Rear Suspension: Deaver Leaf Springs with Sway-A-Way Shocks.
Published by Trails Less Traveled on April 9th, 2004
Custom Wrangler leaf springs from Deaver provide 1.5” lift, mounted above the axle for a total approximate 6.5” of lift over stock height.
The U-bolt spring plates were designed to allow for small adjustments in wheelbase and suspension geometry. There are 3 leaf spring centering-pin holes in each plate to allow for the axle to mount 3/4” forward or rearward of the middle hole. Currie spring pads were drilled to match the TLT u-bolt spring plates with 1 1/2” of total adjustment in each axle’s location. This ensures that wheels are properly centered in wheel wells on compression of the suspension and accounts for some differences in manufacturers installed spring lengths.
TLT shackles are CNC machined from 3/8” steel plate. They are 4.5” long eye to eye and 3.118” wide. The shackle length and position was calculated to allow clearance for the frame through the entire range of suspension travel, while being as short as practical. The boltholes are recessed and each bushing is grease-able through the zerk fitting on every bolt head.
We run 2.5” diameter shocks with remote reservoirs in the rear. They have a 12” stroke and 7” of compression from ride height. We are running 12” travel shocks in the rear because the collapsed eye-to-eye length is only 19.5” (14” shock length = 21.5”), and we needed to mount the shocks within the height of the wheel-wells, outside the frame-rails. If the shocks were any longer, they would have limited our compression travel. The 39.5” TSL Swampers stuff perfectly into the tub’s wheel-wells that have been trimmed to a 20” radius, and to the height of the interior wheel tub.
Rear upper shock mounts were fabricated from 1.5”x.120” tubing. Shock mounting tabs are located 10.5” above the top edge of the frame rail (outside of the frame-rails). That was only possible because the axles are 7” wider than stock (63” WMS-to-WMS). Narrower axles would cause the tires to hit the shocks on articulated compression. Ideal shock placement on the rear suspension of any full-bodied Jeep is a tough subject. Running the rear shocks inside of the frame-rails would have forced us to use shorter shocks (would have limited travel) and angle them in at the top (the dampening would be less effective), or bring the shocks up through the floor-pan. We have tried all of these options in the past, and have never been satisfied with the consequences.
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