We haven’t posted much to our build thread lately because we have actually been able to enjoy the Jeep for most of the past year without doing much besides putting gas and oil into it. But a few weeks ago, that all changed. There are some obstacles in Moab that we would like to try, but we need a little more ground clearance. So, after talking with some of our Colorado/Moab partners in crime, we decided to do a 4” YJ spring under conversion to replace the very worn out 2” lift that is on it right now.
Let the fun begin!
Last year, PistolDave showed up in Colorado with some really nice triangle anti kickback shackles on his Jeep. I liked the idea of having some sort of safety device to prevent the shackles from flipping backward and breaking the spring, so that’s the way I wanted to go. Until I saw what they cost! Off to the steel yard to buy some flat stock! PistolDave was kind enough to send me some drawings so that I would not have to design ours from scratch.
I cut the first shackle by printing and cutting out a pattern, then tracing it onto a piece of ¼” steel plate. Once I had the first one made, I drilled 1/8” pilot holes where all the bolts would go.
Once the first shackle was made, I could clamp it to the plate and trace it, use my hand drill to mark the holes, then cut it out with a plasma torch.
After making the rough cut with the torch, I used 3, 1/8” drill bits to align the 2 pieces, clamped the template shackle to it and marked where I had to grind using a white paint pen. It only took about 5 min. on a bench grinder to have a nice looking shackle. Then all that was left was to drill out the holes to the proper size on the drill press and paint them.
I made my own greasable bolts. Couldn’t see paying $15 to $20 each for something made in China. Just picked up some grade 8 bolts at the local farm store, and drilled and tapped them.
I also made some small grooves in the bushings to provide for better grease distribution.
The YJ springs required moving the front shackle hangers about 1 ½” forward. The hangers sold by most of the 4x4 stores were only held on with 2 bolts the same way the original hangers were (unless I went with the billet one$) I liked the idea of 3 bolts on each hanger, so that’s what we now have.
FRONTS
REARS
The old front spring U bolt skid plates would not fit since the CJ front springs are 2” wide and the YJ springs are 2 ½” wide.
I traced the skid plates from the rear since they were the correct size, and transferred the pattern to the plate.
I made some relief cuts in the plate in order to make bending it easier. Once bent, I welded the cuts closed and smoothed out the bottom.
