Alright, how about Rustys 4.5" kit???

You guys have talked me out of the 5" Hd Trailblazer kit i was pondering over and i was wondering about the 4.5" Spring kit Rusty offers. Its still in my price range and comes with shocks, LCAs, trac bar, brake lines, t-case drop, rear springs, and shackles. Should i get this one? I just dont want to spend the money on an RE kit if i wont abuse it like it should be. Thanks alot.

I've ran his 3" coils & shox, track bar, & steering on my MJ for two trips to Tellico and numerous Uwharrie trips. Never had a bit of problems: It had great flex, and a smooth road ride. I plan on recycling many of these parts on my next XJ project, a moderately-lifted daily driver 88 Limited.

Presently running Rusty's 4.5" kit (coils & leafpacks) with 1.75" spacers and an extra leaf for approx 6" lift on my 89 XJ beater. Also using his TB, steering and hydro front shocks on this rig... While I have only ran it for a short time (since May) the previous owner used it with 35s and it had two Tellico trips + other trails for him. IMHO it rides good (with 350# -+ of tools & gear in the back) and hasn't lost any height since I have installed it. For the record, I beat the royal crap out of it this year on Guardrail...and if it was gonna fail or sag out, that would have been when.

I'd buy Rusty's products again because they have worked very well for me.

personally, if you have no reason to be in a hurry, i'd save the extra couple of pennies and go with the RE. i'm running his 6.5" short arm and while i have had absolutely no customer care problems, the only thing i am satisfied with are the coils. after 8 months the rear has sagged down to about 5", replaced the cracbar with the RE XD kit from DPG and have replaced LCA bushings 3 times. am now in the process of trying to remove it all and replace. there are some guys on here that have had exceptional luck with his stuff, but there are alot more that haven't and have had to eat it. save yourself the money later and just wait.
Rockhound
PS- dave has some RE4.5" leaves for sale in the ads

my 86 has all rustys stuff 6 in coils and rear springs, trac bar,upper and lower control arms, steering conversion, cross member w/ built in drop,skid plates the works the olny thing I've had trouble with are the bushings in the lower control arms went out and caused way bad death wobble other then that its all cool...

wow.. i have a new personal advertiser.. sweet.. haha.. Thanks


now onto the question... alot of guys will probably say the same but here goes...

i personally would piece together the best parts you know.. not necessarily a kit.. i've bought kits and been unhappy with certain parts of them and ended up replacing and spending twice as much as if i had gotten the parts i liked up front..

my current setup at 6.5 " consists of Skyjacker coils, homebrew longarms, poly bushings on the axle end of the uppers.. jks discos ( i wish i had my tera discos back.. much nicer ) home made tracbar with a homebrew flipped upper mount and a custom axle side mount flipped on top for more flex, billstein 5150 shocks on all 4 corners, RE extreme duty leafpack ( an old pack my buddy stopped using cause he went custom buggy setup in the back ) i think he said it was a 5.5 or 6.5 inch pack.. 1 inch extended shackles and 1" blocks in the back..

do research .. ask questions.. i wish i would have never peed away the money trying to " hurry up and finish" when i bought rough country kits and then a full RE kit.. when i have the money i'll go to alcan or national springs in the rear and do a buggy spring setup as well.. but rest assured any other jeeps i may aquire int he future will get frankenstein lifts as well..

rusty's

I am currently on my 3rd set of rusty's rear springs, and they will not be going onto the jeep! running his 4.5 leaves, i have had to have him replace 2 sets so far due to extreme sag and axle wrap. In defense of Rusty, he has been good enough to replace them under warranty, eventually. I now have 3 trips to Tellico on my RE's. no sag, no axle wrap. These are the best leaves i've ever had! Its cheaper to do it right the first time, than to replace something cheap several times!