M1009 suspension question.

[Geo James]

Front springs, front spring eyes look too big to me. Both sides are identical. I bought this from gov liquidation, straight from camp blanding. No modifications to it since I've owned it. (20 yrs) Are all 1009's springs like this?
Thank you for any input!
James

 

[kingchr]

Front springs, front spring eyes look too big to me. Both sides are identical. I bought this from gov liquidation, straight from camp blanding. No modifications to it since I've owned it. (20 yrs) Are all 1009's springs like this?
Thank you for any input!
James

Mine weren't but they were really sagged out after years of abuse. I just got done replacing all the springs under my M1009 while I was replacing the axles after the rear end grenaded on me driving down the road. I wasn't trying to lift it but rather level it out as the rear end had sagged an inch or two vs the front. Once I had all the new springs on it somehow the difference was WORSE at about 4" but with the whole rig about 2-3" higher than on the old springs. I ordered the heavy 3/4 ton springs for both front and rear from General Springs. Turns out I should probably have ordered one or two options lighter in the front. I just installed a shackle flip kit from ORD in the rear to level it back out the other day. Other than the ride height mismatch I am happy with my experience with General Spring and they shipped fast and all the parts including shakles and bolts fit great.
This is after the initial spring replacement before the rear shackle flip:

I will post a picture of where she is leveled out later today. I am trying to wrap up an oil cooler line replacement/swap to JIC-8 lines right now so she is up on the lift for a bit longer. She drove fine and I got her aligned day before yesterday but then I threw her back on the lift for this cooler line fix before getting victory pictures.

 

[Geo James]

Thank you for the input. How many leafs were in the 3/4 ton front springs from General? Did you figure out what caused the squat after spring replacement? Was it just the shackle orientation? Mine seems to sit pretty level on 40yr old springs.

 

[Barrman]

The middle leaf over lapping the leaf with the bushing is called a “military wrap.” It is supposed to be that way. I think it started with the early Jeeps so a broken spring wouldn’t totally disable the vehicle.

All civilian Blazers had 2 leaf springs. Here is a video about the front leaf springs as delivered from the factory:

 

[Geo James]

Yeah, after watching the video and doing some research. It looks like my military wrap springs are getting paper thin causing the wrap to open up from the spring eye. Both sides are the same. Florida sand and rust I suppose. Thank you for the information.

 

[kingchr]

Thank you for the input. How many leafs were in the 3/4 ton front springs from General? Did you figure out what caused the squat after spring replacement? Was it just the shackle orientation? Mine seems to sit pretty level on 40yr old springs.

I never conclusively solved why the back end didn't come up very much with new springs but the front did. However I ordered the heaviest springs in their catalog for both locations and that almost certainly caused my issue. I tow with this truck a good bit and thought I was doing something reasonable. Anyway after the new springs and a shackle flip she is sitting level now. I am actually a few hours into a cross the US trip with her now. Should be in North Carolina for work on December 4th good lord willing. BTW this picture is with roughly 900 lbs in the bed so it rides a LITTLE higher unloaded but since they are honest 3/4 springs they didn't move as much as the old ones would have.

 

[nyoffroad]

" I am actually a few hours into a cross the US trip with her now. Should be in North Carolina for work on December 4th good lord willing. "
At 55-60 MPH? Ohboy, that's a LOOONG way! Good luck!

 

[kingchr]

" I am actually a few hours into a cross the US trip with her now. Should be in North Carolina for work on December 4th good lord willing. "
At 55-60 MPH? Ohboy, that's a LOOONG way! Good luck!

She's an M1009 not a M1008 and even with the axle replacement I had to do with 3.42 gears (rear axle grenaded when I ignored a pinion seal a little too long, which is when I figured might as well do springs and wound up with the Carolina Squat I didn't want as evidenced by the earlier pictures of the rig), I have learned my lesson and am checking dip sticks and looking for puddles every fuel stop and pulling inspection plugs every night) she does 65-70 just fine. In Quarters in "Little America" Wyoming for the night.