Cj Front Spring Length

I have a friend (I know, difficult to believe) with a Willys wagon that is LS'ed with late seventies F250 running gear.
He is unsure of the origin of his front springs but they are badly sagging and reverse bending now.
He asked me to measure Yellowjacket's springs. My 2.5" lift Trail Master springs are approximately 43.5" long.
Would other members please check your springs for us? If someone has stockers that are close to 42", please let me know your year and model. His current springs are 42" from eyelet to eyelet.
Thank you.

 

Early Cj5 (and Intermediate) springs typically measure eye to eye, off center, around 38" for the front and 44" for the rear. 1.75" wide.

Flat fender springs measure eye to eye, off center around 36" for the front and 42" in the rear. Also 1.75" wide

Late CJ springs are 44" front and rear, however the fronts are 2" wide while the rears are 2.5" wide.

Where things get tricky is how people measure. The above measurements are eye to eye, straight across from the bottom of the shackle to the spring hanger. And then, I have seen slight differences in length from different after-market manufacturers (hence the approximate measurement)...up to an inch even. On top of all that, there are different spring rates and lift heights which can affect the how things measure when they are mounted on different jeeps...obviously depending on vehicle weight, spring rate and free arch in the spring.

I'm not familiar with the wagons stock spring...maybe Fino will chime in. However it is possible your friend has the 42" flatfender rears in the front if they are 1.75" wide. That is/was a popular old-school modification for a longer front spring in the flattys.

 

Thank you for that data.

He definitely no longer has the wagon springs. Those were much shorter than what he's using now. He lengthened the frame, moved the front mounts forward and the rear mounts rearward. He just doesn't know what his current springs were originally used in. They happened to be laying around his friend's yard. Clearly he needs stiffer springs too.

 

If he's in there ready to do suspension work, the YJ springs would be great. There's a ton of prefabrication support for them and lots of spring options in terms of spring rate, lift etc. The YJ springs are around 44.5" long and 2.5" wide front and rear. Its really not a big deal to do the swap if a guy can weld decently and take careful measurements.

 

More good information. YJ's are well supported.

 

sdtrucksprings.com have good measurements for springs. Ron