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budget boost - better of the 2?

With shackle relocation you can preserve the intended arch of the spring.

With longer shackles you will tear your springs up because they are forced to be at an arch/length they were not engineered for.
 
New set off HD leafs with your old main leaf added to the pack. Best small lift I had in the back of my old DD, and it gives it a pretty good weight capacity in the back too.
 
Add a Leaf (Full Length) is better. Less stress on an already sag prone leaf pack.
 
An add-a-leaf added to a leaf pack that is already at least 13 years old may very well result in the added leaf experiencing quick fatigue thereby resulting in unacceptable settling of the combo pack. The HD spring packs can be had for not much more money from quadratec than what AAL's cost. The HD pack can be wed to the existing main for 2 inches of lift. I have gone this route with good results...no settling after 7 years and reasonable flex. You can just leave the existing main as is, cut off the eyes of the new pack, and attach the new pack to the existing main thereby bypassing the headache of dealing with potentially seized shackle bolts.
 
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I have built several junkyard donor bastard packs on the stock XJ main leaf, and have installed a couple of full length Add-a-Leaf, there isn't much difference. I have seen no sagging issues, and an AAL side-steps any seized leaf spring bolt issues.

Yes, an inverted stock leaf pack may have less than ideal results, but if the leaf pack has some arch, or is only flat, good results are likely.

I put an extra stock leaf into my sagged flat 1998 leaf packs at 195,000 miles. They were $10 at the junkyard. Full XJ or S-10 spring packs are $25 each. At 215,000 miles the leaf pack still is 1" taller than stock.
 
I'm going with these. They are "upcountry" spec and give about an inch over a regular Cherokee.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009X1YAZS...TF8&colid=24QTMZCP6GNSD&coliid=I2K25C2A3FHGF5

As stated above you could hack the eyes off of these and put them under your stock main leaf and get a bit more lift.

I'm not looking for more than 2" of lift on this Jeep so I'm just going to swap the whole pack no both sides. The bushings probably need replaced after 200k miles anyway.
 
Shackle relocation and longer shackles provide lift AND improve ride quality and flex. Unless your leaf springs are completely shot, I'd start with relocators and a beefier than stock shackle.
 
When my 91's frame was nonexsistant in some places and cracked in many others- I purchased a 98' to transfer my "non-oem" and newer parts onto. Upon removal- my leafs were split - 2 out of the stack on each side. Attempting to build a "set" from the other donor- I found that they were bent... i ordered new leafs 3.5" and added a spacer to the fronts to make up for the sag they had to balance with the new leafs. Point being- you might not have the same options available upon closer inspection.

On a yj- when I rebuilt the rear frame- I changed the location of the rear shackle mount resulting in about an inch of lift- and a better ride. THat's a cool option- but was only available because I had a welder and no fear to mess with it.
 
For stock springs, lift blocks are bad news.

.
standard.jpg
 
md21722 said:
With shackle relocation you can preserve the intended arch of the spring.

With longer shackles you will tear your springs up because they are forced to be at an arch/length they were not engineered for.
Click to expand...


I've been struggling with this one for a few hours.

Show me one single XJ leaf with a published engineered shackle length?
 
Tim_MN said:
For stock springs, lift blocks are bad news.

.
standard.jpg
Click to expand...

Is that your jeep posted?

Because I have done the exact same thing with no blocks.

1000 bucks says that machine had no bump stops or they were not properly extended to compensate for the axle drop.
 
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Any leaf spring will be stressed or even damaged by over compression. Stock XJ leaf springs are not a very sturdy design to start with, and old age has not improved them. Proper bump stops are essential.

As to the Original Posters inquiry, for a small amount of lift, or to revive saggy leaf springs, an Add-a-Leaf is the best choice when considering cost and effort to install.
 
cal said:
I've been struggling with this one for a few hours.

Show me one single XJ leaf with a published engineered shackle length?
Click to expand...

I have not seen one.

Without the shackle relocation, and only extended shackles, the shackle will be not be rotated back. It will either be straight or even forward. My 97 XJ came with the factory Up Country package and a P.O. put on extended shackles for another 1.5". The shackles were straight up and down and leafs didn't look so good.
 
devildog0 said:
I'm going with these. They are "upcountry" spec and give about an inch over a regular Cherokee.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009X1YAZS...TF8&colid=24QTMZCP6GNSD&coliid=I2K25C2A3FHGF5

As stated above you could hack the eyes off of these and put them under your stock main leaf and get a bit more lift.

I'm not looking for more than 2" of lift on this Jeep so I'm just going to swap the whole pack no both sides. The bushings probably need replaced after 200k miles anyway.
Click to expand...

Some people buy these at JC Whitney. Keep in mind you'll need to buy bushings. I've heard of problems with Dormans or maybe Crowns cracking pretty quick so I would do some research before buying. I used MOOG (Clevite) bushings the last time I need a set of bushings. If you are handy you can probably lube the bushings up with sliding fluid or even dish soap and hammer them in.
 
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