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want to go bigger (not the avg. "what lift do i need" questions)

little red cheroke

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Nashville TN
vehicle: 2001 XJ limited, I6, AW4, 231, D30/C8.25.

i will soon be 'upgrading' from a LP to HP D30....ok so i was a newb and spent $800 on a 3" skyjacker lift. (qudratec is a rip off) full leaf packs, which are only 2.5" even though it was sold as a 3" kit, still hav not figured that out. the only thing left from my kit are the leafs and coils. i have 2" extended rough country shackles in the garage but donno if i want to put em on or not...i have already stacked a 2" spacer on the coils, didnt really do as much as i thought it would. i have upper and lower adjustable control arms, extended front and rear break lines and an adjustable POS trackbar (Rustys). im planning on ditching that b/c of the stories if herd on here about them breaking on the interstate and just falling off....yea...so my question is, what would be the best coil/leaf springs to get to net around 4.5"~5" of lift. my current set up is sagging because i abused the hek out of the springs and im running JCR bumpers front and rear. im not as hard on my jeep as i use to be but i want something that i can wheel with and not loose much lift from sagging. i like my skyjacker springs, they ride pretty nice and flex well. ive looked around and cant seem to find just a pair of 4.5 or 5" skyjacker springs, nor leaf springs. come to think of it, other than RE i cant really find any coils or springs sold individually. qudratec does carry 3" and 6" springs seperatly. i wish rustys didnt suck b/c they have a larg selection of springs. also what spring rate should i go for? well...long story short, what springs should i get and where should i get em from.

sry in advance if this has been covered.

thanks
 
Don't be afraid of the Rusty's springs. They're some of the softest riding springs out there, and I personally never had a sag problem with them, even after abusing them pretty badly.
 
rustys springs rates are 180lbs. ive read (on here) that that is wayy to soft. not to mention i have already been f***** by rustys on there track bar. there customer service is horrible and i will never buy from them again.
 
whats the deal with Rusty's trackbar. Sounds like your hammering the quality based on others experiences. The RE 4.5 leafs are the 3.5" with a extended shackle i believe. Jeepinoutfitters sells the RE leafs individual, but leaf springs are a lot more $$$ then coils. What is your goal? 35" tires? I run the RE 3.5 lift with a spacer up front and a shackle in the rear and run 33" swampers no problem. I have had 2 jeeps and 2 different brand lift kits. A rough country lift and a RE lift. Both served the purpose, but the RE was a better choice. There are a lot of options out there, just figure out what the end goal for the XJ is and someone smarter then me can help you out. I thought about the TNT u-bolt eliminator at one time to gain a little lift, but decided that I didn't want or need it.
 
little red cheroke said:
rustys springs rates are 180lbs. ive read (on here) that that is wayy to soft. not to mention i have already been f***** by rustys on there track bar. there customer service is horrible and i will never buy from them again.

RE springs are softer, actually. Rusty's coils are the only ones I'll ever buy.

So I guess your trackbar fell apart, then? Or you've just heard that it happens to some people?
 
ive herd it falls apart....rusty sent me a broken trackbar. i sent it back asked for my money back. he said no b/c it was broken...no s***...ne ways i really dont want to go w/ rustys. i really dont want to turn this into another bashing rusty thread.

brokexj said:
First of all, I am not asking any questions or suggestions. I have been reading on getting a stiffer front spring to get a little more flex out of the rear, but I have been finding a lot of calculations and etc. So today I called the various manufacturer's that answered and this is what I got from them (not I think, or calculated) but what the various brands told me what it was. This is by no means a complete list, but this is what I have. I only got the info on the 4.5" and up, (almost all of them). If this has been done before, ignore it.

