Anti wrap spring ideas

Well now that I have all of my fuel and ignition system issues worked out, it's time for driveability fixes.

I noticed when taking off from stops on the street that the differential housing seems to be twisitng upwards. I understand this is normal for these spring over conversions. Does anyone have any good suggestions or ideas on how to prevent this? I am already using the rubicon express anti wrap perches.

I have limited room to add a ladder bar setup as seen in this article:
http://www.off-road.com/jeep/tech/susp/cjsoa.html
due to the fact that my fuel pumps, air tank, overdrive etc. take up my space, where I would mount all the hardware.

Now in my feeble thought process I was wondering if the setup that is used on some of these newer trucks would work. Here's what i'm referring too.
On my buddy's Chevy truck that has leaf springs, and is spring over axle design (2 wheel drive) I noticed that in the middle of the spring pack there is a thick leaf that doesn't really touch the rest of the leafs in the pack. It looks like it might come into play either when, there is extra load, or when accelerating. I thought it might act as kind of a bump stop to keep axle wrap under control, or am I wrong and this is strictly an overload helper spring?
I guess my question is: Could I add a single 2 1/2" wide spring, (since I have YJ springs) that is almost the same length as my longest spring in the pack, into my spring pack to act like a cushion, so when the axle twists, the end of the spring will contact the main leaf in the pack, and help keep the axle from twisting?
Maybe even attach a little rubber bumpstop to the end to kind of act like those old fashioned Lakewood traction bars, that used to be installed on the old leaf spring muscle cars. It seems like this might work, while also allowing me to keep ground clearance to a maximum.

I hope I expained dilema correctly

Comments, suggestions, opinions, links, welcome

 

I would cut the eyes off of a YJ mainleaf and add it into the pack. It should greatly reduce the wrap...heck any 2.5" wide spring should work.

Got any room for this?


Its a Sam's Offroad bar.

 

John: It seems to me that I'vew seen what you describe also on some HD trucks, even with little rubber bumpstops on them--just can't remember where.

It should work, but I think it will be one of those "try it and see" things.

 

Back years ago a friend made some traction bars for my Mustang out of rectangular tubing. They attached at the u bolts and the front at the spring bolt. Recently (last 5 years) I copied that again for a friend's Samurai seems to work well enough.

 

Joe unfortunately I don't. As you can see from this pic I don't have much room, with my fuel pumps, and air tank in the area where I would mount the bracketry.


Jim: That's what I was thinking, "Try it and see". I'll just go to the junkyard and find something with a nice long, thick, flat 2 1/2" wide spring. Heck I really only need like a little more than half a spring, since the rear part of the spring pack won't be an issue.

 

Thanks Mike, I'll make sure I clean it Notice the used dirty fuel pumps too? Figure I would have some pre dirt on it so it's not to much of a trailer queen.

That pic was actually taken during the mock up process several months ago.

 

I assume you would add the half spring to the top of the pack so there is no gap in the rear of the pack? I still think just adding a YJ main would help out great, but then again I've never done a springover (yet)

 

Wonder if a pinion snubber like Mopar used would work?

 

not sure if a pinion snuffer would work with the offset axle. wouldnt you loose articulation to the passenger side?

 

No not really.

 

Well figuring that the axle travels up and down about 5 or 6 inches i'm not sure a snubber would work. It's either going to have to be a ladder bar, which I don't have room for, or something sandwiched in the spring pack that will still allow suspension movement, but help eliminate twisting.
I think I have seen on some rock crawlers a single bar attached to the diff housing, with real heavy short coils springs, sandwiched between a bracket welded to the frame to allow movement for and aft, but eliminating the twisiting.

Time to surf the web for ideas.

 

John if you make a snubber with a disco pin for off road use it wont bother you. Pull the pin, pull the snubber and ride.
Mopar sells one like I'm talking about. Guess i should have said that early on.
You only need it on pavment no? :?

 

No not really, because i'll have wrap issues while on rocks too, because of the extra traction. After doing a web search it seems as though the ladder bar setup is the way to go, so I might need to find a way to make it work. Depends on what I find cheap. I can prolly build a ladder bar cheaper than I can buy junk yard springs.

 

Maybe you can use a "Bam Bar".
http://www.jeepaholics.com/tech/bambar/

You may be able to make one of those work. I don't think they work as well as a conventional ladder bar, but they take less space. I run a huge ladder bar on my jeep after bending the first one I built.

One question for you, arn't you concerned that when your rear driveshaft breaks that it is going to "customize" all that stuff hanging under the frame?

 

I like that "when" not "if"

Yeah I thought about that. I was thinking of adding a little safety loop, on the Tcase end.

 

John
Glenn and I can furnish any main leafs/springs for cannibalism needs 1 3/4, 2" etc
various thicknesses, might be rusty, but heck, the price is right!
come and look
don't buy any

 

Thanks Jim, I think I'll take you up on that offer.

I know it's 2 1/2" wide. Ill have to check out the length. I probably don't need much since it's not a high horsepower rig. I just want enough to feel comfortable when taking off on pavement. It's one of those things you can really feel. The rear end of the jeep really squats in the rear when I take off. All of the super heavy duty ladder bar systems are probably overkill.

 

John,

Here's another idea for anti-wrap. Scroll to the bottom of the page.

http://4wdandsportutility.com/tech/4wd0402_springs/