OEM XJ Leafs; Standard or Heavy Duty?

RAVC1 said:

Which models & which model year XJ's had Heavy Duty leaf packs? Does anyone know the properties of these two XJ leaf packs?

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Off the top of my head, I can't give you spec differences - but, from experience, my gut is telling me that you should go with the Heavy-Duty springs. IIRC, they were offered as a couple of different types of options in all years - standard-height or Up-Country, the latter giving about an inch of lift over stock.

XJs are notorious for spring sag on the factory springs, particularly at the rear. My 2001 was seriously tail-down 10,000 miles after I bought it with 75,000 on the clock; the 2000 that replaced it with the Up-Country suspension was still decent (though not great) at 102,000-ish.

Long-term, it makes sense to go with the HD springs - expect a longer life from them.

Going with HD though does it hurt the ride comfort?

BombThreat said:

Going with HD though does it hurt the ride comfort?

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If your shocks and springs are already shot, anything will be an improvement.

Seriously, though, I preferred the ride and handling of the 2000 (while stock) with the Up-Country suspension over the 2001 with the standard setup. The 2000 was slightly stiffer, but not in an uncomfortable way - more that it gave slightly less wallow and better controllability.

As for how this compares to the aftermarket items we're talking about here, I have no idea.

X2. Up-Country springs are great. They give a better ride in my mind over the standard ones.

I'm not sure if this is correct or not because I can't find any info on it right now, but I remember reading somewhere that Chrysler issued a TSB for the Up Country springs because of wobble. Needed a transfer case lowering kit. Can anybody confirm/deny this?

http://www.rocky-road.com/xjsus.html
Great price on the OEM HD springs.

JoshRountree said:

I'm not sure if this is correct or not because I can't find any info on it right now, but I remember reading somewhere that Chrysler issued a TSB for the Up Country springs because of wobble. Needed a transfer case lowering kit. Can anybody confirm/deny this?

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I believe I heard something about that also. I know when we put Upcountry springs on my bro's 01 XJ it vibrated like a sombitch until we put a transfer case drop on it. Unlike the older XJs that can take sometimes 4.5" of lift without vibes the new ones only can do about 0.5" apparently.