suspension, gotta replace it all, advice appreciated.

I've been flying through this forum for about a week now, can't believe how much I've learned. I'm helping my boyfriend with his jeep, and I haven't done much suspension work before. I've got a 71 nova, which is far from the world of off-roading, but I understand cars and love working on them.

Anyway, long story short. His leaf springs are flat, if not inverted...completely shot. His shocks are also completely gone. I've convinced him of doing a 2" lift, but we're on budget. I've read a lot about bastard packs, add-a-leaf, shackles, blocks, spacers and have a good idea of how it all works now.

Because these leafs aren't salvageable, I'd like to get a set of leafs from the junkyard (found one here in AL that sells them for 25/pair)!!! I know there are vehicles with leaves that will bolt up to the stock pack, but are there vehicles that have a full pack that can just be bolted up for a small lift? (will Grand springs do it?) I can do some light mod work with borrowed tools, but don't have access to an air compressor or tap and die set or anything that isn't in my (wrenches, sockets, and ratchets survival box)

I read that Grand springs up front will add a little lift. Are there certain models or years I should be looking for at the junkyard? Are there any other suggestions? Maybe I don't even need to change the front springs? Can I just add a block to the front? What's the stock ride height in the front? i've found for rear, but will need to check the front tonight to even know if they need replacing.

Will I be able to buy stocks shocks and bolt up to a 2" lift or do I need to mod or buy extended shocks? I was planning on just buying the plain jane monroe shocks from advance auto; any objections?

Are there any other modifications that would be necessary with a 2 inch lift? even things that are possible, I'd like to know about now.

Sorry for the questions, this is my last chance before making the 2 hr drive to the junkyard and I'd hate to miss out on something.

it's a 98 cherokee sport with a 6 cyl 4.0. It has a tow package...not sure if it was the manufactured option or an add on by a previous owner. std tires 235x75x15...I think; it's not here at the moment. It's used as a DD, with some offroad exploring a few times a month, nothing heavy.

Grands have coil springs so you can't use those in the rear of an XJ - you can use V8 Grand (with offroad/UpCountry/maybe tow package) front coils to get around 1.5" lift in the front though. Just throw another stock coil isolator in as well as the original and you'll get yourself about 2" in the front like you want.

On the back, a bastard pack is probably your best bet - honestly I really like my OME 2" HD lift springs though. You might want to follow their directions and use CS035RA on one side and 035RB on the other though, especially if you have a spare tire in the trunk, mine sits just a little uneven because of this. Remember that since you're in MN (yay rust belt!) you should get new bolts for anything you need to remove/change while lifting it - definitely leaf eye, shackle, and U-bolts if you replace the springs instead of doing a bastard pack. Don't worry about reinstalling the rear sway bar, just pull it out and dump it. Rear shock upper bolts are going to be a problem for you just like they were for me and everyone else in the rust belt, see http://www.rocklizardfabrications.com/broken_shock_mounts.htm for more info on that. You'll want a new rear brake line, and possibly front brake lines as well, though mine seem to be doing fine right now. Since it's a 98 you *might* need an SYE or hack-n-tap setup.

EDIT:
more info -
leaf eye bolts and shackle bolts are M14x2.0mm 120mm long, class 10.9. Nuts are also class 10. Part numbers are 3420 2118 for bolts, 1150 2814 for nuts. You can get U-bolts (which you will need even for a bastard pack) and leaf pack bolts at any spring shop that caters to truckers and 4 wheelers.

Thanks for the tips! We went ahead and ordered parts yesterday, so next week we'll start tearing it apart hopefully.

I really wanted to do a bastard pack to save some money, but made 3 trips to the junkyard with little luck finding a solid set of leaf springs and was getting less optimistic about the ability to find power tools. We may still get some grand coils from the yard, it's the only part we didn't purchase already.

