well, when I get a full time job I plan on doing a nasty resto with a 4.7 stroker so prob 5 more years

 

Nope. When i choose my springs, i pay attention to spring rate. Rusty's 3" coil springs have a 150 spring rate, which is close to old man emu (160). His HD coil springs are 180, still pretty close to the soft side. I was going to get the regular 3" with 150 rate but the sole reason i upgraded was to handle the weight of the skids and future winch so i got the HD 180 springs and they don't ride rough at all. It also balances out the front and rear since my rear springs are now about 190-200 spring rate with the AAL. I'm not sure about durability since i never ran rusty's springs before so i just gotta wait and see what happens down the road. But so far, so good. They match up pretty well with the rear OME springs.

 

thanks for the info

 

OME kits are the best out there and ya the coils are a little soft because my front is lower than my back a little that is why I am goin to add the Daystar 1 3/4" spacer and 1" shackle lift to level it out and add about an inch to net me 3.5"

 

OME kits are the best out there and ya the coils are a little soft because my front is lower than my back a little that is why I am goin to add the Daystar 1 3/4" spacer and 1" shackle lift to level it out and add about an inch to net me 3.5"

No doubt OME is great stuff.
I'd love to drive yours and you drive mine for a day and see if my >$200 home brew rides close to yours. I can't tell mine from stock with exception that it's a bit better controlled in the corners even without the rear swaybar.

 

OME equipped rigs without sway bars will sway quite a bit. Their springs and shocks are on the soft side, hence the nice ride. I cannot drive mine without the sway bar, just too much sway for my likings. Stiffer shocks would help this but it just rides too good to change em

 

Is this w/out the rear swaybar? I've been thinking about disconnecting my rear, would this be a bad idea? I also tow a 2000lb boat in the summer often and wouldn't want to sacrifice that ability.

 

I mean without both. It does sway just a bit without the rear but I can tolerate it. For a towing rig, i'd have both sway bars on there, but that's just me.

 

did you run into control arm problems with the longer springs and spacer? im running original stock springs in the front with a spacer and im looking to lift the front a little more

 

I tossed my rear swaybar when I lifted my XJ. It still handles great, though I have done no towing since then so I can't say about that. Certain models of the XJ came from the factory without the rear sway, so I figure it's safe!

 

If you are asking me, not really. I went up to 4.5 with springs and coil spacers. My arms were pretty steep and it rode rough. There's no real harm being done with that except the rough ride. I fixed that by getting control arm drop brackets. They lower the arms back to stock position so it rides so nice. Alot of people just leave the arms angled like they are but i'm all for a nice ride so i do whatever possible to get the best ride out of my jeep. I don't believe in that saying "it's a jeep, it's supposed to ride rough" cuz mine sure doesn't.

 

what coils/leafs are you running? i spoke with dirk and the 3" OME im planning on going with will be pretty firm- but still ride nice. im planning on doing an OME zj v8 coil up front and the OME leaf pack with the OME aal . that will supposedly take away alot of my buddy roll and give me a more controlled feel on/offroad

 

OME 930 XJ coil 160 lbs/inch ~2"
OME 934 ZJ coil 180 lbs/inch

OLD MAN EMU-CS034RA (OMEJC1A) 5 leaves in pack, 148lbs/inch s.r. 230mm (9.055") free height= Average lift of ~3"
OLD MAN EMU-CS034RB (OMEJC1B) 5 leaves in pack, 148lbs/inch s.r. 205mm (8.07") free height
OLD MAN EMU-CS035RA (OMEJC2A) 4 + 1 overload, 137/257lbs/in s.r. 235mm (9.25") free height
OLD MAN EMU-CS035RB (OMEJC2B) 4 + 1 overload, 137/257lbs/in s.r. 210mm (8.27") free height
OLD MAN EMU- D22XL (OME Add A Leaf) ~ 1" lift on top of their lift packs

I had the 930 coil springs with 2" spacers and CS035RA with overload spring. I got about 3.5" in front (with spacers) and only 2" in the back so i got the old man emu AAL from Dirk (got springs from him too) and put that in the packs and got the rear up to 3.5". Handling was PERFECT. I no longer needed the rear sway bar. I did need it with just the rear springs alone cuz the OME shocks and springs are very soft. The AAL increased the spring rate just enough to be perfect without sacrificing the ride, like traditional AAL's do. I removed the overload leaf shortly after because it would have been dusty from lack of use. I don't tow enough to use it. If anyone wants the overload leaves, pm me.

I installed a bunch of skids and the 930 coils were not really up to the task so i had no choice but to swap them out. I went with rusty's 3" HD coils because they have just a bit more spring rate than the OME's. I know you are thinking "why rustys!?!?" well they advertised their spring rate, unlike almost all other springs and most of the other springs were 200 or more spring rate. That's just too much for my likings. Since i increased the rear spring rate with the AAL, rusty's increased spring rate matched the rear perfectly and it rides great. The shocks became way too short so i had to go redneck and make some shock extenders work with the shocks and gained 2" of travel. (if you go with ome shocks, ask for the long travel shocks)

If you get the zj coils with 180 spring rate and one of their rear leaf springs (150 spring rate) with the AAL (20 spring rate) then you will be 180/170, which is nicely balanced. I am at 180/170. Most other kits out there are 200/220. I was told by the online chat tech dude at Rough country that their springs are 220 (coils) and RE coils are similar. To get the best ride, you gotta consider the spring rates.

 

ya on my trail rig i went with a 4.5 rough country but for my new project which i plan on driving daily i am goin to get the ome just because they have good quailty. what year is your jeep. my 87 i had problems with breaking bolts because they were rusty

 

2001 and no broken bolts. I was VERY careful and used my impact on everything. Loosen, tighten, loosen more, tighten, loosen more, etc till they came out. I guess i got lucky

I broke almost every bolt on my 2000 TJ though, no impact, just muscle.