Spring Replacement - Suggestions (somewhat)

Among my long list of projects (both finished and not) one of the currently pressing ones is new springs to fix the saggy originals on my 1990 XJ, I think I have the rear's figured out, due in some part to the spring FAQ that listed some part numbers that eventually lead me to the right ones.

For the rears, I'm looking for a heavy duty spring, with the 1" boost (upcountry) which as near as I can tell is Crown Spring Part: 4886186AB

I already have a RRO shackle on there which has given me about 1.5" of lift, enough that it now looks low in front, at least until I fill the back up with junk (I'm moving, so I need to make a good long trip, with a huge load of stuff) it sits level, but the spring is actually bent upwards, which is little surprise since it usually sits dead flat at best anyways.

Now, the front springs I havn't figured out yet, I was figuring since I have a buddy who is going to order the crown rears for me, I may as well get crown front springs as well. I am currently leaning towards: Crown part nos 52001122 or 52001125 however, while both are listed as "heavy duty" neither one lists things like coil length, spring rate etc. Also, while I know the stock spring rate is around 150lbs, anyone know what the stock spring length is (unladen)?

PS, the goal here is to bring the vehicle to maybe about a 1-2" lift, but mostly to restore it to original height and give it some extra load carrying capacity, as this is usually my DD/expedition vehicle, not a crawler or mud bogger.

Don't know the part number or anything, but from what I've heard/read, if you can get your hands on front springs from a V8 Grand Cherokee Up Country package, it'll give you about an inch and a half of lift.

Again, based only on what I've read, the people who've used those springs have been very pleased with the ride afterward.

That's the kind of thing I'm looking for, I just need to know what to order, the biggest issue is I don't know what I have, couldn't find any numbers on the springs.

You should take a look at old man emu. Look up dpg offroad.

Here is a pic of a '90XJ with the Old Man EMU parts installed:

Rears:2.25" lift
http://www.jeep4x4center.com/old-man-emu-jeep-xj-medium-load-2-25-rear-leaf-spring-arb-cs034ra.html

Fronts: 1.75" lift
http://www.jeep4x4center.com/old-man-emu-light-heavy-load-front-coil-spring-pair-ome930.html

If you don't choose this route you can use the pics to help figure out the height difference.

HTH

You bring up an interesting point, I hadn't considered putting two different lengths of lift in front vs back.

Also, what tire size is on that? 215/75R15? After just putting the shackles on mine it looks to have about the same amount of lift (despite very worn out springs).

The main thing I'm going for here is a "stealth" lift, where I have a burlier but stock height rear spring in it to make up for all the weight I carry, and then a set of coils that are maybe 1" over stock to make up for the addition of the shackles and the bigger leafs.

Yes, they are 215/75R15's. They came with the XJ (wasn't running when I bought it) and the plan is to change them out soon since the rubber is cracking. Now that I have a little lift, I will likely go to a bigger tire.

For what it is worth, my goals were pretty similar to yours. I wasn't really looking for lift but wanted to replace the worn out rears. I plan to add a hitch to do some light towing and when I searched for a medium load spring, the old man emu ones came to the top. I was pleased that they had 5 leafs but then noticed that they also raised the height by a couple of inches so I decided to replace the fronts as well. I must say that this config would definitely benefit from having some weight on it. As it stands now the ride is a little stiff but with a little additional weight, I suspect it would be quite comfortable.

My guess is that you are going to end up with more lift than you think once you replace those old rears. Mine had degraded to the point that the spring bend was upside down at the front and the rest of the spring was pretty much flat. Below is a "before" pic. I should add that I stayed with the stock shackles so the lift is all spring.




HTH
Todd

OME's ride really nice. If you like the spring rate of your front coils, Maybe a pair of ACOS? YOu can then fine tune each side for it to sit level. Some JK Rubi shocks all the way around and voila!

tjmotter said:

For what it is worth, my goals were pretty similar to yours. I wasn't really looking for lift but wanted to replace the worn out rears. I plan to add a hitch to do some light towing and when I searched for a medium load spring, the old man emu ones came to the top. I was pleased that they had 5 leafs but then noticed that they also raised the height by a couple of inches so I decided to replace the fronts as well. I must say that this config would definitely benefit from having some weight on it. As it stands now the ride is a little stiff but with a little additional weight, I suspect it would be quite comfortable.

My guess is that you are going to end up with more lift than you think once you replace those old rears. Mine had degraded to the point that the spring bend was upside down at the front and the rest of the spring was pretty much flat. Below is a "before" pic. I should add that I stayed with the stock shackles so the lift is all spring.

Click to expand...

I have 235/75R15's on mine (wrangler radial), and until I put the shackle kit on, my springs were so low that the tops of my tires were below the well, didn't give a lot of spare travel when I was carrying weight. I end up having to carry around a lot of weight given my profession. Anything that isn't too heavy goes in back, if it's a big order I will use my delivery truck, which despite being a 3/4ton doesn't really like it much when I stuff 2000lbs of bullets in the bed.

So I think here's the decision on the lift I'm going to put on:

OME 2.5" M/H rears
OME L/H 1.5" fronts
RRO shackles (already on there)
RRO BPE's Front/rear
Crown Bumpstops (rear)
Frame side (urethane) shackles
Shackle side bushings (urethane)

If anyone has any recommendation on shocks, I think I have a set of 2" ranchos around here somewhere someone gave me in exchange for some work I did. They any good?

Jk Rubicon take-off shocks.. cheapest option most likely.
Bilstein 5100, OME shocks, anything better than these also.