What leaf springs should I get?

What's up guys? This is my first post, so....Hi. I've been lingering for a few weeks since I bought my first Jeep, and thought I'd finally join in.

Anyway, My jeep is a 2001 xj classic. The previous owner has a 4'' lift installed on it, but the leaf springs (Add a Leaf) are all sacked out, and need to be replaced. I can only seem to find 4.5'' and 3.5'' leaf springs online, and was just wondering what size you guys think I should get. My instincts say 4.5'', but I've noticed that most lift kits say that the rear is lifted to an inch lower than the front, and so I'm a little confused. Hopefully, someone can help me out.

This is my first jeep, 4WD, lifted anything, so sorry for my ignorance. I'm here to learn.

Rubicon express 3.5 for sure.

Serious offroad has them cheapest and best service.

+1 for RE leafs, +1 for Serious.

Supposedly RE started using lower quality spring steel at some point over the last few years, but the ones I bought in ~2009 (3.5") are holding up ridiculously well. With 4 large adults, 3 dogs, 2 full coolers, and misc gear in my 2001 XJ, they barely sagged 3/4" (a friend wrecked his truck on a camping trip, got to load the whole crew into my tiny-ass XJ).

Now, that being said, the bushings RE used during that time (and even more recently) were utter garbage - in less than 2 years mine were completely rotted and freed from the sleeves (80%+ of rubber missing). Others have complained about the bushing sleeves coming loose in the eyes over the last year, for which RE effectively issued a TSB and offered free replacements.

If I were you, I'd get the RE 3.5" leafs (they honestly net around 5" brand spankin' new, settling out to about 4.25") and order replacement bushings from Stengel Bros before installing them. They're high-rate springs so get decent shocks (Bilstein 5100s, for example).

Cool, Thanks guys. My wallet and my wife will like that news. From what I've found 3.5'' springs go for quite a bit less than the 4.5".

It's also good to hear that they don't sack out to quickly. This is a camping/trail head rig so I was concerned about it sagging when loaded with gear.

I didn't realize this until today but the PO on this jeep put 6.5'' shackles on this jeep. So it looks like I'm buying new shackles as well as springs. Is this common practice?

look around for what fits ur budget and ur needs. rustys is pretty cheap but stiff, rough country is great for the price but can be hard to just get leafs, old man emue is also good. u can also do an s10 pack and get about 3in from that and its a stock like ride.

I love my BDS 3.5, BDS shackles, and HD offroad relocation. equals out to about 4.5" lift and has some nice flex.

+1 for BDS 3.5" leafs if you can't afford Alcan or Deavers.

X2 on the shackle relocators, they make the ride so much better
that along with leaf liners and a can of graphite made a night and day differemce on my RE 4.5" pack

vt98xj said:

I love my BDS 3.5, BDS shackles, and HD offroad relocation. equals out to about 4.5" lift and has some nice flex.

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I was about to pull the trigger on some 3.5's and shackles, etc and was told to just go with the 5"BDS, that it will flex fine. That's my biggest concern. It flexes really well now and I don't want to lose that. Decisions decisions.

Granted, I am long arm front but you get the idea. I think there was a little more flex available in the rear.

I will add in my .02 if it helps. You can NEVER GO WRONG with quality companies like RE or Clayton (which I believe use deaver springs). I have used Claytons, REs and BOR tailgunners (which are Alcans). It is important to start with a solid spring pack but almost more importantly is the position of the shackle and how it allows the spring to droop and flex in the range of motion. If you go with 4.5" RE springs (or Clayton), HD engineering relocation brackets (or ironman4x4fab.com) and ironman4x4fab adjustable shackles you will be golden. You can adjust his shackles to fine tune your ride height in the rear.

check it: http://www.ironman4x4fab.com/Products/RLS.html

I got rough country 4.5" springs and I love them I was able to get just the springs for $330 you just have to call and if you say your a member you can get 10% off

97cherocar said:

I got rough country 4.5" springs and I love them I was able to get just the springs for $330 you just have to call and if you say your a member you can get 10% off

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If you go that route, and get the 10% discount, it would be nice to apply the money you saved to becoming a member of . That helps all of us.

David Bricker / SYR