* 2 1/2--inch wide by 44-inch with a 9.16-inch rubber post bushing and a 9.16-inch rubber shackle bushing (pn eSJ-4F)
* 2 1/2--inch wide by 52-inch with a 7.8-inch rubber post bushing and a 9.16-inch rubber shackle bushing (pn eSJ-478r)
Before the lift, our J2000 drove like it had a rigid suspension-plain and simple. it took a few hundred miles for the hell creek springs to settle in, but once they did, we found the ride to be much softer than stock and really enjoyable. You still know you're driving a highly arched leaf-spring vehicle, but it's definitely no back-cracker. We've hauled several engines in the bed, and can attest the rear springs are capable of holding a load without going to noodles. The pro comp all Terrain tires are as smooth and quiet as a light-truck tire gets. We really dig the rugged look of our 15x8 eaton simulated bead locks, and while the 31.2-inch backspacing is a little hard on the arms while turning with manual steering, they place the wheels and tires correctly in the wheelwells and keep the tires from rubbing the springs at full turn.
One area we neglected to address in this story is the steering. our manual steering box is going to be swapped to a power box from a later FSJ truck down the road, so we didn't bother installing any type of dropped pitman arm to address the drag-link angle. We do experience bumpsteer when we encounter+++ large bumps, but during normal driving, we don't really notice any bad feedback through the wheel. We're told a dropped pitman arm for a '76-and-later cJ with manual steering will work on our box, but we can't confirm it. We'll be adding a 4-inch dropped pitman arm to our power FSJ box when we make the swap in a future issue.
The front hell creek springs...
The front hell creek springs slipped on like a dream. you can remove the front shackles for the install, but we were able install the springs with the shackles in place. We just had to pry on the bolts a little when they contacted the frame going into the springs. longer brake lines would be a good idea, but our truck had previously been modified by bending the hard line on the frame down. it'll do until the front axle swap happens. The shocks required a 237.8-inch eye-to-eye length at ride height and a max length of 28 inches eye-to-eye at full droop. We had a set of 27-inch-long shocks in the shed that worked out well.
Hell creek offers these sweet...
Hell creek offers these sweet u-bolt flip plates that will work with 2 3/4 - 3 1/4-inch axletube diameters. We'll put them to use when we install the '83 dodge front axle we swiped from cappa's dirt farm when he was out scaring up a possum dinner.
The factory rear spring packs...
The factory rear spring packs are built with eight monster leaves for an estimated load capacity of a jillion pounds. note the lift blocks that are overlapping the spring perches and waiting to spit themselves out.
Compared with the factory...
Compared with the factory springs, the hell creek packs are built with five leaves, plus a sixth overload leaf. check the "driving impressions" sidebar to see what we think of the difference. in case you're running a cv rear driveshaft, the hell creek rear springs come with the correct degree shims to rotate the pinion. our rig runs a standard u-jointed driveshaft, so we didn't need the shims.
After lubing the spring eyes...
After lubing the spring eyes and installing the spring on the forward-post mount, we swung the spring up into the shackle and slid the bolts home. note the Berlin eye built into the hell creek rear springs. Without this little bend in the main leaf, the spring will make contact with the shackle under full compression, resulting in a jarring ride. The Berlin eye gives the necessary clearance for full suspension movement.
Note the full range of shackle...
Note the full range of shackle movement afforded by the highly arched rear springs. We now have a whole lot more wheel travel out back. The rear shocks that were on the truck when we bought it worked well without bottoming or topping. We measured them out at 201.2 inches eyeto-eye at static height.