Teephphah

Howdy fellas . . .

I've been a bit confused lately over the "inexplicable" (unfortunately, I now think it's totally explicable) sag I've developed in what are reasonably new leaf springs.

Got my XJ about 3 years ago now, and have been piecemealing it into something mildly respectable since then (wife, kids, mortgage, student loans, etc., keep interfering). Started with an el cheapo Rubicon Express 2" starter lift kit (spacers, add-a-leaf & shocks). Loved it. Added bigger tires. Swapped out spacers in front for RE 3.5 springs and shackle relocation brackets and extended shackles in the back. Added still BIGGER tires.

Knowing that I'm clocking in at around 4" of lift now, I've been kind of puzzled that I haven't had any driveline vibrations. I planned for this. I have a SYE sitting in a box on top of my fridge in the garage . . . But I wasn't complaining! Didn't really want to tackle that job anyway.

But, for the life of me, I couldn't figure out why my rear leafs (plus the add-a-leaf) are looking so flat. I put in brand new Crown (OEM, standard duty, because that's what the genius at Quadratec told me to get) at the time I put the AAL in, so they're two years old, max.

I've made a couple runs of hauling more sod than I really should have, and have had a few sandbags in the back over the winter months . . . but nothing that should have worn them down this much, surely. Right?

Yesterday, it kind of hit me . . . the stupid f****** shocks!

The shocks that came with the 2" lift, prbably can't handle the ~4" of lift I'm running, so they're probably forcing the leaves down! CRAP! That can't be good, right?

I haven't found it spelled out clearly anywhere, but my best guess is that the kit came with their SK010602RXT shocks, when, if I stick with RE, I should be running their SK010634RXJ, which are supposed to accomodate 3"- 4.5" of lift.

Shoot. Shootshootshootshootshootshoot!

Pretty sure I screwed the pooch on this one. I'll get to work on switching out the shocks ASAP, but any guesses on whether or not my leaves are toast?

Tsaani97xj

In my experience AAL are never good long term. It takes a single leaf to rearch the whole pack. This puts much extra stresses on both the AAL and the leafs. Your best bet unfortunately is to replace your leafs. The XJ leafs are narrow and soft.

If you want to save some $ you can easily do a bastard pack and salvage what you have. Another XJ main inserted right under your existing main will add a significant amount of support without adding much lift.

As to the shocks if they are maxed out they will obviously limit your lift as well as ride like crap and eventually blow.

XJmember

Shocks had no play in the leafs going flat. You should of bought full leaf packs and not a crappy AAL. Anyways get longer shocks to while youre under there swapping the leafs out.

sycoglitch

OP, do yourself a favor and get full leafs for a 3.5" lift. Chances are you DONT have 4" of lift in the rear hence no vibes.

Extended shackles and relocators bracket put stress on leafs and try to stretch them out. This is normal even with HD leafs. I preach to stay away from budget lofts for this reason. The way I stopped the frowning of my seat com leafs while running a boomerang shackle and relocators brackets was too add an xJ main as the second leaf and it stops close to the shackle eye. This strengthens it some like what aftermarket leafs do.

You should still get longer shocks to accommodate your lift. Remove shock, go flex and measure your compressed and extended lengths and order shocks accordingly.

Have fun and jeep on