Leaf Spring Repair on the Trail
This past weekend in Harlan, Ky our group experienced two serious leaf spring failures. In my case I was able to get my jeep back to camp make repairs there. In the second case, we had to repair the Jeep before it could be extracted from the obstacle where it broke.
On my Jeep, I noticed that the rear axle was moving back under braking. It would sometimes contact the rear of the fender opening. I carefully drove I back to camp minimizing the scraping on the tire.
Once I removed the wheel, I saw that the center pin of the spring pack had sheared off. This loss allowed the axle to move the rest of the spring pack along then main leaf.
I used a floor jack under the axle to support it. I then used a Hi Lift jack to lift the body of the XJ enough to unload the spring. I sat the Jeep down of a large log to give it stability during the repair.
After removing the U bolts, I was able to line up all the leafs of the spring pack and drive out the remainder of the pin. I then went into town and was able to buy a new set of pins at Advance Auto.
I used a screwdriver to line up the holes in the leaves and slipped the new pin into place. I used two C clamps to compress the spring pack while I tightened the pin. Once the spring pack was back together, I used a ratchet strap to pull the axle back into alignment with the spring pack. I then used the floor jack to press the pin into the hole in the axle.
I then reinstalled the U bolts and tightened then securely. I remounted the wheel and removed the blocks. I will inspect the other side and replace that pin in my shop at home.
The second leaf spring failure of the weekend was more serious. At the end of an especially difficult obstacle, my friend broke the main leak spring just in front of the axle tube. This breakage allowed the axle to move forward and back uncontrolled as well as side to side some. He was unable to move more than a few feet at a time.
His Jeep was also in a precarious place. We were able to get the spring back into place enough for him to roll back down to a somewhat level spot. We then used the weight of the Jeep to force the two parts of the spring close to the correct position.
Next we used two C clamps to press the main leaf into the supporting leaves. Friction between the leaves held it together. He added several wraps of baling wire to give some lateral support. He then added a ratchet strap to keep the whole assemble from sliding apart to the rear.
Which the spring secured in this manner, he was able have his XJ winched out of the hole it was in and then he was able to drive it a few miles down the trail to where we could pick it up on his trailer.
Through some clever thinking and working together, both of us were able to keep our Jeeps going. By working with the tools and supplies available both Jeeps made it home safely and without an expensive tow bill.