Opinions on Rustys springs

Hey guys I need some help finding good rear springs for a decent price. I am looking for a set of good 3-3.5" springs. I was sold on RE's 3.5 Extreme Duty packs until I learned they were $135 EACH. (I knew something was funny about the price! 2 good 2 b true!) Thats about 350 delivered to my door which is a little too much for me to swallow. So anyways Ive been looking at Rusty's 3" springs but Im not sure how they ride or hold up to abuse. I am looking for a stiffer spring that can be pounded on at kinda-high offroad speeds. Nothing hardcore like JeepSpeed just an occasional foot-down blast down the coal roads without bottoming out or sagging afterwards. Any help or advice would be appreciated- Thanks Guys-Aaron<><:angel:

My Rusty's 4.5" springs kick a$$. No sagging. Flexes really well.
You Should try national spring though. A friend of mine has 4" lift springs. Flexes well and the cost is low.
HTH

I know this wouldn't be the first choice for everyone, but after finding out what you did with the price of springs, I found Pro Comps were around $140 for the pair. PRO COMP you say, well I have been pretty impressed with them. And before I got them I asked around and I can't remember who made them, but I think it is RE or some one else a little more respectable than PC. So it was half the price for me.

My first lifgt was a Rusty's 3" with new rear springs and the the bottom leaf kinked within about 2 months, so he sent me the bottom leaf from the 4.5" springs which is supposedly beefier and they kinked in about the same time. So when I had the funds I bought BIGoffroads 6" springs and when I took the Rusty's off, all the leaves were kinked, so maybe I got a bad pair. I have had alot of Rusty's stuff and think that he makes good stuff for good prices, so this isn't an no vote for Rusty's, just my experiencec with his rear springs.

my Rusty's 6" leafs seem to work fine, no problems!

Chief93XJ said:

Hey guys I need some help finding good rear springs for a decent price. I am looking for a set of good 3-3.5" springs. I was sold on RE's 3.5 Extreme Duty packs until I learned they were $135 EACH. (I knew something was funny about the price! 2 good 2 b true!) Thats about 350 delivered to my door which is a little too much for me to swallow. So anyways Ive been looking at Rusty's 3" springs but Im not sure how they ride or hold up to abuse. I am looking for a stiffer spring that can be pounded on at kinda-high offroad speeds. Nothing hardcore like JeepSpeed just an occasional foot-down blast down the coal roads without bottoming out or sagging afterwards. Any help or advice would be appreciated- Thanks Guys-Aaron<><:angel:

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dont let the retail prices of RE send u away. contact Dirk at DPG offroad. i know he can do better than $135 a piece on the springs. just explore all your options before making a descision

Brad

DPG Offroad

I've had a set of Rustys 4.5's ans 6", both sagged quickly and unevenly. It took numerous phone calls to get my credit back after returning one of the sets, put me down as a No vote. TC

I agree with Brad on this one,Im going up with mine as we speak.RE springs both times and from DPG,Dirk is awsome to deal with.

4.5" equals 6"

I replaced my Rancho springs two years ago that also have the Teraflex shackle. What I went with was RE 4.5" springs. ORGS shackle. Great idea, but the lift measured out at 6". Not big deal but I had just replaced the front coils and four new 9000's which all needed to be replaced. So the story goes like this, ask them if the lift they state is without weight on the back or with weight. Food for thought. Juice

I have Rusty's 4.5" kit, which on my truck gave about 6"!!

This was the good thing. The bad thing is that the rear springs were not what I was expecting them to be.

In short:

1. The springs were too short and too stiff. As a result, they left the shackles inclined to the fully forward position, almost touching their mounts. Needless to say, that didn't provide much articulation.
2. Due -most probably- to the shackles problem, the springs binded and therefore cause the front ends to move around their bushings, enough to touch the right side of the front mounts.
3. The ride was extremely harsh, enough to cause your kidneys to move up and down when crossing a speed bump.
4. The friction pads at their ends are a joke. At least two of them have broken their studs, and have slipped away. The one on the right leaf pack moved towards the exhaust and melted, a funny smell was following me.
5. I have to admit that Rusty has send me some .75" extended, greasable shackles, trying to solve the problem, as well as new (different design) front bushings. The new shackles had the wrong grease nipple (straight, instead of bent, makes things too difficult when greasing them). And of course, I had to pay twice for the same work, just because of the quality of Rusty's springs.

Pictures of all these, at the Cherokee link in signature.

What I finally did, was to remove the lower leaf of the pack and install the new bushings and shackles. That gave me a softer ride, with almost the same lift as before (close to 6").

Overall, I am not impressed with the quality of these springs, although I am pretty satisfied with my current setup. But with the money I had to pay for double labor, I could have got the RE springs from the beginning.

Rusty's Springs "Kinked"

When you say "kinked" what are you referring to? I am on my 3rd replacement set of the "heavy duty" 6 inch STS spring packs. The first 2 sets sagged quickly. Rusty was good about replacing them and even picked them up while in town for a show. Still, this 3rd set is doing the same thing but it did take longer this time (no longer my daily driver) and I didn't feel like dealing with replacing them again at the time. But, they have lost enough lift now to where the back is really sagging and I need to do something to fix it.

