Leaf Spring install nightmare

Yah there definitely a text message this morning that started with "Maybe I should re-engineer the garage" lol

 

I've installed springs easily by stretching them with a hydralic porta-power.

 

Wait, you're saying that some projects don't go sideways everytime? My wife used to ask "how long is it going to take you out there?" whenever I was going out to the garage to do something. I always under estimated how long it would take, no matter how simple the job. Anyone with a wife knows that's never a good look. So now I learned to over promise and under deliver. Plus the answer to the question now is "I don't know, but ask me when I'm done and I'll tell you how long it took."

 

I was just laughing about that the other day. It's ridiculous when even the simplest stuff gets hoarked up. It took me 2hrs to do a 15min shock install because it refused to stop and get out the grinder to do it right.

I'm my own worst enemy.


That said, I did whip in my leafs by myself. It did take a couple hours, so you might just say that one went right?

 

Under promise and over deliver perhaps?

 

I prioritize almost any project that I know will take any amount of time for when the rincess: is at work. It generally has kept us happy.

 

Can confirm - started looking at re-engineering the garage door to get the door higher when it's open since it's the door and not the garage sill that's too low

 

I swapped my whole suspension over when my wife and kid went to Taiwan. It was magical.

 

Oh, they don't want to take back the product they sold to you which is incorrect? Great. I'd call my credit card company and have them reverse the charge. Then I'd probably sell them later on.

 

This doesn't make sense to me. If your axle wasn't low enough to make room and then you lowered it more, that would bring the two eyes of the leaf pack closer together hence if the front was bolted in, it would move the rear farther away....

Anyway, you should be able to install the leaf pack on the frame without much fuss as the eye-to-eye distance is what is important. It should fit without being compressed much. It might need a little help with a bottle jack or something, but if it's 6" off, that is wrong IMO. Maybe I'm wrong but that seems way too much.

What you would have to do in this instance is attach the front, then attach the pack to the axle, and place the other end of the spring on the frame. Then jack up the axle to compress the spring, thus making the distance between the eyes longer and eventually fitting in. I haven't ever had to do this on a leaf spring install, other than some minor adjustment. But I don't know anything about this Atlas company. I replaced mine with OME/Dakar's and they just went right in no issue at all.


Is the OP sure that this spring setup is not meant to use an aftermarket spring hanger setup?

 

They should at least send him the right springs.
I can understand them not wanting them returned, considering freight costs.
Back in the day, ARB sent me a replacement spring; no return necessary.

 

Sure, but he's made it sound like they won't do anything.

 

See that's what we thought too, so we kept pressing up on the spring from the middle but the problem is that we couldn't get the bolts through the seat holes. So the spring wasn't deflecting or bending at all, it was just lifting up in the rear and getting further away from the seat (the front was bolted in already). That's why it took us so long to figure it out because it was counterintuitive. But without the seats being plugged in, you need the axle lower so that it'll just settle down into it. It wasn't a matter of how close together the eyes were, it was how high or low they were. We just needed 1 extra inch more lowering from the center to drop the whole thing in then it was just super easy. The instructions kept just saying "Now drop the leaf springs into the seats" kind of exactly how you just said, "What you would have to do in this instance is attach the front, then attach the pack to the axle, and place the other end of the spring on the frame." You obviously had enough space springs for this to work. We did not, largely due to having shorter jacks holding up the frame so the diff kept touching the floor before we realized we could lift up the opposite much higher, creating a better difference in heights overall and extending the axle below the full extension of the shocks.

I understand what you're saying though, but it wasn't length that was the problem, it was depth. Make sense?

 

Ahh, well yeah I typically have the opposite side of the axle lifted higher to give more room on the working side just in general.

 

Yah, we were too focused on symmetry Once we learned that lesson, it was smooth sailing.

 

True...
But, for the life of me, I can't imagine a way of coming up 4-6" short due to user error.

 

I read his comments as the leaf springs are too long by 4-6" not the other way around, and they were going to try to bend them to get them in. Even if he somehow managed to do that he'd have waaaay too much lift and it'd ride like shit

 

In that case I'm putting money on backwards hangars. OP is awfully quiet.. lol

 

Don't worry I already know I'm an asshole!

 

Shots Fired!