thewhiteknight02

Just finished up my Dakota bastard pack on my 91' 2 Door.

Started out with saggy stock leaf packs.

Got some 95 Dakota Leaf packs. Had 3 leafs and a thick lower leaf. 30$ Craigslist

I used the top three Dakota under my stock XJ main and then stock XJ lower leaf.
XJ main
Dakota main
Dakota second
Dakota third
XJ bottom

Then I scooped up some 09 JK Wrangler new take off (12k miles) shocks. All 4 30$ Craigslist

Also had to get new U Bolts from Napa. 40$
Cost as much as the shocks an springs for the back.

The rear is now exactly 4 inches higher than the saggy stock front. 34" from ground to fender flare.

Question:
What kind of lift kits do you guys run to get this height?

I was so excited to get goin on this project o didn't measure it's saggy stock height.

Seems pretty stiff but maybe it will sag in a little.

I'm waiting on some rubicon express 3.5" coils for the front to take it on a test drive. I don't want to be cruising with the back up to high. I'll add some new stock isolators to the coils to level it out if needed.

Was pretty simple to do. I did it alone except for when aligning the leaves into place my neighbor threw me a hand.

Question:
Are the leaf clamps required or can I use hardware store u bolts to keep them secured?

I have one leaf clamp on each spring, the rest were in bad shape. Stock xj had three clamps. Dakota packs had two.





Looks like a funny car!

thewhiteknight02

Just went for a test drive. No problems. No vibes(yet?) or any related noises. Will probably add a TC drop to be safe.

Ride quality: Kind of bouncy over bumps at street speeds. Smooth when cruising on nice pavement. Navigated turns amazingly well compared to stock worn suspension. Turned with out rolling and rocking around.

Flex: Seems rigid when shaking and rocking the truck when it is parked. Got some nice travel going over large railroad crossing hills. Overall a bit stiffer than stock, not too harsh, but a lot more travel.

The truck is empty and stock right now. Going to add some weight later. Bumper, tool box, full size spare, etc. Maybe the family for some fun.

Don't have anywhere to test it off road around here(legally) to my knowledge. Although there is 30ish vacant acres of bumpy field with a small windy access gravel drive headed into it. Tempting.

dukie564

My packs are Dakota/XJ hybrid also. I used XJ Main, Dakota Main, Dakota 2nd, XJ 4th. Netted 3.5" from the packs. They ride and flex really well - although I also have shackle relocation brackets and built the packs with full length liners beween the leafs and graphite paint.

thewhiteknight02

What is the benefit of shackle relocation brackets? I'm not familiar.

schirm

Shackle relocation brackets allow for more flex and a smoother ride because they "relocate" the shackle away from the stock shackle box which prevents shackles from bottoming out against them. Relocation kits are a great thing to do when adding almost any lift to an XJ for this reason

thewhiteknight02

Cool. I will look into some. Anyone fab up their own?

xj_maniac_newb

What did you use to make your spring retainers? Did you just use the stock ones bent out and drilled for a bolt?