Coil or leaf spring for a SAS on a 99 2WD?

Sup fellas, well here i am, i have a SAs parts deal at the reach of my fingers. Im really positive i can get the money so ill get the parts.
Its a 87 XJ Dana 30 High Pinion, with coils, control arms and steering links.

Ill go with the Xj suspension stock parts, because i dont plan to build an extreme wheeling machine that needs crazy ground clearance and flexing capacities.

Dont talk me into a better axle, thats what i can get, and that fits my needs, and suits my engine capacities. 4 banger 2.5, 4.10 gears with 31"s and 33"s as a top tire size in the future. I wont go hardcore wheeling, i just wanna improve from 1WD to 4x4. Please dont tell me to sell my truck and go buy a factory 4WD either.

I won't do the complete work right now, since i will need to save some more to do the transmission part.

Now here comes the issue.
The 98+ 2wd Ranger has the A arm setup with coils.
And the coil buckets are built in in the frame. the inside wall of the frame works as part of the crossmember.

I was thinking about cutting the buckets, cutting the crossmember along, re-boxing the frame with 1/4" steel, make it a "straight" frame basically, and then work my way into making a crossmember thats strong enough(actually thinking about making 2 cossmembers) and that will let me have a fairly low height. Then ill mount some older Ranger coil buckets.

Option number 2:
Cut the inner wall of the frame/ crossmember, reinforce and make the mount for the steering box, make the crossmembers, and go with leaf spring setup.
Maybe a spring under axle setup to mantain a lower height.

Seems like going leafs would involve less work.

Here are some pictures of what my frame looks like.
Ill get better pictures tomorrow.




the crossmember holds the steering rack, right where the steering rack tie rod comes out in the pic, u can notice that the inner frame wall works as part of the crossmember




So i need your advice on which route i should take.
Do all thats required to mount the XJ coils, or go with leafs.

I would like to hear pro's and cons of each setup.

Thanks in advance, RSH.

idk home skillet!!! lol

Leafs ftw!

leafs are cheap, easy, and effective.. but NOT the best option out there... if it was my rig, i've already told you what i'd do, coils and longarns...

sure its gonna be a little more work, and i know you'll be using stock control arms right now, look and see if you have a way to weld up mount points for upper and lower control arms.. since the xj's are not 3 linked from factory.
i know you could do a link mount like and then use arms like

but do you have room for the 4 mount points of 2 uppers and 2 lowers? look under your truck and find out. if so, do that... till you can go longarm! lol.

what are you gonna do about coil buckets up top? wish you could find some coil buckets/shock towers like on my b2. that'd make that part super easy!
-- not my pic, found on google, but it is from TRS! lol.

if you can find those coil buckets, and make the link mounts work, i don't think it'll be any problem w/ your plan a.. just remember you gotta have a steering box. some yota boxes are great and should work in your application. or just one from an older RBV. and if possilbe, a good steering upgrade on the d30 is found on v8 zj (grand cherokees) here's a link to a write up on it, http://midsouthjeeps.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=4888&hilit=upgrade+yo+tie+rod

quoted from the write up linked above---
"Turns out the ZJ V8 Steering is made out of 1" Bar Stock (Compared to the flimsy 0.65" Tube on the TJ/XJ). You're talking about orders of magnitude increase in strength here.


PhotoCredit: StuOffroad

WHERE TO GET IT:
Sure, you can scour the junkyards for a '93-'97 Grand Cherokee with the 8 cylinder, but chances are IF you find one the steering will already be gone. IF not, it could be jacked up form sitting out in the elements for so long. Instead I suggest you do the following:

Go to AutoZone and order the following parts:

ES2079S Adjusting Sleve (Usually In Stock)
ES3096L Short Tie Rod End (Usually In Stock)
DS1312 Long Tie Rod End (Usually Must Order)

Here's the details from Autozone.com.


The install is as simple as pulling 2 pins, undoing two 19mm Castle Nuts... hammering the old rod out...setting the new rod to the same exact length..and reversing the process. Be sure and grease your ends after you're done. The whole process shouldn't take more than 30 minutes.

