Reversing Leaf Springs

[littleredrangerhood]

Has anyone tried flipping the leaf springs around so the short side is attached to the shackle and the long side is attached to the hard mounted front hanger? I am shortening the wheel base and chopping off about 15" of frame and thought this would be a great way to get a better departure angle. I know Cherokees are set up this way and a lot of Jeep guys do something similar with offset springs to increase their wheelbase.

Any problems you forsee?

And yes, I know if I do this I need to redo the driveshaft but I am shortening the wheelbase already and am planning on building square tube-steel driveshafts anyway.

 

[Wicked_Sludge]

seems like it would hurt articulation some with the "short" lever on the shackle side....but i dont know for sure.

 

[littleredrangerhood]

seems like it would hurt articulation some with the "short" lever on the shackle side....but i dont know for sure.

Yeah, this thought crossed my mind but like I said, Cherokees run this setup and I have seen some FLEXY Cherokees.

 

[Sunk]

Well cherokee suspensions are set up differently. A truck would have a stiffer spring rate, and that would affect the flex. But you could always run some longer shackles to regain any flex you lose.

 

[littleredrangerhood]

Well cherokee suspensions are set up differently. A truck would have a stiffer spring rate, and that would affect the flex. But you could always run some longer shackles to regain any flex you lose.

Yeah, this thought also crossed my mind. I am already running the belltechs but I could easily make longer and beefier shackles. If I did make longer shackles would I put it at more of an angle like this \ to retain the same ride height while gaining back the flex lost by flipping the springs?

 

[suepahfly]

Spring wrap could be an issue, but if you used a traction bar, it would probably work good.

 

[vrruumm]

I would swear that moving the weight of the vehicle towards the shackle would cause the shackle to flex back more as long as the shackle angle was correct. No? Just theorizing. I've moved springs around like this a few times though, and had no noticable change.