Pancaked leafs fall under the category of really bad, yes. They will start to bend the opposite way if you put shackles on. Get new leafs

 

heres mine, settin on a 3 inch lift

before.





after.

 

Crappy cell phone pics, but here is a few pictures with the 3 inch lift and bald 235's

 

Yeah my leafs look like his....pretty much flat So does that mean i should do a bastard pack in stead of shackles? The catch with a bastard back is that the lift you get out of it is a guesstimate. No exact lift. Hard to match the front if you dont know how high the back is haha

 

Id say order new leaf packs. But you dont have the money it sounds like.

Add one leaf at a time from the S10, its gonna be a pain but its the only way to see how much you are getting.

 

I have the money for new leafs if i do it that way. Just curious to all this about which one is better for doing a lift with a budget. *Off Subject* At what point could i remove the front skid plate? My pops says its better to leave it on but the front end sits lower then the skid plate. If anything were to hit it would take out my front end befor the skid plate even stopped it.

 

That's what mine look like too. If i had the choice i would've gotten new leaf packs, but i had a very strict budget so blocks and shackles it was for me

 

If you search you can find guys that did a bastard pack and get a good idea what will work. If you double up XJ leaves you get about two inches of lift. With and S10 or the like you only need one or two leaves for a 2 inch.

 

I'm in the same situation. But I decided to just get new leafs and a 2" spacer / shackle kit.

This way I can retain the nice ride comfort.

 

From everything I read everyone says the bastard packs ride the same as the factory leaf setup.

 

Yep I did a shackle lift with saggy springs,it didn't even lift it at all so then I added the main s10 spring under the xj main and it was just right at about 3 inches of lift and rides better than it ever did.I also left the stock isolator in the front to keep it even

 

the skid plate isnt designed to protect the differentials. youre protecting the bottom of your engine with it. get a beefier diff cover if youre worried about that.

 

Is the 3in with or without the shackle? What did you do to lift the front?

 

A good budget lift for flat springs is a new full length Add a Leaf costs about $60. for 2.25"-3" of lift at the rear by Iron Rock Offroad.

This is what was done with project Skymiles when his new OME springs began to sag after only a year.

Better than the little Add a Leaf RE uses on their wimpy 2.5" which goes on the bottom, and weakens the pack by increasing the arc.

Due to The shorter the leaf, the weaker it is.

The full length Add a Leaf mounts under the main leaf as the top leaf and strengthens the overall pack.

The Same principal as adding an S10/Dakota leaf which is great if you have some just lying around. But for most us that isn't the case. But for $60. or $30/side for the rear w/o the risks of shackles or blocks on flat springs causing further damage it is a good deal.

From a replacement perspective it is also much simpler to jack up the rear end supporting the axle and unclip and unbolt the spring pack than it is to remove/replace the entire springs all together. Those main spring bolts especially the front are often fused with the frame rail.

Additionally once installed and you have a small lift you can then source a used S10,Dakota or XJ donor packs later adding 2nd and 3rd leafs for added lift w/o changing your axle rear diff geometry which can possibly lead to vibes.

All on a budget.

http://www.4x4wire.com/jeep/tech/susp/xj_aal_01/


$60.
case.http://www.ironrockoffroad.com/Merch...t_Code=RC-6123

 

I just raided the junkyard yesterday. I scored some Isuzu Rodeo leaf packs, & some V8-ZJ front coils. The coils are supposed to give about 2" lift to an I-6 XJ.

The leafs are basically the same deal as the S-10 bastard pack, but not so stiff. Supposed to give 3-4" lift. Cut the eyes off Rodeo #1 & put it under XJ main. Rodeo #3 goes next, & Rodeo #2 cut down to smaller than Rodeo #3 goes in as leaf #4. The Rodeo #4 supposedly can be added/used for heavy duty apps too.

I got this info from another site, but haven't done the install on mine yet. Hoping to do it next weekend if my muscles recover by then.

The junkyard removal of the Rodeo & ZJ springs with hand tools kicked my 47 year old butt pretty well.