Skyjacker
XJ 8.0" 235# lbs
6.0" 230

Rockkrawler
XJ 4.5" 160#
6.0" 170#
8.0" 190#

Rusty's
XJ 4.5" 150#
6.5" 150#
8.0" 180#

R.E.
XJ 4.5" (didn't get it)
XJ 5.5" 200#
ZJ 5.5" 220#

Rough Country
XJ 4.5" (Said they would call me back)

PORC
(Sales guy said he thought all of their (PORC) coils were RC's.
XJ 6.5"

looks like RE is stiffer than rustys. but that dosent answer my question. what about leafs. RE? ne where cheaper than the RE website to get the springs individually w/out a kit?
 
Last edited:
C'mon now. How about some real world testing, instead of quoted "facts" from the internet and company phone reps?

RE 5.5" coils start at 22" uncompressed, and go to 17.75" compressed

Rusty's 6.5" coils start at 21.5" uncompressed, and go to 18.5" compressed.

So RE has a change in length of 4.25", and Rusty has a change of 3".

This is a ratio of .705:1 for RE spring rate to Rusty's spring rate. Doesn't match up to those numbers up there. And stock springs are 142-147 lb-in anyway so I wouldn't call that 180 lb-in value "wayyyy too soft".

Did you see in many of those threads how 3 people called up the same company and got 3 different spring rates quoted? Funny stuff.

But anyway - question at hand. You still want RE leafs? www.jeepinoutfitters.com can most likely get the individual springs. And Jeepin Jason (guy who runs the store site, and also the jeepin.net forum) is a really stand-up guy who is usually very competitive on pricing. He likes to sell RE things. Plus if you register on the forum there I think he gives another 5% off or something like that.
 
Have you thought about alcan? http://www.alcanspring.com/ I run them and so do others on here. Great spring for the money IMHO. They also suport the site by donating certificates and such.
 
Ghost said:
Have you thought about alcan? http://www.alcanspring.com/ I run them and so do others on here. Great spring for the money IMHO. They also suport the site by donating certificates and such.

Alcans are by far the best springs I've ever seen in person. Just about the only spring I've never seen get destroyed for that matter. They seem to be able to handle wrap a lot better than most (and still have a decent ride) and I've never seen one shear a centerpin either.
 
I cant say much for Rock Krawler's springs. This was after the first weekend of wheeling a new 8 inch kit. And before someone says "remove your block", this is the way Rock Krawler sells their 8" kit. Im not paying 2k and modifiying a kit..

ShowPicture
 
wow, i was just reading the alcan spring web site and i cam across this...
http://www.alcanspring.com/faqs.htm

We are also finding problems with spring-overs on stock weight or lighter vehicles that are used for rock crawling. When the vehicle is put in a very steep uphill climb, it puts all the weight of the vehicle on the rear axle. In most cases, this will bend the front half of the rear springs. We have made some design changes to help with this problem.

Maybe this explains what happend to your leaf springs Racing4funn.
 
vetteboy said:
C'mon now. How about some real world testing, instead of quoted "facts" from the internet and company phone reps?

RE 5.5" coils start at 22" uncompressed, and go to 17.75" compressed

Rusty's 6.5" coils start at 21.5" uncompressed, and go to 18.5" compressed.

So RE has a change in length of 4.25", and Rusty has a change of 3".

This is a ratio of .705:1 for RE spring rate to Rusty's spring rate. Doesn't match up to those numbers up there. And stock springs are 142-147 lb-in anyway so I wouldn't call that 180 lb-in value "wayyyy too soft".

Did you see in many of those threads how 3 people called up the same company and got 3 different spring rates quoted? Funny stuff.

