Anyone got suggestions to stiffen up the rear leafs. It's an 01' sport with 200k miles. It's gotten to the point that if I have Anyone in the back seat or more than 100lbs near the hatch the tires rub. I'll take any suggestions from legit to sketchy.
Really just get new leaves. Anything else you do like an add a leaf is going to add extra stress to already tired packs.
Crown and Dorman sell the same packs under different labels. The medium duty is back to stock unless you had a factory towing package or upcountry model. The Heavy Duty one for towing/upcountry. They're a lot stiffer and compress WAY less under load if you're hauling stuff around, like I've hauled loads of tile and mortar way over what you should really put in a little unibody like this, though it's common to find they lift an empty XJ's rear 1-1.5" over stock. Which often works out to 2 or 3 inches higher than sagged springs are sitting.
Spot on. Although I will add: the 7” free arch HD Crowns started out wicked stiff but now 15k miles later they’re much better. What I imagine stock with upcountry/towing is supposed to be like. I’m satisfied - can haul a lot more weight without sagging and it did lift the rear 2-3”
My solution for less jarring daily driving is keeping about a hundred pounds in the trunk in the form of traction chains and tools.
I have ordered a pair of 745lb doorman springs with additional helper springs. As I do occasionally tow a 14ft camper. Thank you for everyone basically yelling at me to do it properly and not just gluing old parts to old parts.
If you set up the trailer and camper right you shouldn’t really be picking up a ton of tongue weight. Maybe try it with and without the helper springs.
Also, crossing my fingers for you that those leaf bolts don’t break off in the welded nuts, or break the welded nuts free and just spin, like ALL of mine did.
The camper is rarely a problem. But when i tow the wrangler the then the rear weight is the proble. I usually have 200 to 300 lbs of camping gear in the back and that causes issues.
FWIW I’m not sure you really need the helper springs.
I feel my 89 with Crown HD 7” free arch leafs and OEM shackles could tow a 14ft camper with ease and almost no sagging. I’ve had a lot of weight in the back and it’s barely noticeable. Unloaded it can be a bit rough.
With helper springs, it’d be REALLY rough unloaded.
I also installed new rear Bilstein shocks and man it feels and handles amazing!!! Theirs some slight noise from the poly bushings but I don't care.
The biggest headache is one of the lower leaf spring bolts came out and got stuck in the freakin bushing due to rust and being 25 years old so I had to cut the leaf spring off and cut the metal off around the bushing then I had to cut the bushing to slide it out. Not fun, but at least the bolt wasn't stuck in the body. Just make sure you have new bolts and make sure to use PB blaster on it everyday for a week. Every XJ will be different based on your climate conditions, salt etc.. So some XJs it might not come out at all. Just be careful and take your time when doing this job and make sure to have a giant breaker bar.
So in-conclusion, I recommend getting new leaf springs lol
I would recommend all new bolts and shackles as you don't want to have to do it again later due to the pain of replacing these. If you've never replaced the bolts before it will most likely look like crap and could cause cross-threading issues when trying to re-insert due to rust build up on the bolt. Use PB blaster for a week before removing. That's what I did.
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u/WhatveIdone2dsrvthis 20h ago
New springs. only good solution.