95brokecollegekid

Hey everyone, I've been watching this site now for some time and learned a lot! I own a 95 xj, the rear is saggy, and instead of lift blocks, I'm going with a longer shackle. In the front I'll go with 2in spacer and 2.5in shackles in rear. I've read many threads about this being done, but my question is, you're hard is it to install new shackles? And how long is the typical install? I have all the tools I would need, just curious, as this is my dd. Also I live in MI, so everything is rusty haha, thanks in advance guys!

burg3rlicious

It's not a difficult job but 15 years of rust makes it a pain in the ***. Getting the bolts out just takes patience, use pb blaster and take it slow. A nice breaker bar helps. Getting my leaf Springs and shackles took as much time as the rest of my lift, but that's just my particular experience.

dgk2day1

If they have never been touched and you are working on the ground not a lift could get difficult torch is really youre best friend but even though if the bolts are seized in the collar of the bushing that when it gets a little tricky I suggest getting some replacement bolts prior to the install just incase mine were sized in the coliar of the leaf spring bushing so I needed new bushings. But basically a torch alot of pb blaster and a breaker bar should do the trick. It's not to bad but really depends on how badly it's rusted and siezed

sycoglitch

If the rear is already sagging, longer shackles isn't going to do you anything good. Save money and get new HD stock leafs and THEN get shackles. All you're gonna do is stress already weak leafs

Tsaani97xj

All good advice. Definitely see if you can break the bolts free use some penetrating oil for some days before you try, pb blaster seems to work well. If they seem like they will come out ok I found a pretty easy way to do them without having to take the wheels off and use jack stands. If you have the factory bottle jack you can place the base on the axle and the other side on the frame box at an angle. You can then expand the jack until you take the pressure off the shackle. Then you can remove and replace with your new shackle.

Notes: chock your front wheels and ebrake on. Make sure your bolts have been broken loose to reduce the risk of knocking the the jack out.

Ive done this a few times replacing shackles and adjusting relocation boxes. Speaking of relocation boxes they are a great investment and I recommend thinking about adding them to your budget boost.

95brokecollegekid

Thank you all for the help, as long as the bolts come out, it shouldn't be too bad of a job!

Kingfisher

A breaker bar and a long cheater pipe!.......

Start early Sat. morn!

speedofsound

So true. The most frustrating part was one bolt from one leaf spring. First the tack-welds for the nut inside the frame broke loose, which resulted in cutting a hole to grab onto the nut:



Then the bolt seized to the bushing after one turn. Had to break out the angle grinder and a long prybar, along with a few choice words for that bolt.




Good luck!

Fred/N0AZZ

Do yourself a favor and do NOT use the leafs you have now that are worn out. Either buy new stock HD ones or a set of them with the lift height you desire and a set of coils to match. Look at Rustys Off Road at the Full 3" Leaf/Coil Lift kit everything you need good quality leafs/coils American made.

XJlimitedx99

If you live where it's rusty there's a good chance the bolt will be seized to the bushing sleeve, like so:





Good luck

sycoglitch

If he didn't listen to me when I originally said it and no one else care to give him that advice, let him do as he pleases. When he snaps a leaf and/or ends up with being at stock height even with lift shackles, then hell look back and say "damn, should have listened to the better advice"

mrshaft696

A olden secret trick, just cut two windows in your trunk and torch the hell out of the bolts before you do anything to them. pb cant get in there from the outside.... Patch it up when you are done....

but yeah first choice would be to rebuild the pack etc if its saggy...

95brokecollegekid

I think I'm going with Rancho 1.5 inch complete leaf pack, and staying with stock shackles. I can see I need new leafs abd there's no way around that.

rzldzl

happened to me

Fred/N0AZZ

Your right I just hate seeing so much bad advice being given to someone when you tried and no one else came back with the same info.

To the OP BTW with Rancho your paying quite for the name alone not for the quality.

I'm done and out of here.