That's why my question on the 'kinked" term. My springs literally sagged around the spring perches. If you look at the springs from a slightly side angle from the rear towards the front of the vehicle, it looks like a bad road with high and low points and a definite "fold" across the spring perches.

Anyone else have this issue? Just with Rusty or with other distributors as well?

Thanks!
Ric
'96 XJ Sport

Diesel said:

My first lifgt was a Rusty's 3" with new rear springs and the the bottom leaf kinked within about 2 months, so he sent me the bottom leaf from the 4.5" springs which is supposedly beefier and they kinked in about the same time. So when I had the funds I bought BIGoffroads 6" springs and when I took the Rusty's off, all the leaves were kinked, so maybe I got a bad pair. I have had alot of Rusty's stuff and think that he makes good stuff for good prices, so this isn't an no vote for Rusty's, just my experiencec with his rear springs.

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Re: Rusty's Springs "Kinked"

rbarton said:

That's why my question on the 'kinked" term. My springs literally sagged around the spring perches. If you look at the springs from a slightly side angle from the rear towards the front of the vehicle, it looks like a bad road with high and low points and a definite "fold" across the spring perches.

Anyone else have this issue? Just with Rusty or with other distributors as well?

Thanks!
Ric
'96 XJ Sport

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Ric,

I have exactly the same issue. In my case, since I have removed the lower leaf, I thought it was due to that. My plans were to add the lower leaf again, but then I should do something about the front of the truck, otherwise the front will sit lower than the rear.

Rgds

I think I am going to research a little more about the RE springs I am going to call Dirk or somehow contact him . I also just remembered the name toybox offroad was floating around here a while ago so im going to search for them also.I heard they have good prices on RE stuff. Although I dont have anything against Rusty, i dont think i am going to go that road because i really want to hit the trails with a little speed and i heard the 3.5 Extreme dutys are popular for Jeepspeed guys- Thanks for your help guys- Aaron

When I say kinked, I mean that the lower leaf had a kink in it instead of having a uniform u-shape. It can be caused by axle wrap, over-loading them, etc. When your springs kink, they usually start to sag quickly. If you leave a kinked leaf in, it will eventually ruin the whole pack. In my opinion and experience, BIGoffroad's springs are the best you can get without having somre springs custom made yourself. The BO springs have a half leaf on the top of the pack that is snail wrapped around the main eye which virtually eliminates damaging axle wrap. He sells them in 4, 6 and 8" so no matter where you are, there is something for you. The give about 1.5-2" of lift more than advertized, so consider that when ordering if you do. They are pretty spendy compared to other manufaturers, but they will be the last springs you will need to buy unless you want to get higher ones. Now I have the 6" springs and removed the bottom most leaf which gave me a much nicer ride, better flex and now it provides closer to 6" of lift. If you order them, I would highly reccomend spending the extra money and have rubber bushings. I have poly and especially before I removed the bottom leaf, the ride is rough, but rubber bushings will help.

Chief93XJ said:

Hey guys I need some help finding good rear springs for a decent price. I am looking for a set of good 3-3.5" springs. I was sold on RE's 3.5 Extreme Duty packs until I learned they were $135 EACH. (I knew something was funny about the price! 2 good 2 b true!) Thats about 350 delivered to my door which is a little too much for me to swallow. So anyways Ive been looking at Rusty's 3" springs but Im not sure how they ride or hold up to abuse. I am looking for a stiffer spring that can be pounded on at kinda-high offroad speeds. Nothing hardcore like JeepSpeed just an occasional foot-down blast down the coal roads without bottoming out or sagging afterwards. Any help or advice would be appreciated- Thanks Guys-Aaron<><:angel:

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i bought from rusty's 3.5 lift and i wouldn't buy from him again.

theres no need for more posts... hands down RE all the way! Contact Dirk and get some RE's. they are by far the best on the market for the XJ IMO.

My vote is just go digging in some junk yard and make your own custom pack. I have the RE 1462's and I am pleased, I know if I have done a little more digging, I could have made a pack just as good.

Many doners out there, Dakota's, S10's, Mj's, YJ's, Wagoneers the list goes on and on. Of course this method may be time consuming., but I'm sure you'll end up spending alot less and still get a decent flexing pack.

shimmy said:

theres no need for more posts... hands down RE all the way! Contact Dirk and get some RE's. they are by far the best on the market for the XJ IMO.

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I begg to differ ,

Re: Rusty's Springs "Kinked"

rbarton said:

That's why my question on the 'kinked" term. My springs literally sagged around the spring perches. If you look at the springs from a slightly side angle from the rear towards the front of the vehicle, it looks like a bad road with high and low points and a definite "fold" across the spring perches.

Anyone else have this issue? Just with Rusty or with other distributors as well?

Click to expand...

Well my stock Up COuntry with a shortie AAL did that, a used tomken pack i picked up did that.... (I think it was slightly messed up when I got it already, but it's hard to tell now) and now I"m running 3.5" RE rears.

Definately don'te get scared on the prices. I recommend going to Richard(Fullsizexj) @ www.fullsizexjgear.com (he's one of our own guys) and talking to him. I can tell you one thing: I definately didn't pay $135 per pack

if your shopping check out www.dc4wd.com for RE stuff. after a couple sets of rustys springs (bent to W's and one had broken leaves), i bought some re1462's and love them. its nice to by parts that dont need attention/ replacement on a regular basis.

Hunter