Shim question on leaf packs

[Dave-T]

Helpful info from the Spector site. I followed their recommendations and the set up turned out great. The pics and captions got a little jacked up on their way over.

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 3

This image shows the stock
position of the axle housing.

When you raise a vehicle by adding length
shackles, the axle housings rotates downward
changing differential and steering components
angles and geometry.

Using the proper shim rotates the
axle and steering components back
to the correct position.

 

[inkpot]

Disagreeing. Shim points towards the drivers seat or away from shackle.

Howdy! Yea, my bad. for spring-under axle, it should have the fat end of the shim towards the shackle. I have been spring over for 20+ years, and I always thinking of my setup, even when I know it is for spring-under. Sorry. John

 

[2020 Rocks]

What a bag of worms I have opened. I now have the info I need. Once again, Thanks be to Mud, I really appreciate all of the responses. I had the shim oriented the correct way, I just did not bolt it in with the spring pack as I should have.

 

[Mace]

Looks like the orietnation of the shims has been addressed

Generally,
Spring under (non shackle reversal) - Thick part goes towards the shackle
Spring over - If you did a SO and now need shims you screwed up somewhere


The shim does not bolt to the leaf pack unless you have a new design that I have never seen before. The shim in placed inbetween the leaf pack and the axle housing... There is a bit of a misunderstanding about center pin terminology... lots of people sell extended spring pins.. That refers to the threaded portion of the pin. NOT the head (or button as you were talking about). What you need are center pins with taller "button". Dave T posted some good pics about it.

In this pic you see a stock alignment pin and an aftermarket one. Notice how long the "button" is on the aftermarket one. That is what you need. Without the alignment pin entering the spring pad on the axle (longer button) you can never tighten the U bolts down enough to keep the axle where it needs to be. The bottom portion of the leaf pin will shear and you will lose the pin itself (what you experienced).

You need these. (Taken from Spector Off road, or sourced locally)

Noice how tall the "button" is on them?

 

[cruiser88]

Looks like the orietnation of the shims has been addressed

Generally,
Spring under (non shackle reversal) - Thick part goes towards the shackle
Spring over - If you did a SO and now need shims you screwed up somewhere


The shim does not bolt to the leaf pack unless you have a new design that I have never seen before. The shim in placed inbetween the leaf pack and the axle housing... There is a bit of a misunderstanding about center pin terminology... lots of people sell extended spring pins.. That refers to the threaded portion of the pin. NOT the head (or button as you were talking about). What you need are center pins with taller "button". Dave T posted some good pics about it.

In this pic you see a stock alignment pin and an aftermarket one. Notice how long the "button" is on the aftermarket one. That is what you need. Without the alignment pin entering the spring pad on the axle (longer button) you can never tighten the U bolts down enough to keep the axle where it needs to be. The bottom portion of the leaf pin will shear and you will lose the pin itself (what you experienced).

You need these. (Taken from Spector Off road, or sourced locally)

Noice how tall the "button" is on them?

Thank you

 

[Spud]

I did not see it mentioned here...But most folks will agree that you should use steel shims as opposed to aluminum because over time the aluminum can deform and/or crack.

 

[boots4]

The shim does not bolt to the leaf pack unless you have a new design that I have never seen before.

The steel ones I bought were designed to bolt to the pack. There is a recess to make the hole level on the sloped side of the shim. It can kind of be seen in this pic of the shims.

[URL="http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/ForSale/Shims.shtml"]4Crawler Offroad Products - Custom Leaf Spring Shims[/URL]

There is a good pic of this design on the link above. It's shown on the second set of pics and shows both styles.

 

[Mace]

Sweet, had not seen those before. Too bad they are not for sale right now. I think I need a set for Bob..

 

[Spud]

Pretty sure mine were like that too....cept' no so friggin shiny.

 

[boots4]

Sweet, had not seen those before. Too bad they are not for sale right now. I think I need a set for Bob..

I got mine here JKW Offroad

They're towards the bottom of the page and have a couple different degrees.

 

[Mace]

I am really happy that shims are being designed this way now. Do they take into account the different pin sizes in the cruisers?

 

[boots4]

I didn't reuse the cruiser bolts since I'm not running cruiser springs so I can't answer that. If the cruiser bolts are bigger then a simple drill out of the shim would be easy enough.

 

[Mace]

I didn't reuse the cruiser bolts since I'm not running cruiser springs so I can't answer that. If the cruiser bolts are bigger then a simple drill out of the shim would be easy enough.

It's not a too large thing, it is a too small thing. Mostly an issue with 40 series..

 

[2020 Rocks]

I've ordered the correct pins with the longer bolt head. Maybe someday I'll finish patching up my suspension.