When one does this is he putting his own rears up front and replacing the rears with something elses old rears or is he using a differant set of rears and the original rears are left in the rear ?? And what is the bennifit of my rear up front !!!!   Thanks  

Rear what?  

I keep my rear where it is. It works much better there, and is less offensive to others.

Don, y'all
.

Springs ------ leaf springs ------

 People do this theory both ways. You can replace your rear springs with something else like CJs or YJs or? You can not use 88 1/2 up springs, they won't live very long un spring over form. You have to use early 88 and older springs as a basis. Take the rear spring pack and take the overload leaf out, take the front spring pack and use the 2 shortest leafs out and use those with the rest of the rear pack. You have to do this in order to have springs that will live for any length of time.
You will have to remove the stock front bumper and mounts, because your tires will rub on it bad. The front axle is moved forward about 1 1/4". You also need to either lengthen the front driveline or use a 1" spacer. You also need to use at least a mild lift shackle and/or use missing link style shackles to help offset the extra 3" of spring length.
Good luck! Any other questions, just ask.

Thanks for the reply --
 On my 87' it seems the rear springs still have a little bow up to them "Butt"    the fronts are almost bowing down. I have longer shackles on it right now -- not liking the lift all that much but the money is not flowing to easy right now for anything else I should order.
So if I left the rears on and found a set of used rears for the front - do what your saying to them with the old front ones -- This would raise the front a bit to maybe equal the back ?? It's a little nose low right now. Anything else this convertion would help out ??

I used Rancho 1.5" lifted rear sami packs on all 4 corners ( removed overload leaf for the front.  Next suspension mod will be front CJ packs in the rear.

Mac0, if you need a set of 87 rears, I have some.  They are leftovers from my CJ spring conversion.  Where you located...I'm in Orygun.
D

  I am still thinking about it -- send me a pm --                    j-kmac|removethispart|@comcast.net

I am about to do the RUF myself.  I found a donor Zuk locally.  Basically everything but the motor, tranny and d-side door for $75.00!

Anyway I think, based on my research on the net that if you make "hanger adapters" that moves the spring mount 1.5� back and 1� down it will put the axle very close to the original location so that no further driveline changes are required.  

It should look something like this



Thanks to whoever put this pic up so I could learn from it and share with others.

I will know more from first hand expierence this weekend.

HTH,
Scott

Are you putting a set of rears up front and keeping the original rears in the back also ??

Mac0, I am planning on still using the original rear springs in the rear.  

On the exisiting rear springs I am thinking about turning the overload spring over so that it is arced slightly up instead of the down it is now.  I am not sure if that is even possible, so I will be looking closely at the ones I take off the donor Zuk to see.

If there is a obvious difference in height between the front and rear after I do the RUF I am planning on using longer shackles in the rear  to even it out.  

I would/will change to CJ rears but I don't have any ...yet.

Scott

I did a Rear up front Mod to my sami this winter.

I got a hold of another set of rears for the front off of Ebay (88 or older springs with out the graphite pads).  Took the Overloads out and added the short leafs off of the front. to the Rears going on the front.  I got the RUF kit fron North Coast Off Road(Good kit and comes with Good instructions).  I also drilled my perches and top plates so the axel is in the stock position.  I also added 4" extended shackles to the front and 5" shackles on the rear.

This left my sammi sitting high in the front.  I next took my existing rears and added the 2nd longest leaf from my donor fronts to the bottom of the rears, and put the overloads back on the proper way (arch down don't put them on Arch up, you will lose all flex).  I also added on the passenger side an additional Short spring from another front spring to level it out side to side.  Mine had some sag to the passenger side.  From what other people have told me the Engine torque over timewill cause the passenger side rear to sag more.  Doing this leveled everything out.

So far I am happy with this setup.  It has added more flex to it.  It did add an additional 1.5" of lift to mine.  

Brent

 Mine had some sag to the passenger side. Brent

When I got my replacement springs they were marked left and right. If you looked at the spring pack closely you could see that they were arched a little differently.

When I got my replacement springs they were marked left and right.

No kidding! Who's springs did you get? Both the Ranchos I used in the rear were identical w/ no left/right indication.

You don't have to buy anyone's kit to be able to put the rears up front, you just need longer shackles and get rid of the stock front bumper and space the front driveline. It is completely a simple bolt on with no drilling, welding, or any other mod!
Apparently you guys are forgetting how simple zukis are to build. Putting those springs on the front is easier than doing a spring over! You don't need to buy anything but a driveline spacer or an extended slip yoke for the front driveline. You don't need to relocate the spring hanger, or redrill the spring pads, or anything else!
I know, because I have done about a dozen of these swaps over the years. You only need to do any of the other stuff if you plan on using Jeep springs on the front, or you want to use the existing stock front bumper (WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO DO THAT??).
jUST DO THE MODS TO THE SPRINGS LIKE I say, and bolt them on and be happy with the results.
You nkow, DON'T WORRY, BE HAPPY! Hehe! Sorry, couldn't help myself...hehe.