Here is a Writeup from StuOffroad"

leafs for simplicity.

lol nice summary kevin...

yeah, don't overlook leafs tho, they can be done simple and ride decent. look at the dirty white boy build, the b2.. its awesome and on leafs. don't think its daily driven tho... lol. so i guess i can see either build happening, and you being happy with it.

have you ever rode in a sas'ed yota before RSH? w/ leafs in the front? its not all that bad if you have soft enough leafs. so i guess what i'm trying to say is, either is doable and will give you a great outcome, i'm a coil and longarm fan myself just b/c they do then to have better street manners in rigs that i have driven before...

If i go with coils i would use the buckets from an older Ranger.
Steering box will come from an older Ranger too.

Shame i cant use the steering bars from a Ranger, or can i cut and sleeve them to make it work?

4.0B2 said:

lol nice summary kevin...

yeah, don't overlook leafs tho, they can be done simple and ride decent. look at the dirty white boy build, the b2.. its awesome and on leafs. don't think its daily driven tho... lol. so i guess i can see either build happening, and you being happy with it.

have you ever rode in a sas'ed yota before RSH? w/ leafs in the front? its not all that bad if you have soft enough leafs. so i guess what i'm trying to say is, either is doable and will give you a great outcome, i'm a coil and longarm fan myself just b/c they do then to have better street manners in rigs that i have driven before...

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Ordering parts is out of discussion.
So i wont go with long arms in the future. With the whole SAS thing this truck will have enough clearance to get atleast 33"s under there.
Ive rode on Leaf setup Jeeps and its a bit harsh.
I think i did on a leaf Yota, and it wasnt that bad.
If i go leafs i would try to build a custom leaf pack that allows good ride comfort and decent flex.
for what i see from the stockers on the back, any leaf can flex more than those damn A arms.

all i'm saying is, don't over look leafs completely... they are stupid simple. the yota leafs are usually pretty soft, and some YJ's have some nice leafs. but you'll already have the xj coils and ca's...

and i know ordering parts is out of the question, which is why i was comparing the long arms to stock ca's.. making those long arms are not that hard tho, but can get expensive if you try to use DOM and Johnny joints lol.


also, remember your track bar (panhard bar, whatever you wanna call it). are you gonna make it? or you gonna make the stock xj one work? b/c it lacks a lot, it's not adjustable i don't think...

4.0B2 said:

all i'm saying is, don't over look leafs completely... they are stupid simple. the yota leafs are usually pretty soft, and some YJ's have some nice leafs. but you'll already have the xj coils and ca's...

and i know ordering parts is out of the question, which is why i was comparing the long arms to stock ca's.. making those long arms are not that hard tho, but can get expensive if you try to use DOM and Johnny joints lol.


also, remember your track bar (panhard bar, whatever you wanna call it). are you gonna make it? or you gonna make the stock xj one work? b/c it lacks a lot, it's not adjustable i don't think...

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I was planning to use the xj track bar yes.

Ill ask the guy if he wants to sell me the axle without the control arms and coils.
that way we can fab up some feaf spring perches on the axle.
A member called speedin2.3 did his with a sping under axle setup and seems like he achieved what i want. He got a fairly stockish height.
I dont want to use a laddder to climb this thing, and i dont wanna take the body lift off.

Thats why i want all the feedback i can get from erikm, as far as what leafs he is using and how good/bad his ride is.

Yeah find some people that have leaf'ed sas's. Look over on the other ford ranger forums. There's several Sas threads over there. I think it's ranger-forum I was reading the leaf d30 on a 2000 or something like that. So check out the other forums. TRS, my favorite and has a lot more info and tech, is not the only ford ranger based forum out there..

call me crazy, but why can't you use the stock in-frame coil buckets and then just put new coil perches on the axle?

4.0B2 said:

Yeah find some people that have leaf'ed sas's. Look over on the other ford ranger forums. There's several Sas threads over there. I think it's ranger-forum I was reading the leaf d30 on a 2000 or something like that. So check out the other forums. TRS, my favorite and has a lot more info and tech, is not the only ford ranger based forum out there..

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Seems like leafs could be a good option, but still i would need to hack the frame a lot.

heptofite said:

call me crazy, but why can't you use the stock in-frame coil buckets and then just put new coil perches on the axle?

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That was my original idea, but then the crossmember sits too low, and i would require too much lift to clear the diferential.

Anyway here are some pics of my frame.

you can see how the frame seems to be part of the crossmember.
I was thinking, since i have a 2" bodylift, and ill be making new crossmembers, could i lift the whole drivetrain 2" too?