Over-Axle Conversion?

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attack tiger

attack tiger

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Has anybody ever considered or gone through with converting their worn-out rear leaf springs to an over-axle application as an inexpensive temporary fix for a sagging rear? I have a couple of perches...seems like I could just weld them on top of the axle housing and flip the shock mount plates and get an instant 3+ inches of lift. I'm FLAT broke right now and I'm beyond tired of scraping my headers everytime I hit a slight dip in the road.

Any comments? Thanks!
 
Sorry but I think it would totally ruin your suspension geometry and make your car have that 70's stink-bug look.IMO If your headers are scraping I would look at adjusting the front-end ride height via the torsion bar adjusters first.Although if the back end is sagging might not be a good look either.
 
attack tiger said:
Has anybody ever considered or gone through with converting their worn-out rear leaf springs to an over-axle application as an inexpensive temporary fix for a sagging rear? I have a couple of perches...seems like I could just weld them on top of the axle housing and flip the shock mount plates and get an instant 3+ inches of lift. I'm FLAT broke right now and I'm beyond tired of scraping my headers everytime I hit a slight dip in the road.

Any comments? Thanks!
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air shocks.
 
jomoper said:
Sorry but I think it would totally ruin your suspension geometry and make your car have that 70's stink-bug look.IMO If your headers are scraping I would look at adjusting the front-end ride height via the torsion bar adjusters first.Although if the back end is sagging might not be a good look either.
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When I say they're sagging low, I mean they're sagging LOW. They have absolultely no curve left in them at all. I lowered the front so it would sit evenly, and that put my headers about 2" off the ground. I think a three inch lift would put it somewhere around stock or stock plus one...so I don't think the geometry would be that far off...except for maybe the shock length. But my shocks are blown to kingdom come anyway, so I'm sure they will compress far enough to bolt on...might even be a bit stiffer by doing so.

Optik said:
air shocks.
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Beyond the fact that I'm FLAT broke...and will be for some time (new baby coming soon), I've heard that you run the risk of ripping your top mount right off the frame by doing that. I'm eventually going to do ESPO (stock +1")...got the quote from them yesterday at about 250 for everything. Wouldn't want to waste money I could put toward them on air shocks, ya know?
 
I would just put it on hold till you can do it right IMHO.Sounds like you'll be busy with the new arrival soon anyways !
 
Shakles will only worsen the problem. They will allow more room for the springs to continue to sag and they will actually arch backwards. If you're flat out broke, the cheapest and best choice is air shocks. They are safe as long as you install them correctly and only pump them up just enough to put the rear where you want it. you can probably find a used pair on EvilBay.
 
jomoper said:
I would just put it on hold till you can do it right IMHO.Sounds like you'll be busy with the new arrival soon anyways !
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I was just thinking of a low-cost, short-term fix. Wouldn't be much trouble...got some time before she comes around.

StrokerScamp said:
Shakles will only worsen the problem. They will allow more room for the springs to continue to sag and they will actually arch backwards. If you're flat out broke, the cheapest and best choice is air shocks. They are safe as long as you install them correctly and only pump them up just enough to put the rear where you want it. you can probably find a used pair on EvilBay.
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I hate Ebay...might just live with it. And I've already heard enough bad stuff about shackles to not bother with them...don't worry!



I was really just curious to see if anybody had ever actually done it. I hate being the first to try something because I HATE wasting time on wild goose chases.
 
I did it on a 70 Duster back when I was 16 years old. The car sat way to high in the back (there was like 4" between the top of the tire & the bottom of the wheel well) & the steering/handling sucked.

I think you should wait to do it right or if you really need to do something, then buy a set of air shocks. Don't do it...you will regret it.
 
I'd find a pair of the shock overload springs, the kind you use muffler clamps on, the junkyards are full of them, look under truck rears.. I've used them plenty of times instead of air shocks, thay work great and shouldn't cost ya over $20....
 
I've seen people do the oposite to drop a car. So I wouldn't see the big deal of putting the rearend on the bottom side of the leaf spring vs the top side....as long as you do it right....that or remove the headers...
 
TexasDart said:
I've seen people do the oposite to drop a car. So I wouldn't see the big deal of putting the rearend on the bottom side of the leaf spring vs the top side....as long as you do it right....that or remove the headers...
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That's a lot of work to relocate the rear when you can pick up a set of shock springs at about any junkyard for under $20....
 
greenhornet said:
That's a lot of work to relocate the rear when you can pick up a set of shock springs at about any junkyard for under $20....
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+1 or you could just add a leaf with band clamps. It would be much faster and easier. I understand that you are broke, but think about down the road. You will be thinking "why the heck did I do that?"
 
Spring-over-axle conversions are common on Jeeps, especially YJ Wranglers and they create a whole host of issues to overcome. Since you're talking about a Duster, you won't have to deal with steering linkage or front end geometry, but you will have major problems with axle wrap and drive line angle/breakage if you have decent power.

That being said let me tell you how I solved the problem on my 70 Duster.
I installed a short style add-a-leaf kit in my severely sagging springs. The kit I used is Explorer part # EXP13120 available from 4Wheel Parts (4wheelparts.com) for about $35. I did this about 4 years ago and was so happy with the result that even though I later upgraded the rest of the suspension (Magnum Force, Helwig, etc.), I have never felt the need to change out the springs. Yes the rear is now stiffer than stock, but it balances nicely with my larger torsion bars in front.
I've since done this to 2 other Dusters with similar results.
 
It will be more like 4+ inches of lift. You have to add the height of the spring perches times 2 and the thickness of the spring. Over 4 inches of lift is a lot of lift.


Chuck
 
All good stuff. Thanks guys! I was more or less just thinking out loud...trying to get a different perspective.

I'll check the junkyard for shock overload springs. I guess the best way to do that would be to jack the rear up so the shocks are fully extended before I clamp them on?

If I can't locate any of them, I'll look into that Explorer kit. I appreciate the input.
 
attack tiger said:
All good stuff. Thanks guys! I was more or less just thinking out loud...trying to get a different perspective.

I'll check the junkyard for shock overload springs. I guess the best way to do that would be to jack the rear up so the shocks are fully extended before I clamp them on?

If I can't locate any of them, I'll look into that Explorer kit. I appreciate the input.
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Shock springs will be the cheapest, adding a leaf or two would be the next cheapest.. Back in the 80's I had a '70 GTX, wide tires and air shocks, I was out cruisin' one night and thought I need more air in these shocks, little did I know my shocks had more air in them then the gas station air machine, it let air out of my air shocks and the car sat down on the tires, I had to bum a ride home to get two spares to get my car home, after that I said screw air shocks, I found me 2 overload shock springs and never had shock problems again, a few years back I put some 245-50-15's on the rear of my elcamino, rub-rub-rub-, put on some shock springs, raised it acouple of inches, problem solved....
 
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