Rcrivolio

My old rear leafs were sagging pretty bad. So I decided to replace them with some rugged ridge HD leafs. While I was at it I decided I'd do a 2'' lift (pucks up front, shackles in the rear). The problem I'm having is the rear leafs still look flat with minimal arc. What are your thoughts?

JeepaholicNinja

Well, if they're worn out, the best thing to do is replace them...It's only a couple hundre bucks (I know, I know...Not really pocket change but still). Shackles on the stock springs sometimes (I hear) tend to push the springs flat instead of pushing the rest of the Jeep up...Add a leafs sag in a short amount of time, especially if your original leafs are shot. They also ride rough. I'd just get a set of 2" leaf packs or HD ones, as they sometimes give an inch or 2 of lift, which you could add possibly 1" shackles to, if they only give 1"...It's all kinda modular aha.

Rcrivolio

I believe I've done what you've described, I'll type this again, I've bought and installed NEW HD stock springs from rugged ridge. Now that I've added longer shackles, my leafs are still flat. Is this typical?

Tsaani97xj

If they arent lift springs then yes that is normal for XJ leafs. Bottom line did you get the height/stance you wanted? If so dont worry about it.

Rcrivolio

Yes, between new leafs and the longer shackles, they gave me exactly a 2'' lift. I just wanted to make sure these are the effects others had seen.

Fred/N0AZZ

A budget 3" lift with full leaf packs and new coils from Rustys Off Road would have a much better deal plus you get new shocks and u-bolts to boot. His are VG quality leafs and coils both American made not like a lot of them and they are the main cost of any kit.

sycoglitch

It's normal. What happened was that the leafs, even though they are Hd, are soft plus there's only 4 and the space between the main leaf and second leaf leaves a weak spot. The extended shackled are trying to extended and doing so they put more force on the soft leafs. This is why I say to stay away from ****ty pucks and shackles and do it right. I went that route and wasted money. Do a bastard pack instead.

Tsaani97xj

OP already has what he has and what he is experiencing is normal. XJ leafs do not have much arch by design to begin with.

I run a 3 leaf bastard pack myself that only has a slight arch. Coupled with relocators and shackles it gives me the lift I needed (4.5-5") and rides good.

sycoglitch

That's what I'm running. 3" coils upfront and the rear is an AAL bastard pack (I put an xj main as the second lead for extra "strength") plus the relocators bracket and boomerang shackles. I have about 5" in the rear but it's rides good. When they wear out I'm doing 3.5" RC leafs

Rcrivolio

I plan to do a 4.5 lift after I move down south a year from now. I need to tow a trailer for the move and wanted to keep it as close to stock for now as I could bare. I might have just gone with full 3 inch packs but I got a smokin deal on the rugged ridge ones and I figured if I f*ck up another set of leafs during this tow, might as well be the cheap ones.

Either way, between the new packs and the shackles I got back to stock ride plus 2''. Just wanted to make sure there wasn't something else I should be looking into before I continue to drive.

Fred/N0AZZ

I understand now your reasoning for what you chose to do.

When I went from a 3" Rustys lift to a 4 1/2" lift I kept the rear leafs and used Boomerang Shackles because it gives more flex than a standard leaf pack in the rear and new coils in the front.

Rcrivolio

After I did my lift I noticed some drive line vibrations. I assumed it was my ujoints since they were already needing replacement and the increased driveshaft angle just made that worse. I've gone ahead and replaced them but I'm still getting vibrations at low speeds. Once I'm going over 30mph everything is fine. Under 30mph, there is a constant rumble that goes away when I let off the gas. Any thoughts on a reasonably cheap and easy fix for this? Would axle shims be a good idea?