Bracket that holds leaf springs together fell off

[dagod16]

One of the metal brackets that holds my leaf springs together on the back has rusted off. How do I reattach another bracket?

Thanks

[nateyz2000]

The brackets really just hold leafs from moving side to side, the van also limit flex of springs;-)

[4.3LXJ]

The things you are talking about are called spring clips. They maintain alignment of the leaves. Generally there are three per spring. Loss of one should be no big deal

[nickxj94]

I took all mine off when I added the aal there really useless IMO

[dagod16]

I didn't think missing one spring clip was a big deal. Is this something I can get replaced?

[4.3LXJ]

Spring clips need some way of staying in place. The factory rivets them. Some aftermarket clips nave a little indentation that will fit in a hole. To use one of these, you need to grind or drill the rivet out. Then you can use one that will not migrate to the end of the spring where it will be useless

[nickyg]

I found this pic. I got mine from a friend who works in a trailer shop.

[NW99XJ]

My leaf springs look like this:

http://www.suspensionconnection.com/images/items/800x700/49390_cherokee_leaf_springs_large.jpg

I WISH they looked like this:
http://claytonoffroad.com/images/XJ-45-LEAF.jpg

The problem is....that without those spring clips, the lower most leaf, tends to wander a bit and clock itself out of position.
http://i1104.photobucket.com/albums/h328/jbchill1/LEAFSPRING.jpg (http://s1104.photobucket.com/user/jbchill1/media/LEAFSPRING.jpg.html)

The U-bolts alone are not enough to keep it clocked perfectly straight, at least when you're talking about a fair amount of flex offroad, and the vibrations of washboard logging roads...... all that combined forces those lower springs in these configurations to fan out from center..... I have had to flex out my rear end and hammer them back into place (as best I can - this isn't easy) more than a few times.

If you got rid of them altogether, then ALL of the leaves would do this, and probably with just normal driving conditions.
Everyone's results may vary, but thats my 2 cents. :smiley-taunt013:

[dagod16]

nickyg. Where can I buy those two parts to replace what I have lost?

Also do leaf springs last forever or should I replace them? If I get a different spring then won't it lift the back end up higher.

[nickyg]

I got mine from a friend who works in a shop that builds/repairs trailers. I would think any auto part store can get em.

I just did a search on amazon for leaf spring clip and found a few.

Any kind of spring can wear out. I knew mine was toast when the rear was sitting lower then the front.
If you look at stock jeeps half of em will have a sag. at least thats what I noticed.