Custom Alcans anyone

Clubbs

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 15, 2008
Location
Blounts Creek
I've taco'd my third set of front waggy springs on the CJ. They're so off design and I keep buckling the main leaf. Running this with the shackle forward puts considerable compressive stress on the main leaf when climbing ledges and stuff that even with an anti wrap bar they're done after one trip.

My local jeep junkyard closed up so no more cheap springs.

Gave all the specs to Alcan and they quickly quoted a pair for around $900.

Thought about linking it, and the link and truss stuff would be about $900 but then oris or coil overs is $5k+... And leaves work nice on the street too.

Measured and calculated sprung weight to 1,200 pounds a corner, but there's a lot more to it I would think. I built this thing with springs and tacked hangers to get ride height correct and level. Anyone had experience with Alcans and they just worked out first try? Don't want a squatted rig or other issues.

I'm sure Alcan is the legit leaf spring guru of our industry, just seems like more of an art than a science...

Dave
 
You could save a lot of money using tj lift springs and regular shocks over coilovers, Barnes makes brackets that would simplify the process.

Otherwise shackle reversal kits are are a good way to protect the springs from bending and though they reduce front traction when climbing ledges they also prevent the front from pointing skyward and reduce bounce since the axle path travels rearward with compression instead of forward with a shackle out front



 
I've had at least three sets of Alcans on my Jeepster. Wonderful spring all around. I had my last set special built and military wrapped for more strength for just this issue but it did not prevent bending if your rig is prone to it. Once the front shackle digs in, something's going to give and its the spring. I wish that I had reverse-shackled my last build and that was the plan until I ran out of time. I think thats the only cure. I finally linked my rig front and back and bent springs are a thing of the past...
 
As part of the shackle forward crowd, front leafs are a consumable. RE 1.5" SOA springs with one leaf removed is the ticket on the YJ so whenever it gets bad enough I'll throw a new spring in it. That has only been once since I have had the rig. Fixing my shackle inverting issue has helped but digging the shackles into anything makes the main leaf the weak point. I can put a lot of leaf springs in it for the cost of linking the front. You should TOTALLY throw 5 grand at the front of yours though. It will be sweet when its done.
 
Uhg, you people...

I suspected all of the above, and know you're right. Was hoping for an easy bolt on unicorn solution, but also rather looking forward to linking the front. Will probably use tj coils, but I don't know if there's enough meet in the barnes brackets to clear the tubes on my Dana 60. I'll dig around more as I think Ive seen Dana 60 sized brackets on their site too. The top frame brackets will work for sure.
 
I run clayton's in the rear, military wrap. Also an anti wrap bar keeps leaf's from gaining the superior "S" shape.
 


Coilovers:
wheelNC94GC

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While I love coilovers/ORIs, if you are wanting to street drive it, and dont want to spend time to tune/adjust them, stick with coil springs and shocks. I might look at JK/JL/JT springs, since they are generally dual rate and from heavier jeeps.
 
Still running the set of Alcan springs I had made for the Frontier back in ~2004 when I wanted a 3.5" lift for the rear. When I did the solid axle swap on the front I sent them back to Alcan somewhere in 2012 for a rebuild (at that time freight and parts/labor was cheaper than new) and they are still great all these years later (all the additional lift came from portal boxes so the axle stayed right where it is and I needed no changes to the springs). I did a miliary wrap front eye to combat axle wrap but being spring under it probably serves more to protect the pack and give somewhere to scrape on over rocks. I added some capacity (cannot remember how much) to the pack to account for wheeling with a full bed of camping gear and tools. That transitioned into a super-heavy wraparound rear bumper, a spare tire carrier and spare hanging off of that (the wheel and tire is ~140#), an 18 gallon aux fuel tank, an 8 gallon air tank, and still all the camping gear and tools. I ended up changing my shocks to Fox units that I could charge up just a little bit with Nitrogen to boost the rear for added load.

Getting all your measurements and weights correct is key with Alcan. Since you are considering new springs you may want to think about wider leaves and re-work the perches and shackles, but that is probably overkill. I know nothing of your CJ but assume you are running an I6 or V8 so relatively heavy on the nose (although not as much as a stock Wagoneer) but then bumpers and winches add so much weight and leverage out front.
 
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Clubbs said:
Uhg, you people...

I suspected all of the above, and know you're right. Was hoping for an easy bolt on unicorn solution, but also rather looking forward to linking the front. Will probably use tj coils, but I don't know if there's enough meet in the barnes brackets to clear the tubes on my Dana 60. I'll dig around more as I think Ive seen Dana 60 sized brackets on their site too. The top frame brackets will work for sure.
Click to expand...
If you decide to link it, I'll give you my remaining links and big ass heims from my Ranger. They may have a pleasure curve here and there. But they'll save ya $500. Should have enough for a 3 link at least.
Holler.
 
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