Do you have a BDS Suspension in your XJ ?

Check in if you do and to what extent?

I do and am pleased.
3 inch with some extras.

6.5 inch long arm not a whole lot of mile yet so far so good they lie you will have to trim rear followed all guidelines on back spacing still cut one tire. But seems good so far maybe need to add rear bump stop.

I run the control arms with flex ends and hate the joints, rebuild them every two times out

Runin the 5" rear leafs. Mine is a DD/WW. I had RC and RE leafs before these, and i don't know why i didn't do it from the start. Great ride IMO

Long Arm 4.5" + Fox 2.0 & etc

Long arm 4.5" with Fox 2.0, all flex joints.

Added 3/4" coil spacers and Currectlync steering to fix stink bug rake. Have Bushwhacker Flat flares and fits 33's real nice now.

Ride is taught but very plush offroad and great fast on super crappy pavement - no complaints - it WAS worth it to go long arms.

I've got their 3" YJ leafs in the.... front!

Well, the springs are BDS, everything else is something else. That being said, these springs coupled with the Bilstein gas shocks and the 4 link LA setup gves a vey nice highway ride indeed. The suspension just soaks up everything. Rides better than it did with teh stock suspension.

OK, to be fair, the original stock rear springs had sort of become "S" shaped...

I sit at about 5-6" with P285/75R16's, 4.56s and the AW4. Everything works well together.

I'm in the market for a taller leaf, anyone know what their leafs are rated at?

this might of help?... http://bds-suspension.com/images-catalog/BDS_Cat_specs.pdf

I have the 5.5" leaf pack and though I am totally pleased with how they perform, I had the shim break and centering pin shear not long after I got them. The manufacturer wanted me to ship the whole spring pack back to them for replacement of the parts. I was very unhappy at the lack of customer service that represented for me. They are great leaf packs but they should have taken care of me on the broken shim and center pin.

I have the 6.5" lift, currently set up for 4.5". I love the way it preforms and rides my only concern is how often parts break, I managed to break the track bar bracket and then the crossmember when I was 2000 miles from home. Unfortunately the soonest the closest dealer could get me a replacement was in 9 days so I had a professional welder fix it in about an hour.

I have since had the crossmember replaced along with the warped leafs, I don't wheel hard at all but having one tons probably doesn't help. As jeeperjohn said the customer service is terrible, I had one guy hang up on me since I wasn't calm after discovering my crossmember was broken, called back and the next guy I got was great.

I also replaced the track bar set up with a ruffstuff kit since my truck has hated every track bar its had, soon I'm replacing the control arms so I have heims all around because I'm tired of replacing the rubber bushings all the time.

BDS appreciation thread?? Why?

I have BDS 4.5" coils.

BDS makes real good springs IMO but there arms lack R&D in the flexjoint area, it's best to peice together a lift will certain parts if you want the best.

Re: Long Arm 4.5" + Fox 2.0 & etc

X E Ryder said:

Long arm 4.5" with Fox 2.0, all flex joints.

Added 3/4" coil spacers and Currectlync steering to fix stink bug rake. Have Bushwhacker Flat flares and fits 33's real nice now.

Ride is taught but very plush offroad and great fast on super crappy pavement - no complaints - it WAS worth it to go long arms.

Click to expand...

I just did another one of these with the same rake issue. I came up with a theory and the boss agrees, we got a 4 1/2" spring but when you add the shackle they give you in, you're at 6". The boss had me put in a 1 3/4" coil spacer and now it sits right.

The only problem we've had with BDS is their track bars. They constantly evolve and change. My shop is a BDS distributor and installer.

sunburned said:

BDS appreciation thread?? Why?

Click to expand...

Well I don't think there are many people that have the suspension and for those who do, a common meeting place I thought would be an interesting thing...

And for my XJ's BDS details... 3 inch BDS front coils with full BDS leaf springs, 4 BDS shocks, front BDS lower control arms, zone quick disconnect front sway bars ends and no rear sway bar. I think I might have missed something.

I just installed a 4 1/2" LA kit last week. The kit waas easy to install and came with Fox 2.0 shocks and stainless brake lines. Looks like it should hold up well in my DD/camping rig.