But anyway - question at hand. You still want RE leafs? www.jeepinoutfitters.com can most likely get the individual springs. And Jeepin Jason (guy who runs the store site, and also the jeepin.net forum) is a really stand-up guy who is usually very competitive on pricing. He likes to sell RE things. Plus if you register on the forum there I think he gives another 5% off or something like that.

i dont have to have RE springs. i just really want something that will not sag too much after a flexing some and loading up the back. the JCR bumpers really brought down the springs on my skyjacker kit. i didnt know stock springs were around 144lbs. so i guess something w/ like a 200 or 220 spring rate would be way stiff? would the still flex decent. i just really want to do it right the second time around and not have a saggy suspension again in 3 months that dosent fit the tire i could fit on it at first.
 
little red cheroke said:
i dont have to have RE springs. i just really want something that will not sag too much after a flexing some and loading up the back. the JCR bumpers really brought down the springs on my skyjacker kit. i didnt know stock springs were around 144lbs. so i guess something w/ like a 200 or 220 spring rate would be way stiff? would the still flex decent. i just really want to do it right the second time around and not have a saggy suspension again in 3 months that dosent fit the tire i could fit on it at first.

FWIW, the Rusty's 3" leaf packs I installed gave me 4.5" with a stock shackle til the day I ditched leaf springs forever, which was about 2.5 years and 50k+ miles. That's with about one or two wheelin trips per month, all rock crawling type stuff, and I wasn't nice to them either, and never ran a traction bar or anything.

But hey, all the webwheeling pros bash rusty's stuff, so I guess my experience is an outlier.
 
little red cheroke said:
i dont have to have RE springs. i just really want something that will not sag too much after a flexing some and loading up the back. the JCR bumpers really brought down the springs on my skyjacker kit. i didnt know stock springs were around 144lbs. so i guess something w/ like a 200 or 220 spring rate would be way stiff? would the still flex decent. i just really want to do it right the second time around and not have a saggy suspension again in 3 months that dosent fit the tire i could fit on it at first.
Like I said call alcan his first question is how much gear and weight will you have in the rear. He built my xj leafs for 6" and 300 lbs. of tools and kids.
 
I've had a bunch of problems with Rustys stuff and service but I will say that the leafs were pretty good. Its Rustys front end things i've has issues with..trac bar, really saggy coils, blah blah...I still have his leafs with a JKS 1" shackle now and the ride is quiet and comfortable..

Heres where I started: Rustys 3" kit which gave me 3" coils that sat around 2.75" of lift and 3.5" leafs which sat at around 5"..it bothered me but I gave it time to level out and it never did..it still sat at around 4.5"
Recently I swapped in an HP D30 and decided to put RE 4.5"coils, RE Tracbar, and RE Control arms...I threw in a 1" JKS shackle on my Rustys leafs and I now have 5" in the front and 5.25" in the back
It rides much better with the RE steering and CAs but the rear still rides nice

Normally I kind of hate on Rustys and I am one of the people who actually did get fucked by him AND ended up with a Trac-bar that is not up to snuff, rusty ass shocks as in the paint was peeling off and what not, and he sent me one LCA instead of two and said theres no way that he would do that hes not shipping me the other one..
I won't order form him again but I will say his leafs were fine and ride well

hope this helps
Andrew
 
vetteboy said:
Alcans are by far the best springs I've ever seen in person. Just about the only spring I've never seen get destroyed for that matter. They seem to be able to handle wrap a lot better than most (and still have a decent ride) and I've never seen one shear a centerpin either.


Ill second this. I recently baught a set of Alcan leaves for my XJ. They are very well built! They also flex well.


Also, to chime in on Rustys...I had no issues with theyre leaf springs except for the fact that they send me two different size leaves, one measered an inch and half lond from eye to eye, im not kidding...

I have been running thier gen 1 TB for 3 years now without issue though
 
LilRhodyXJ said:
Heres where I started: Rustys 3" kit which gave me 3" coils that sat around 2.75" of lift and 3.5" leafs which sat at around 5"..it bothered me but I gave it time to level out and it never did..it still sat at around 4.5"
Recently I swapped in an HP D30 and decided to put RE 4.5"coils, RE Tracbar, and RE Control arms...I threw in a 1" JKS shackle on my Rustys leafs and I now have 5" in the front and 5.25" in the back
It rides much better with the RE steering and CAs but the rear still rides nice

Sorry what I meant to say is with the RE Suspension it rides much better I have the RE steering and CAs but i'm putting them in tommorrow.
 
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