81 cherokee front springs - bush sizes

[alexander]

hi, i am putting new rear spring eye bushes in the front springs of my 81 cherokee.
i bought what pedders reckon was the rear of front, but it turns out to be the size suitable for the front eye. when i look at nolathane.com.au website, they too have the same kits (so i suppose they supply peddars), with the sizes (apparently ) back to front. i am pondering whether my springs could have been installed the wrong way around at some point. not that it really matters. just curious.

so, if anyone knows, is the larger spring eye at the front of a front cherokee spring, or at the rear of a front spring? mine has the larger eye at the rear, which makes sense to me, as that is fixed and takes the most impact. peddars/nolathane info suggests otherwise.

one and all note that the nolathane.com.au site has all the detail measurements online for the cherokee bushes.

ta.
alexander.

[Richo]

The larger bush shoulld be at the rear, as it has all the flexing/torsional twisting to do on its own, whereas the front has bothe the bushes at either end of the shackle to twist on.

That said, if you turn the spring back to front from standard you do get a slight ( about 2" from memory) wheelbase stretch (ie pushes the front axle forward ) as the pin is not central to the spring length. Maybe that was done to yours, or they werent reinstalled correctly by the previous owner following a bush change?

[alexander]

thanks richo. in the end, i realised there was i couldnt have inverted the springs as the bush tube at the rear is longer than the one at the front. as you say, if of course makes complete sense that the larger one is at the back, copping most of the stress. i concluded that pedders and nolathane.com both have their kit numbers mixed up. the shackle bush is correct, the front eye/ rear eye kit numbers are the wrong around and misdescribed (in different ways no less!) by each of them.

anyway, i got around the problem by buying the 'other' kit as well and replacing both ends. to good effect: there is nothing wrong in principle with the metalastik type bush, but the ones on my car are <3yrs old, and the rear ones had already delaminated inside and developed sideways movement. so the rear end of the spring shifted with every turn of the wheel, creating noise, a rego impediment, and wander on the road. the poly bushes certainly tightened it all up in a pleasing manner.

so, the bushes were changed today, and the pink slip in hand by the late afternoon.