So I picked up some S10 leafs to make a bastard pack. Im plannin on doin 2-3" til I can afford money for a slip yoke and the other bits to go with it. I currently have lift shackles but my worn factory leaves are saggin so I have 1" of lift in the rear.

My question is, should I make the bastard with lift shackle or use the stock shackle? My understanding is that the longer shackle helps with flex.

 

I did a bastard pack with the s10 leaves and it got 3.5 inches of lift with the stock shackle. The lift height slowly decreased to about 1.5 inches over a year

I believe that a extended shackle adds additional stress to your leaf pack and will increase the amount of wear on the pack

 

How did you use the leafs from the s10?

 

I used the entire pack. I just cut the eyes to fit, removed all of the XJ leaves and replaced them with all of the s10 leaves

My shocks sucked, so it was pretty bouncy for the first week, then the ride was fine. Made me feel like I was driving a jeep with a lift on it. My wife hated it, which meant she never drove it. That was also an added bonus

Chuck

 

haha nice. My gf 1st words after riding in it was when am i going to do it to her jeep

I did the same thing he did, XJ main and whole 4leaf s10 pack with stock shackle. Came out to 3.5" and it hold weight petty well too. I did this lift in july, put about 8k miles on it and it hasnt sagged yet. JK shocks all around too

I would recommend doing it all at once when you have the money for the lift, tires and other small stuff like SYE. You might not even need a SYE or can get by with a t-case drop

 

I like the way you think!

Sounds like you need to hold onto that girl!!

I gotta get the springs replaced asap! The factory ones are shot and dont support any sort of load. Im working on gettin my stang back together too so money is tight. Im gonna play around this weekend and see how things work out. Ill add some more lift down the road when I have money to spare for a slip yoke.

 

I had some drive line vibes when I did mine, but threw in a 1" t-case drop. it seems dropping the case puts some pretty harsh stress on the engine mounts, but I havent had any trouble. It all depends who you talk to. There was a whole thread on one of the forums about it. Some guys ran them for years without any issue. The drop loses its effectivness after the 3" range I think. Then you really need to go sye

 

I'm at 4" with a 1" tcase drop. I have no vibes or bad motor mounts.....yet. I've had it this way for about a year.

 

I didnt need a drop or SYE on mind at 3.5"

My old 93 XJ on 35's and 5" lift didnt have drop or SYE either. I did blow up a few rear ujoints