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New springs or 1.5" rear shackles?

What rear leaves do you have?
What is the primary purpose of the vehicle?
How many miles on the rear springs?
Do you carry much load in the Jeep or tow a trailer?

We need more info to help you here;)

Michael
 
LOL... Sorry. Springs have Been on there since I bought it. Still have "some" arch but not much. I do pull trailers and I drive mostly asphalt and dirt/gravel roads exceeding 40mph. I havn't seen other stock xj springs under load so I do not know what they look like compressed. But it seems to me all Jeeps are a little lower in the back. I want to level this out.
 
I do a lot of towing with my xj. Did an add a leaf in the rear when I bought my second xj and had a noticable rear hieght difference. Try doing an add a leaf using another xj spring. You will add tow capacity, gain 1" to 1 1/2" rear lift, and not effect the ride quality much. Also it is very affordable (worked well with my first xj).
 
If your pack is already sagging, it's on the way out. Longer shackle just changes the mounting point of the rear of the spring. A block will lead to increased axle/spring wrap, an add-a-leaf will only be as strong as the pack it's going, and a shackle will mildly change a pinion angle. Of the three, I prefer to sell the shackle because it will also increase rear wheel travel (by pivoting the rear mounting point, not making the spring itself flex more).
 
89heepxj said:
LOL... Sorry. Springs have Been on there since I bought it. Still have "some" arch but not much. I do pull trailers and I drive mostly asphalt and dirt/gravel roads exceeding 40mph. I havn't seen other stock xj springs under load so I do not know what they look like compressed. But it seems to me all Jeeps are a little lower in the back. I want to level this out.
Click to expand...

So, I am guessing these are stock springs?

If you tow, and/or drive primarily on the road, logging roads, and not PRIMARILY off road then I would go with re-inforcing the spring pack with additional leaves or aal, or similar (there are a ton of different variety of ways of doing this with stock, alternative or aftermarket leaves) do a search in the tech forums and you should find too many pages to read all of them.

Adding a lift block will KILL a stock spring pack and cause other issues that will not last long and usually end up doing more harm than good. (this info is only for XJ's not necessarily other vehicles).

The longer shackle is ok to add if flex is the most important priority and you already have a decent spring pack, adding on to a stock spring pack that is already week will only kill it faster.

Michael
 
89heepxj said:
The front of my vehicle is currently at 23". That is from middle of rim to top of fender. The rear is at 21.5" I was thinking either my leaves are sagging really bad or I can make up the difference with the teraflex 1.5" rear shackles?

http://www.teraflex.biz/products/xj-cherokee-1-5-lift-shackle.html

Any Ideas?
Click to expand...
Were are you measuring from in the back? I am pretty sure that the rear tire opening was lower in the body than the front tire opening. So if you measured from the same spot in the front and rear you would not be getting a accurate measurement.


If you still have the short factory shackles in there I would deffinently upgrade to an extended shackle. Just don't get a super long set of shackles, 1-1/2" should be fine.
 
ECKSJAY said:
If your pack is already sagging, it's on the way out. Longer shackle just changes the mounting point of the rear of the spring. A block will lead to increased axle/spring wrap, an add-a-leaf will only be as strong as the pack it's going, and a shackle will mildly change a pinion angle. Of the three, I prefer to sell the shackle because it will also increase rear wheel travel (by pivoting the rear mounting point, not making the spring itself flex more).
Click to expand...

I disagree, and believe that an extended shackle, esp. on stock springs or only small lift height does make the springs not last as long. A main reason for this is it makes the springs much more flat and you have to run a lot of bump stop to not invert the springs on up-travel. Inverting leafs is what kills them the fastest.

Also, on small lifts or stock springs it puts a lot of "pressure" on the main leaf downward which is not the direction it naturally wants to go. It takes away the arch. Just my 2 cents.
 
garr said:
http://www.shockwarehouse.com/site/...e-Loadleveler-Pair-Jeep-Cherokee-and-Wagoneer
Click to expand...

Those would be great but I have the sag without towing. Even more so when a trailer is hooked up. I need decent flex. These arent logging roads. All but the main roads where I live are dirt. These roads have speed of 35mph or faster.

Here:

http://www.4wd.com/productdetails.aspx?partID=6944

Or

Was thinking of just a bastard pack. I don't know. Seems like New springs are #1 and then AAL or #2 w/ Shackles at #3.

The springs are almost flat. So idk if stock springs are under the weight of the rear. But mine probably need replaced. I won't be lifting until late july or august now.
 
northwestxj said:
I disagree, and believe that an extended shackle, esp. on stock springs or only small lift height does make the springs not last as long. A main reason for this is it makes the springs much more flat and you have to run a lot of bump stop to not invert the springs on up-travel. Inverting leafs is what kills them the fastest.

Also, on small lifts or stock springs it puts a lot of "pressure" on the main leaf downward which is not the direction it naturally wants to go. It takes away the arch. Just my 2 cents.
Click to expand...

So which direction is the "pressure" on the main leaf in a stock setup? :looney: Up? Sideways?
 
It doesn't have to do with the "direction" of the force, it has to do with the ability for a stock spring to be more readily allowed to flex past the point it should be able to flex (inverted).

The most optimum situation is that the shackle is matched to the spring pack so that they work best together, then limited by bumpstops in the "stuffed" position and shocks or limiting straps in the "down direction". In reality this doesn't often get done in these vehicles properly.

Putting a 1.5" lift shackle "usually" allows a stock or short lift spring pack to be over stressed with the ability for it to more readily be stressed in either direction (stuffed or unloaded), and even inverted some times. This usually is to the detriment to the original spring pack.

On the other hand, adding extra leaves from other packs, or AAL's, or alternatives can help support the stock pack and help it's chances of living longer. This also alows the vehicle to more redily carry extra weight and tow better which for a primarily on road driven vehicle is much more important.

Michael
 
2xtreme said:
Putting a 1.5" lift shackle "usually" allows a stock or short lift spring pack to be over stressed with the ability for it to more readily be stressed in either direction (stuffed or unloaded), and even inverted some times. This usually is to the detriment to the original spring pack.
Click to expand...

That is an overly elaborate way of saying absolutely nothing, potentially, usually.
 
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