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REAR LEAF SPRING LIFT OPTIONS

badbowtie87

NAXJA Forum User
Location
missouri
I am thinking about piecing a lift together. Mainly because there are several things i can build myself. But i was wondering who makes a good leaf spring that will last. Im wanting to get about 5.5" of lift. I figured 1.5" or so could come from a shackle. Also what coil springs would you guys recommend. Ive been reading nothing but bad about RC coils and lift kits in general.
 
shackles are OK on aftermarket springs, but don't ever use them on stock master leaves. they'll bend the soft OE spring steel.
shackles seem OK, way better than lift blocks.
maybe add a leafs?
 
JEONLYEP said:
I've got the main leaf that is stock, the rest of my leaves are from a Dodge Dakota. I also have 1.5 lift shackles, (never bent the main leaf)

I am at about 5 inches of lift.

DAryl
I did something similar, except I got mine from a GMC Jimmy and used the 1.5” boomerang shackles. Gave me about 5.5” of lift. I used Rusty’s 6.5” springs in the front. With the engine squishing the front down I run about 6” front and 5.5” rear. Hard to tell the height difference.
 
Got stock springs with Add-a-leaf 3" superlift and 1.25 shackles. going to get a 1.25 block tomorrow for the rear.
 
So are you guys saying that s-10 pickup leaf springs will give me 3" more lift than a stock xj spring? Do I need to add a leaf to them or whats the deal on these?
 
I'm not sure what you get from S-10, but the Dakota yeilds about 4 inches over stock. For mine I used all the leaves from the dodge, except for the large over load spring they had. I cut the eyes off the dodge main leaf so that it was just shorter than the main leaf of the XJ. I took but main leaf off the XJ and bolted up the dodge leaves to it. There are many write up's on site that go into more detail.

DAryl

By the way, I don't like blocks. They really added to axle wrap when I had them.
 
ECKSJAY said:

about 25k on these leaf packs when the picture was taken. i had the origional springs replaced under warranty at 30k because they were so saggy. these are the 2nd set of OE springs in the XJ. i didn't put the shackles on until these springs had 20k on them. within 5k, this is what they looked like.
shackleandhitch24ua.jpg

i towed a 13 foot boat accross town once. that's it.
here they are after a little over 2,000 miles with the shackles:
2kaftershackles9bs.jpg

backspringsbent9by.jpg

just under 4k after installing the shackles.
i have no other modifications on the rear. no blocks or anything else.
there's a reason most people on forums like jeepforum will tell you to get the AAL instead of the shackle when it comes to budget boosts, because it wrecks the weak master leaves on OE packs.
look at the stock leaf spring. the master leaf towards the rear has a long expanse where its the only leaf. when there are other leaves there, that's great to keep it from bending the wrong way. aftermarket leaves usually have the 2nd leaf much longer than the factory spring's 2nd leaf, which makes the aftermarket leaves last longer.
they bend the leaves because the stock packs don't have anything but the master leaf in the rear 1/3 or so of the spring, where the shackle is.
i notice others here say they havn't bent their stock master leaves, but they have added leaves from other packs, sustaining the arch of the master leaf. i said stock packs. what you're talking about are no longer stock.
BS flag denied.
 
Last edited:
I do not know about the S10 but it should be the same as the GMC Jimmy which added 4" and I used the whole pack with the eyes cut off the top GMC spring. Not a fan of blocks either.
 
afd516 said:
http://www.bigoffroad.com/

They can hold all the weight you want. I absolutely love mine! They are a bit price but worth every penny.

Yep, but for now I can't aford em. But they are great springs from what I hear.
 
i would def go the aal way, or just buy some full leaf packs
 
I'm going with the s-10 as the other write up talks about those giving him 4.5 inches of lift and that the local parts store has those in stock for 25 bucks each, so it is a cheap lift.

Also I have had no issues with my leafs and 3' blocks for the past 6 months., but they still make me nervous.

anyone know of any springs that can bolt right up to the current spots, that are from another vehicle, so you don't have to tear packs apart? just wondering about that.
 
its just not the best way to just use a shackle, why even try it, get some more leafs or buck up and buy a set of full packs
 
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