Norcal69's Common Sense Build.

I found that the stock leaf spring pins in my springs were very soft. I ended up replacing all 4 of them with a grade 9 allen head bolt. The pin in the other side was bent pretty good when I replaced it and the u bolts were very tight when I took it apart. I chalk it up to several years of abuse.
Here is my axle to spring clamping configuration utilizing 9/16" U bolts.

 

did you make those spring hangers?

 

I noticed them also. I’m sure you told us about that but give the details again would be great.

 

I made them out of some round tube and axle perches from Ruff Stuff. The U bolt alignment plates were made from 2.5" wide box tubing. The U bolts are 9/16" diameter.



On the rear



And on the front as well.







That said.......
I would probably just purchase these from Ruff Stuff and use them on the rear.

https://www.ruffstuffspecialties.co...MI3pT_y_TV-AIVzBXUAR0k-gTuEAQYAiABEgLvxvD_BwE

 

Ruff Stuff ones look nice, but yours are way cooler

 

I have the Ruffstuff ones on the rear, they are wide...

 

Not trying to hijack your thread but I figured I’d show what I did in the rear of my jeep instead of using u bolts. I built some u bolt eliminator kits for my rear axle. They use four 5/8 bolts to clamp the spring to the axle as opposed to u bolts. These are often seen on prerunners. So far they work pretty good and with four 5/8 bolts, they are definitely stronger than u bolts. The only down side is that the bottom plate adds some bulk under the axle. This picture is just from when I was mocking them up but you get the idea

 

i would highly recommend using grade 8 bolts for that. we use trailers around the farm with that kind of axle leaf spring clamp and anything other than grade 8 will stretch and causes the axle to get out of alignment if you hit a pump or pothole too fast

 

Don’t worry. The picture above is just from when I was mocking them up. All of the hardware holding my springs and axles together is grade 8

 

Retail therapy.....
I always thought it was an excuse that women used. Turns out it really does help keep your mind off of *****y situations.
Pictured below is a set of R&P's billet 30 spline capable spindles for a rear D44, R&P's 1/4 ton brake rotors and caliper brackets.
This winter I will be full floating my centered D44, adding disc brakes with S10 calipers and Wilwood mechanical spot e brake calipers.

 

Nice stuff. Good to keep busy during ****ty situations.

 

Oh that's nice. It makes me so happy to see company's still producing great parts for the early Jeeps.

 

I just read this from the beginning. Your ability to visualize then render solutions is really impressive; lots of ideas and inspiration for the rest of us.

Question about these pigs you shoot: I’m assuming they’re feral? Are they the kind that do so much environmental damage? Does the meat taste like farm-raised pork?

best regards,
John, in Connecticut

 

The pigs are feral and invasive just like in other states. The meat is much leaner than farm raised pork, but otherwise the same.

 

I'm finally getting started on the ram assist setup.
This is a PSC compact ram, 1.5" bore with a 6" stroke. Should be plenty to effortlessly turn my 33's in 4wL with the front ARB locked.
I initially looked into the Redneck Ram and Trail gear setups, but with so little real estate under a spring under CJ5 I felt the increased cost of the compact PSC unit was worth it.
Steering travel when turning left will be limited by the outward stroke of the ram. I will be installing an internal stop to limit steering travel when turning to the Right.
My plan is to have the tie rod ends be the weakest point in the steering system. A TRE is way easier to change on the trail than a steering knuckle, steering box or frame repair and a couple TRE's in the tool box don't take up much space.










New Ruff Stuff 3/8" diff cover to mount the ram to!

 

Man, I love the Ruffstuff covers. You will love the ram assist in the rocks. So, you only go 3" each way? Is that enough?

 

I measured it at like 5-3/4" of travel. With the narrow tread width, 2.5" wide springs and Currie antirock, I had to limit the steering angle just a tad so the tires do not rub.
PSC has a CJ7 hydro assist kit that uses a 6" ram as well.

 

Ok, you're good to go then. Are you going to drill and tap the box yourself? Sorry if I'm getting too far ahead.

 

I'm planning to do that work myself. It looks like I could possibly drill and tap the box in place.....

 

Ditch the steering bracket provided to psc, pure junk.

You will have an headache trying to align the tow.

Better get a clamp (what i did after finding about the headache)


Also i'm no fan of putting a braket on the diff cover. With time i could lead to oil leaking (always forcing side to side can make some movement on the diff cover)