|
|
|
Fabricated Leaf
Spring Hangers
Front
Leaf Springs -
Rear Hangers My choice of axles was factored by a few things.
First, I had no axles to begin with so I could think with some
latitude. I decided on a set of available Scout II Dana 44
axles. In retrospect, I probably would have looked for a
Wagoneer front axle instead of the Scout but my idea for a mounting
system gave me the ability to change the axle even if the spring pad
width was different then the Scout axle I installed. The next question was do I modify the front axle to meet
the frame or do I modify the frame to meet the axle. The Scout
II front Dana 44 had a wider spring pad width than the CJ-7
frame. About 1 3/4 per side wider. Modifying the axle
meant either shortening the long tube and shifting the axle towards
the driver side. Higher expense to do so since I have more time
than money. Modifying the frame meant widening the spring
hangers to meet the pads. After reading and talking to others
who had done the same project I finally decided to just design my own
bolt-on hangers. After much sketching, thinking and measuring I
came up with a design that I think is well over-engineered and yet is
a bolt-on design (after some pre-drilling) and uses all of the
existing holes up front. All of the hardware is 1/4 inch steel
angle iron with the exception of a large 3/8 piece of angle iron on
the rearward hangers. This page covers the rear hangers. |
|
These are the halves of the rear hanger. Length is 6½"
|
 |
|
 Upper and right images are the rear
hangers. Same width and drop off the frame. All
cutting was done with an angle grinder and a thin metal cutting
wheel. |
Inside width is 3" (Springs 2½" plus bushings at ¼" each). Height is 3¼" |
|
Drilling out the hole for the greasable bolts. Hole was drilled 2¼" above the base of the angle iron. 2¼" because I was maintaining the same distance off the frame as
the old hangers and accounting for the angle iron used to mount these hangers. |
Old and the new (not welded yet) |
| With both halves clamped down and flat I used the
bolt to align both halves and tack welded them together. Then I
removed the bolt and welded the halves. |
 |
|
Next came the end plates (3 3/8" x 1") to box it off and
strengthen the hangers. Where all the pieces came together,
the metal was notched to allow a good welding bead to fill the
notch. This allowed areas that needed to be flat to be
ground down without grinding off the bead of weld.
|
 |
 |
|
Old hanger measured for accurate location of new
hanger then cut off. |
Here is a shot of a coat of Coroless being
applied to protect the bare metal. Then Black Chassis paint
was applied. |
|
|
|
|
Home-built
Serious Skid-Plate protection for the Oil Pan for under 20 bucks!