I have had a BDS full pack 3" lift on for ~8 years now. Its on its 4th jeep and has been real good to me.

I don't think the rear leaf springs can be beat in the price range. I've had them for a long time and haven't had any issues with them. They still sit at 3" after 8 years and my junk is primarily a trail rig. They flex really really well. No complaints with the coils either. Full coil bind without losing height is nice.

currently running the 3" springs with 1-3/4" spacers up front and extended shackles out back, sits level right around 4-1/2" lift with bumpers and what not. The 3" packs benefited a lot from the longer shackles (stock shackles were too short to let them droop fully) Replaced the shocks when they wore out (~50k miles and a few rock hits) with bilsteins, but I liked how the shocks rode.

Only thing i've ever had a problem with was their track bar. I had one of the first gens that basically had a standard 1-ton TRE on the frame side and I was snapping them weekly, even on the street. They replaced it a few times (which was nice) and eventually let me talk to one of their engineers (cause im one too and i wanted to geek out about why i thought it was failing) and we basically concluded that it was junk. I sold the next replacement I got before installing it and they redesigned the bar, a few times it seems, maybe they are still trying to get it right. Last revision I was of that was MUCH better. Basically like a rebuildable johnny joint with a tapered shaft welded on the frame end and a poly bushing on the frame end, adjustment via some 1"+ threads somewhere in the middle. I'd be ready to give that a go if/when my current setup wears out.

Re: Long Arm 4.5" + Fox 2.0 & etc

jbsjunk said:

I just did another one of these with the same rake issue. I came up with a theory and the boss agrees, we got a 4 1/2" spring but when you add the shackle they give you in, you're at 6". The boss had me put in a 1 3/4" coil spacer and now it sits right.

The only problem we've had with BDS is their track bars. They constantly evolve and change. My shop is a BDS distributor and installer.

Click to expand...

Right, they had suggested that, and that is tossing the OEM rubber iso right? I kept my rubber spring iso because it was in good shape and my XJ is a DD on crappy roads - thought i might want the mush of the rubber on top the coil. I have bumpers, sliders and spare so with that weight I'm sitting good now.

99flexjay said:

.....Only thing i've ever had a problem with was their track bar. I had one of the first gens that basically had a standard 1-ton TRE on the frame side and I was snapping them weekly, even on the street. They replaced it a few times (which was nice) and eventually let me talk to one of their engineers (cause im one too and i wanted to geek out about why i thought it was failing) and we basically concluded that it was junk. I sold the next replacement I got before installing it and they redesigned the bar, a few times it seems, maybe they are still trying to get it right. Last revision I was of that was MUCH better. Basically like a rebuildable johnny joint with a tapered shaft welded on the frame end and a poly bushing on the frame end, adjustment via some 1"+ threads somewhere in the middle. I'd be ready to give that a go if/when my current setup wears out.

Click to expand...

That appears to be what my kit had in the box, I will let you know how it works out!

Re: Long Arm 4.5" + Fox 2.0 & etc

X E Ryder said:

Right, they had suggested that, and that is tossing the OEM rubber iso right? I kept my rubber spring iso because it was in good shape and my XJ is a DD on crappy roads - thought i might want the mush of the rubber on top the coil. I have bumpers, sliders and spare so with that weight I'm sitting good now.

Click to expand...

Kept the stock isolator in it. Had to upgrade the pitman arm, track bar and bracket to get the steering happy and not have bumpsteer because of the extra lift and those would be included in the 6 1/2" kit. It drives fine with zero bumpsteer.

Re: Long Arm 4.5" + Fox 2.0 & etc

jbsjunk said:

Kept the stock isolator in it. Had to upgrade the pitman arm, track bar and bracket to get the steering happy and not have bumpsteer because of the extra lift and those would be included in the 6 1/2" kit. It drives fine with zero bumpsteer.

Click to expand...

Oh right. Up at 6" you have to drop the arm and add that TB bracket - sounds like you got it covered!

Mine is a little lower so I did currie Currectlync and was able to leave my TB in the stock location - it does drive very sweet now, no bumpsteer. Took it to be aligned and it has 2o caster with a good pinion angle - I was pleased. I railed it up and down the mountain to work yesterday and was duly impressed by how decent the street manners still are, considering the height and tires.