We broke down and decided to go with some OME light load 2" lift springs from 4x4groupbuy.com; Part number OMEJC1B (CS034RB). Got both for 219+50 s&h. We also spoke with the really nice people at jeepinoutfitters.com but couldn't justify spending 35 more on shipping and handling, even though they were absolutely great to deal with. They're the ones that suggested the light load springs as they'll give a good ride still and we don't have any extra equipment other than a tow package. She suggested medium load for jeeps with slight mods, such as skid plates and brush guards, and heavy only for those jeeps that had extreme modifications. We will definitely buy smaller parts from them, as shipping won't be as much of an issue and they deserve the business.

For bushings, we took someone's suggestion from this forum (sorry i couldn't find the page again) and went to stengel bros. They were significantly cheaper (29 for all 4 with shipping) and are supposedly the same quality. From this site, part numbers RB-71 and RB-121 were the correct bushings. They have all dimensions listed and I just went to the NAPA site to cross check dimensions. From reading on here, it sounds like as long as they're torqued with the weight on the springs, the quality of the bushing is not as large of an issue. Either way, I'll let you guys know how these ones work out a few months from now. *fingers crossed*

Shocks...shocks....and more shocks...a person could get completely lost for years in this forum reading about shocks. Luckily, I made it out in under a week and ended up with the same decision that I had initially thought of. We ended up going with the Monroe sensa-tracs, as this jeep sees only light off-roading, we want a soft ride, and price was important. We found ourselves reading too much and slowly working up to more and more expensive shocks from suggestions. We knocked ourselves back to reality and ordered these because we couldn't find any negative feedback! We found them the cheapest at rockauto.com (PN 37027 and 37083) and got all 4 for 120 at 30/ea. We then found a coupon code at retailmenot.com for 5% off ($7) and got shipping for $8...it couldn't be beat! They also have the lifetime warantee and we got the monroe rebate for 20/off for buying before the 31st of this month! Here's that form: http://www.monroe.com/promo/documents/Monroe_fall09_RepairRewards.pdf

Other close contenders were the Pro comp ES3000 and ES9000, the skyjacker hydros and the monroe reflexes. I know people are going to shake their heads, but these are all budget shocks that had good reviews.

We got sick of searching, and broke down and bought the eye bolts, also from rockauto, for $5/ea.... we don't have easy access to power tools, so buying from the hardware store wasn't an option.

Still need u-bolts, i'm going to try find some around here while the man's at work today and hopefully we'll find a decent price.

Anywho, I just wanted to put some info back out here as I gained a lot from reading what everyone else had written. Hopefully this will help someone with the start to a part search for price.

Here's a list of pages that other people suggested for budget builds. Most don't apply to me now that we decided not to do a bastard pack, but thought it would be handy to have these up here again. They're listed in many places on this forum.

http://fitchva.com/jeep/?p=56
http://www.rocklizardfabrications.com/home_brew_budget_boost.htm
http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f11/yet-another-99-xj-build-thread-450862/
http://www.4x4xplor.com/REBB.html
http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f11/shock-bolt-replacement-fix-pics-heavy-323809/
http://fitchva.com/jeep/?p=62
http://www.myjeepxj.com/index.php?page=rear-leaf-springs

I'll be back next week once parts start pouring in!!

You've done pretty much what I plan to do.

OME 2.5 medium rears
Blocks up front for now
Same shocks

Probably gonna go ahead and get the shocks for the rebate! Thanks for the headsup.

Welcome to the small lift Club! You'd be surprised what these things can do on a small tire with out much lift, with plenty of armor of course! I might check into those leafs for the rear since I have AAL's uke:

i just cant wait to get the rear up!

Right now my fender flares nearly sit on top of my tires!

pikey77 said:

i just cant wait to get the rear up!

Right now my fender flares nearly sit on top of my tires!

Click to expand...

ha, thats why I had to put my AAL's on so I could wheel it. Over a year laterI haven't got the front up in the air to match. Next week I will have a track bar though so it should be sitting level again soon.