Hello! Most questions dealing with the lower rising kits are asking about the cheapest or diy ways to do it. I am wondering what the best option for my money would be. I do a lot of off roading. Rocky terrain.

I have a 1990 Cherokee XJ. I will be replacing most of the suspension/front end.

Thanks!

 

A simple coil spring spacer up front and lift shackles for the rear. If you want fancy, get the Acos adjustable up front, and Rubicon Express boomerang shackles out back.

 

Do shackles flatten out the leafs too much? In the old hot rod days of my youth, shackles were always the inexpensive(cheap) way to get some lift on cars. It usually resulted in a bad ride with poor hookup(not an issue with Jeeps) and premature wearing of the leafs.

I mentioned what I did back in the early 90's to my '88 XJ in another thread and asked if it was considered a no-no but didn't get a reply. I took my factory leafs to a spring shop and the re-arched them to give me the 1" or so I was looking for.

For the fronts, I got out my spring catalog(I worked for TRW) and calculated which spring I needed to give me the extra lift.

I ended up with basically the factory "off road" suspension. Ran it that way for over 100K miles and it still sat good when we sold it.

Just wondering if there is a better way than blocks and shackles.

 

These are definitely questions I'm interested in as well. I'd like to really maximize the smoothness of the ride.

 

3 words, "Old Man Emu". Had it on my CJ7, Land Rover, and ordering it for my XJ. The best 1.5 to 2 inch lift by far.

 

You can get lift springs front and rear, but from my recollection there's not many small lift options, OME is excellent from everything I've read.

Never use blocks in the rear, that definitely contributes to flattening the leafs, shackles do not, however...I personally run the RE boomerang lift shackles with RE 4.5" leafs, for a total of 5.5"...super flexy out back and great ride.

 

In the short time I have been researching, it appears there are many options if you are going 3" or more. But to stay in that 1.5-2" range, it's not so easy to find a good solution. Looks like around $1300 for the OME setup.

 

Thanks! It looks like OME is where I'm leaning.

 

For 1300 i could think of better stuff than short arm lifts of any Kind.

Stinky fab would be my choice and compromise and go 3" springs. Hell give me the damn 3" lift block in the rear.

 

Slight technical lift thats a little more "parts hunter" than going through the aftermarket channels you can buy New factory coils and/or new coil spring isolator(s) each one is prolly 3/4"- 1" thick and you can stack them if need be. Also the factory jeep Comanche rear shackles are about 3/4" longer than the factory XJ shackles. So if you were in the market for less than a 1" lift that could be an option - isn't gonna get you much on the braggin aspect of things but the parts are out there

 

I hear that. I mean there are some (much) cheaper rough country 2 inch kits. I also need to replace the entirety of my suspension. Or at least would like to .

 

This plus 3" coils 3" rear blocks 5125 shocks and brake lines.
will cost more than oldman Emu but will be so much more capable smooth and precise.

Im not entirely sure the ome Reputation is entirely deserved. I also wonder if we we here a user giving the user ahead of themselves regardless of what they actually think .

Not saying ome is bad saying I 100% dont trust jeep people giving keyboard reveiws. Even me. Do your own research call ome, ruff stuff, down south motor sports. Sometimes getting info real info is an eye opener compared to forumn bs.

And yes I ran 3" blocks in the rear for nearly 3 years I did not die from my experience and my springs didnt seem any flatter than any other xj with rear leaf springs.

 

Just because you didn't have an issue doesn't mean it's a good idea. I bought my jeep with lift blocks on the back, and quite frankly, once I started tearing into it, I was grateful that I hadn't died by driving it. Both packs were flat, one inverted, and one side had several completely broken leafs, the other had a broken leaf and several halfway cracked...guess where? Right at the edge of the lift blocks.

The problem is the XJ stock leaf packs are not very robust, people argue all the time about how larger trucks use lift blocks all the time, with no ill effects, but look at the difference in the construction, way thicker leafs, larger footprint, etc...the XJ leafs are adequate for what they were designed for, but modifying old, tired, skinny, thin leafs by putting a fulcrum point on them is just stupid in my opinion, and OP, if you're still paying attention, I highly recommend NOT going that route. I'd build a bastard pack before putting blocks of any kind on my Jeep, and as a matter of fact, I have. I've had almost every scenario on my jeep leaf spring wise since I bought it several years ago before I settled on my current configuration, so benefit from my struggle and experience. And, based on my experience, I will NEVER endorse the use of blocks on our rigs.

 

Im not endoresing but im not running from it.

If a guy put his time and effort into building a well put together front end wich almost noone does. Then I see no reason to not run blocks for awhile while Funds are saved for springs srb or possibly welding machine to fab your own suspension. Maybe thats a couple months that turns into a couple years.

We meed to time to learn and resesrch and decide what to do. Maybe the jeep spends alot of time not being driven mine ****s more than its on the trail might drive 5000 mikes a year. Would it matter if blocks hold it up or cheapass springs that the jeep freaks push

Noticed I didnt put the link up
https://www.stinkyfab.com/products/s...ep-xj-cherokee

 

I think it does matter, because just like you said, months have an easy way of turning into years, running blocks for years means greater chance of failure or damage, my point is if you only want a small amount of lift, there's better ways than blocks. Blocks are cheap, but so are shackles. And shackles are WAY less likely to fail.
I get your point, and putting blocks on isn't going to make your jeep spontaneously combust, and people are still gonna use them. I just can't bring myself to endorse them in any way, when cheap alternatives are available. Heck, just grab some new center pins and some leafs from the pick n pull, and make some baby lift springs on the cheap.