S10 Bastard Pack Question?

Hello,
New member here, lots to learn from the forum. Recently bought a 1990 Comanche Eliminator. I have a build thread on Comanche Club, but I really suck at taking pictures, so I'm going to start soon. Anyways, long story short, I converted the truck to 4wd with an exo slave AX15, and now I'm getting ready to lift. I have Ironman shackles and track bar, metalcloak 3.5" springs, (temporary) RC(haven't ordered yet, still deciding) adjustable short arms, and JCR 1 ton steering. However, I picked up some 10 springs at the JY to do a bastard pack. Only problem is I only want 1.5-2" of lift out of these packs, which I have NEVER seen done; most bastard packs are for at least 3" of lift. Rather than experimenting with the leaves until I figure it out, I figured I'd ask here. What is the best combination of leaves to run in order to settle with a 1.5-2" lift with the leafs?
Thanks,
Francesco
Here's a picture of my MJ before the 2wd swap, shortly after purchasing:

If you just add one leaf you will likely get the small amount of lift you're looking for. Also keep in mind most of the writeups fr the s-10 springs are on XJs which are SOA. With the MJ being SUA, you won't see the same results as the stock springs already have a significant arch to them.

Do you think I should still run the main leaf with the eyes cut off, or one of the other leaves? I can experiment, but doing it once is just so much better! Haha, thanks for the tip.

I would start with the main with the eyes cut and add more from there if needed. This way you are distributing the pressure on your main leaf more evenly and closer to the ends, which will help avoid any warping in the future. Hopefully you can have a one shot deal, but bastard packs do require some tweaking sometimes.

Find you a Ford Ranger or Explorer. I used the 2nd leaf from a Ranger with a payload B (found on the door sticker) and it lifted my XJ spot on 2.5". That would get you a little closer to your goal. Explorers are SUA so you might could experiment with them as well.

CarbonXJ said:

Find you a Ford Ranger or Explorer. I used the 2nd leaf from a Ranger with a payload B (found on the door sticker) and it lifted my XJ spot on 2.5". That would get you a little closer to your goal. Explorers are SUA so you might could experiment with them as well.

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XJ and MJ leafs are different. MJ leafs, just like S-10 leafs are longer and have more arch.

Johnnie Walker said:

XJ and MJ leafs are different. MJ leafs, just like S-10 leafs are longer and have more arch.

Click to expand...

Just like Ranger's and Explorers are longer and have more arch.

Compared to an MJ spring, an Explorer is 0.75" shorter eye to eye, and the MJ has a 10" arch and the Explorer has a 7-7.5" arch. The Ranger is 0.5" shorter and has a 4.5" - 5.5" arch, being SOA. An S10 is 3" shorter, with an 8.25" arch.

I would think the longer and closer a spring is to the MJ, the better fit and ride/lift you would get from it.