Hello CF,

I bought a cherokee not too long ago, not knowing 100% about lifts. I was told it had a 4.5" rough country lift kit on it. The front checks out, but the rear of my XJ looks like this:



From what I can tell, its a spacer, stock leaf springs(?) and some sort of a shackle relocation bracket.

Currently I don't have any issues with it, but I would like to do a proper full leaf setup before it sags over time. After some rough searching I have found two alternatives:

• Rustys 4.5" Leaf Springs
• Rubicon Express 3.5" Leaf Springs (they lift higher than advertised?)

I'm open for any suggestions. I'm just afraid of buying rear leaf's and it lifting higher than the front giving a weird raked look. Would I keep that shackle relocation bracket or remove it?

Thanks in advance for any help/advice!

 

Just measure the blocks and see how tall they are. The shackles and relocation boxes are a good thing to have. They look like 3" blocks so, you would need 3" leaf springs. I would highly recommend OME or Rusty's 3" springs.

 

Looks like standard 2'' shackles to me with some 3'' or so blocks. Measure the blocks and get corresponding leaf packs and should be good to go. i.e. if the blocks measure 3" replace them with 3'' leaf packs. Either way, ditch the blocks!

 

Agreed with the other posts. Those are lift blocks and lift shackles. Looks like stock leaves. I can't tell about the relocation brackets though. Post some pics from underneath if you can. That way we can tell for sure. If they are relocation brackets though, keep them.

If you like the stance of your jeep now, get leaves that match the lift height of the block and you should be good to go. As far as lifting higher than advertised, I would say that's common. Most leaves settle after a little time. Sometimes up to an inch. To be on the safe side, you can always buy shorter leaves. Then if the rear isn't high enough you can get longer shackles (maybe boomerang) to get more lift. You can never go shorter than your leaves though.

 

If you look at about all lifts they sit a little higher in the rear just like all stock XJ's did when new.


I would go with the Rustys 4 1/2" leaf and if the fronts aren't to your liking just buy a new set of coils only a $100 for them if needed. I have Rustys 3" leafs with 1 1/2" Boomerang Shackles for more flex on mine for the 4 1/2"'s of total lift.