big bumps at speed with your foot on the brake, They won't last long. Keep an eye on them.

 

[Cl89]

Thanks for the replies! I was mostly wondering about the angle of them. The shackles aren't cross braced, it's -30 here so have some time before jeeping weather, so I will probably cut the perches off and get proper ones before doing much wheeling

 

[73CJ]

The good thing about using the YJ spring mounts is you get the bigger bushings. That alone is worth the swap.

The shackle angle looks a little forward what is your caster? A little longer shackle will straighten it up a little.

 

[billyballer]

Yeah, you'll want to move the mount forward. I'm just wrapping up doing this swap on my 86, and I moved the spring hangers forward by one bolt hole (had to drill out a rivet in the frame to use as a bolt hole). So now the bolt that used to be holding the front of the spring hanger is holding the rear of the spring hanger, and an additional bolt was added. I think it was about an inch further. Remember as a leaf spring compresses in is getting longer, and a shackle allows it to lengthen smoothly, but with that much angle the shackle will start to pull the spring end up instead of just letting it lengthen, potentially causing a harsh ride and some weird handling.

 

[Cl89]

Thanks for the replies! Looks like I will be doing new perches before much driving! From the little bit I drove it, it's all over the road. Many factors though, worn stearing box, bent tie rods, and alignment out of wack. First thing is get the tilt column installed and painless wiring finished, then I will move into that stuff!