Shim Material Debate

I ordered some steel shims from a site with my lift kit... I got a call today :callme: and they said that they were on backorder, not sure how long.:bawl:

I was offered aluminum shims :guitar: , which are lighter, but softer...

Which is better? Pros and cons to each? What's your experiences? Educate me here...
-Matt

The weight of a shim is not something you should be worried about, expecially such a crititical part.
There is no real debate here. Steel is the answer.

Aluminum will work for a while, then fail.

I bought a YJ that had been lifted with an RE kit. The kit included aluminum shims. I noticed the U-Bolts were loose, so I removed them and took a look at the spring purches. The shims had broken apart by the off-road pounding, and the spring purches were wollowed out. It could have been a bad deal, but I caught it in time.

-Ron

i know that the cast aluminum ones have a tendency to fail... i machined my own shims out of solid billet aluminum, and they have held up nicely, however, i am keeping an eye on them to see how they really do. all that said, steel ones are obviously going to be stronger and better.

My aluminum ones are holding together okay, a little bit of wear on the skinny end. Definitely check your u-bolt torque every few months. I'll swap some steel ones in sometime this Summer, I've got too much else to do before NW Fest.

Been selling the aluminum ones for years. I've yet to see one fail.

I had a set of aluminum ones on my Procrap springs. Both shims cracked right in half. Never been a fan of them since then.

Call iron rock offroad, they sell steel ones.seen many aluminum shims fail...

ECKSJAY said:

Been selling the aluminum ones for years. I've yet to see one fail.

Click to expand...

Really?

Yours must be better than the ones I bought... 4WD Hardware, I think.

Didn't last six months. One cracked in half, the other shattered, nothing left bigger than a quarter.

Made my own steel replacements, no problems since.

Robert