How can I achieve no lift from OME?

I know it is hard to believe for most of you, but I don't want a lift. I know from experience with my TJ how easily one can spiral out of control spending on Jeeps.

I got my XJ for one thing. Hunting in the desert. I carry four or five dudes, a mastiff, and our gear.

I just got brand new KM2 235/75-15's and love them. They fit perfectly in the wheel well, stuff the fenders just enough, have have enough ground clearance for what I do, but I ride on the bumpstops more than I would like when loaded down.

I want to get OME leaf springs in the rear to handle the weight, but do not want more than an inch of height as I don't want to drop the t-case and mess with vibes and what not.

I was looking around and from what I think I learned is this:

the softest OME spring yields soft rates and low height, but the heavy duty leaves are the soft spring rate until it reaches the lower leaves which are rated stiffer. Is the heavy duty spring just a soft with added leaves?

I hear DPG will add OME leaves to yield more lift and rate for those who want/need it.

How much weight do you guys load down on your heavy duty springs?

I guess I am looking for soft rate while around town and what not, but then stiffer when I am loaded down. Almost like if I could put an air ride on the rear.

I'd try these. They are stock height, but heavy duty. Some people have gotten about 1" of lift from them at most but they shouldn't sag as much. :viking:

http://www.quadratec.com/products/56010_11.htm

I'm in the same boat with you, except I want OME's for their ride. But I don't want more than an inch or so of lift.

It seems awfully hard on the springs to intentionally overload lift springs just to take the lift out of them. But then again I dunno.

Just do something similar to what I am doing. Make an xj/xj bastard pack. Heavier duty but not much higher. There are a bunch of threads about bastard packs here in mod tech section including one from me. Just do a search and a bunch should pop up.

My leaves are flat right now, so adding doesn't seem to be a long term fix. I wonder if I can do a OME bastard pack. I will try to see what the rates are for each OME leaf and go form there.

Xj leafs are very flat to start with, its just how they are unfortunatly. Have yours gone all the way flat or do they still have some arch to them? Yeah building an ome/xj pack could work out nicely for you, I believe if you use the stock top leaf add in a new HD second leaf and then double from the third down, it should have good ride quality on pavement and also handle the weight while offroading.

Also I forgot to ask in my first post, how the hell do you fit 5 guys and a MASTIFF in an xj??? Lol I know how big Mastiff's are, that completly blew my mind thinking of the seating arrangements! Lol.

haha. we manage. I will have to strap some gear on top this time as the mastiff keeps getting bigger each trip it would have to lay across all three laps.

but as far as my springs go, they are flat if not showing a little sad face when fully loaded down.

I think I might call dpg tomorrow and see what he thinks. Maybe like what you said and add a leaf, but maybe add to the heavy duty spring.

Lol, yeah I can imagine he is getting bigger! How much does he weigh SO FAR?

Also yeah it sounds like your leafs are just plain worn out. Find a good donor set or two and build a HD bastard pack, if you mainly focus on the bottom half of the pack it will still ride nice on the street, but will handle much more weight and abuse.

Or you can always go with new full packs and see about a custom rate.
Either way good luck.

About 80 lbs. I think I will go for new spring packs, and bastardize them as needed.

The Crown HD replacement leafs should do what you want. I know that OME is a "better" ride, but will most likely net you more than you want. Just get some OME or other comparable shocks and should do you just fine.

This is how my 92 sat with the crown HD leafs. I dont know how much over stock it was but it had a slight rake when unloaded.

Quadratec HD Springs are very nice... I say about 1.5 inches on a stock ride with no weight in the back.

A few of us have cut off the eyes of the qtec hd leaf packs and added them to the longest leaf from our existing factory packs. In my case I ended up with two inches of lift that hold added weight very well without sagging much and also give a really good ride. Some advantages to doing it this way are not having to free up seized bolts and relatively low cost. The two inch lift is acceptably proportional to tires in the 235 to 31 inch range.

What about going SUA in the rear? That would lose you 3-4" or so

You'd be surprised how little a 2" lift matters on an XJ. I can understand the "i don't want it to spiral out of control" argument, but that's exactly what a 2" lift is for.

Call ARBUSA.com, and the OME Tech people there can get you what you want. I agree with Porch(Porsche)951, the 2" is spot on. OME is better than OEM, and no guess work. However I also agree with Rod Knee that there could be a major hassle if'in your leaf mounting bolts are siezed.., lol, like spending a half day on just one.., been there, done that.

jumpnjeep said:

Make an xj/xj bastard pack.

Click to expand...

I went from a bastard Pack to OME leafs..............never gonna run a bastard pack again! I netted around 3" out of my setup and it rides better than stock. I used the CS034RA packs with an OME extra leaf and OME934 V8 ZJ coils.

so for sure 2" is good without t case drop? I would rather lose have no lift than lose ground clearance. But I don't want to rock a SYE with a 2" lift either.

ferntr33 said:

so for sure 2" is good without t case drop? I would rather lose have no lift than lose ground clearance. But I don't want to rock a SYE with a 2" lift either.

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96- should be ok. A 97+ is hit or miss. you may have vibes but a T-case drop is cheap and easy. Though, it is ultimately a bandaid. I have one on my Jeep and I have 0 vibes but I also have a SYE in the garage to put on it.

As I mentioned in another thread, this is what I did:
For my '95 I ordered the OME HD 2in leafs and Daystar bushings from Quadratec. Installed them myself with the help of a naxja member. It was straight forward, even with the front eyelet bolt snapping on the driver side. Do a search on here, there is a thread on how to deal with that. I went with Rusty's Offroad 2in coils in the front since thats what my budget allowed. Over all, I'm very happy with how it turned out. If it wasn't for dealing with the old bushings in the shackle, I could have had it done in one day. Its not a super tall lift, but it gives a little bit more room in the wheel well, and rides really well. I'm also running 235s, but they are Wranglers. They don't look too silly on there right now. I'm sure your KM2s would look alot better. No bad vibs, no tc drop, no sye. Even if you have to get a tc drop, its cheap and easy. A 1/2in drop will still be 1.5in above the factory ground clearence. Anyways, haven't loaded down the Jeep yet and taken it offroad, but I'm sure it'll do fine. Hope this helps. Oh, and I have about $450 invested in leafs, bushings, coils, shocks, and the shipping to get it to me.

-Eric