Axel swap help!!

I have a 91 wrangler and as you know the front as the back has leaf springs which makes for a rough ride does anyone know where I could get it swapped to a newer axle to make the front like the tj's and jk's

Futurejeepman said:

I have a 91 wrangler and as you know the front as the back has leaf springs which makes for a rough ride does anyone know where I could get it swapped to a newer axle to make the front like the tj's and jk's

Click to expand...

My dads 91 yj has the same problem. We just installed a 6 inch rough country lift and it had the shackle lift on top of it as well. We test drove it and noticed there was a lot of vibration as well as stiffness. We called rough country up and they said it was the aftermarket shackle lift. So we are now in the process of putting on factory shackles. I hope this helped out.

Your axles are fine but, if you really want to soften things up like a TJ, you'd have to do some modifications to them and your frame so that you can run coils.

Futurejeepman said:

I have a 91 wrangler and as you know the front as the back has leaf springs which makes for a rough ride does anyone know where I could get it swapped to a newer axle to make the front like the tj's and jk's

Click to expand...

That is a lot of work to put a factory type suspension under it. You might be better off looking at what you could do with a completely custom setup. Either way, you are in for a good bit of fabrication and some $$$.

I often thought the early bronco type suspension would be easy to put under something since all of the parts except the axle tabs for the c-bushing and the coil seats are bolt on as well as readily available from places like James Duff and Wild Horses 4x4. It wouldn't be as good as a traditional Jeep link suspension, but something to consider.

A quick image search "long arm jeep suspensions" shows that rough country makes a suspension that operates very closely to how a bronco suspension works, but uses the factory link mounts on the axle housing. Again, $$$, and you would either have to get axle housings with the mounts, or get the mounts and weld them on yourself, but it does come with just about everything else you need.

You also have the option of working with the leaf springs. If you move your leaf spring mounts further apart, you can use longer springs, longer shackles, and a softer spring rate to give you the ride you want. Longer springs and longer shackles will also give you more flex. Contrary to what you were told, the longer shackles don't make your ride harsh, stiff springs do. Bottoming out (or topping out if you didn't get longer shocks with your lift) your shocks will also give you a harsh ride.

wayoflife said:

Your axles are fine but, if you really want to soften things up like a TJ, you'd have to do some modifications to them and your frame so that you can run coils.

Click to expand...

Thanks for helping guys I think I'm ganna save up a little more and do a full swap do y'all know anywhere near Houston the could do it for me to where I could run coils

I don't know what you have for springs under your Jeep but I will tell you the stock ones that are that old suck! Back in November, the day before PVD, I had a BDS 2" lift installed on my 88 YJ and it made all the difference in the world. Much better ride no matter on-road or off-road and it flexs way better than the stock springs that were on it. I have also found that with the extra ground clearence I am able to clear more rocks than before.

BTW I actually got 3" of lift out of the kit but I have not measured the height since.

If you look there are company's making kits to swap the leaf springs out for a tj style link set up and coil overs, I have seen a few with it, just can't remember who made it.


If you don't push the limits how do you find them??

Futurejeepman said:

I have a 91 wrangler and as you know the front as the back has leaf springs which makes for a rough ride does anyone know where I could get it swapped to a newer axle to make the front like the tj's and jk's

Click to expand...

Couldn't send the pics by message so...




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-Big E

If your jeep has shackles like in pic 1 that could give you handling problems, but if they are like pic 2 those are stock and just fine. Now I will add that I did have to go with a boomarang style shackle on the rear as the military wrap on the BDS springs were hitting the frame. I was told by BDS that some YJ's have the springs hit and some don't so YMMV.

Yea I just got the rear shackles on now I have to do the front. The reason why I had to do this cause I put a 6 inch rough country lift on it and the new rear driveshaft and its sitting on a ridiculous angle so it vibrates like crazy and there is a rough ride to it plus with the old bigger shackle pic 1 it knocked all the alignment way off.


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-Big E

That's the angle the rear driveshaft had with the big aftermarket shackles pic 1 lol....


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-Big E