Deep South Spring & Blade

Yesterday I was @ "Ace Bolt & Screw" picking up some new fasteners for my hard top when I noticed a stack of business cards titled "Deep South Spring & Blade, Inc.". On the card was a pic of a leaf spring.

I asked the counter guy what this was about, and he said the guy makes and works on leaf spring assemblies and also makes bushog blades.

I asked him just for example, "if I wanted him to make a set of new leaf springs for my jeep to give me a bit of lift?". The counter guy said "sure he does that all the time".

He continued to say that he could take factory springs and re-arch them to give them whatever lift you needed "within reason of course", or he could make a single leaf and insert it into your stack to arch your springs for you...I'm picturing add-a-leaf.

I haven't called this guy yet to find out about pricing, but if his prices were reasonable and he could semi guarantee me a good spring lift would you guys risk it?

By that I mean if I could get a new lift kit for $200 as opposed to $450?

 

Well, I just got off the phone with the guy I told him I might want to raise my jeep about 2". In reality my jeep already sits about 2" high but it's with an add-a-leaf kit.

All I would really want would be to keep the same ride height but make the ride softer.

He said that he wouldn't make a new set of leafs for mine since I was only raising the vehicle 2". He said he'd remove the 1/2" thick add-a-leaf and replace it with 2 1/4" leafs and then re-arch my springs giving me the lift I want with a softer ride.

I also explained to him about the tilted / leaning shackles. He understood and said they would straighten and align all my hangars.

The price would be $350.00 (approximately). It would be much cheaper if I removed the springs and brought them to him, but if I were to let him do it I'd want him to start with the jeep on it's tires on the ground...just to be sure that when he put it back together that everything worked like it was supposed to.

I'm thinking that I might could do this, and if it turned out the springs were too soft, I'd have the 9000's to stiffen it up a bit as needed.

 

I knew you were going to say that.

Actually I think I'm going to see what new shocks do before I do anything to the springs. Honestly the ride really isn't just terrible as it is. It's really my wife I'm trying to make say "hey this thing rides really good" as opposed to "dangit! I hate this thing, it rides like a log truck"

 

Thanks for the advice. I think I'll stick with my current plan of R9000's and the add-a-leaf. If the ride doesn't get that much better, I'll check out the BDS system.

 

I'm fighting this battle too, John. I've just about come to the realization that unless you want to spend $750 for Holbrook longleafs, you're just going to have a rough ride... I'm sure some are worse than others (I personally think Lulu is on the "worse" end of the spectrum), but none will likely be referred to as "riding really good".

Like everyone else, I wouldn't re-arch. I have no experiece with it, but I've always heard that they won't hold the arch for very long.

 

IMHO you aren't going to get a nice ride from an early CJ without significant body roll, or without outboarding the springs. The springs are too close to the center of the vehicle to prevent lean unless they are stiff.

Soft, supportive seats are a better upgrade, again IMHO. I had some high-back Bostroms in my CJ6 which were expensive but great. Same seats they used in the race cars.

BTW each time the rearching question comes up on IFSJA, several people always advise not to do it. No personal experience, but it seems that the concensus is that rearched springs quickly sag.

 

I just thought of something I might could use this guy for.

Since he's supposedly experienced in springs and suspension, then maybe he could take Nixon and straighten out the bent hangars and install some new spring wraps and re-stack my existing springs for me.

Sort of re-align everything front to rear.

 

I have had several springs rearched for damaged vehicle repair. (It wasnt my idea, i just installed the parts for the boss). In all cases the springs began sagging again soon after. My brother in law had a spring re arch lift installed but it went south soon thereafter. Dont waste your money is my advice

 

Thanks Lynn, I really don't know how much lift I've got but I know it's higher than stock. I compared it once to a CJ7 just measuring from the concrete to the top of the hood and I had 2" over the stock CJ7 with the same tires and rims.

 

probaly rides better than mine w/ F-450 front shocks.
(all I could get locally for 3 inch lift)

 

She shoulda ridden with me last May John.

 

Many moons ago, about 1974 or so, my '71 J-2000 pickup began to show signs of sagging springs in the front, and I kinda wanted a lift, but knew not how to accomplish such a feat. My father-in-law stepped in and said "let me have them springs boy, and I'll get them re-arched." So I did and they sagged within about two months. I suppose that if one were to individually re-arch the springs within the pack and then heat treat them to recrystalize the metal, they would stay arched. By then you could have bought Sparky's TJ and chromed it though. FWIW, my new skyjacker 2" softride suspension is nice. I've been told that these springs will sag sooner than others, but for now, its really nice.

JK

 

john, if you are talking about how the shackles kinda point out ( from the frame to the out side of the jeep) this is a normal situation for a jeep. why? because, and i dont know why, but the width of the springs on the diff is narower then the width of the frame

or i guess another way to put it is, the center to center of the spring perches on the diff is less then the center to center of the frame.