Hello fellow Jeep aficionados, I've been reading a lot about shackle angles and other things pertaining to improving ride quality after a lift kit is installed.
I'm having a bit of trouble understanding what results I'll get or what steps I need to take to have the best possible set up.
I bought my XJ already lifted and the supposed components are as follows:
RC 4.5 in lift
Bilstein 5100 5-6 in. shocks
4.5 in. leaf springs (not sure) (don't really know how to confirm that)
My question is that I'm looking into installing the HD no-lift relocation brackets and new shackles.
In a youtube video I watched, the person installed the RC relocation brackets but stated that since he installed those, they added lift in the back and in return had his front shock blown out due to the rear being lifted higher than the front. If I install the HD no-ift brackets, I know I need to upgrade to longer shackles as well since stock shackles are not supposed to be used with the new brackets.
Longer shackles will result in lifting the rear though so what I'm wondering is if I would run into some sort of problem with shocks or anything else having my rear lifted higher than the front?
Here are some pictures of my shackle angles at the moment and yes, I understand that the angles I currently have or horrible and should not be more than 90 degrees.

A front shock blown out due to the rear being higher ?

1) interesting excuse

2) look at almost every truck sold new today...the rear end is higher than the front...and they don't have shocks/strut issues as a result

3) the rear end is higher so you can tow or load the bed up and not have the front end pointing to the sky


I'd be very wary of any mods or instructions anyone who claims that says or does.



To begin with, the no lift brackets do just that, provide no lift when used for that purpose, but you could get lift with them if you wanted to or used longer shackles.

Secondly, they DO NOT require you to use aftermarket shackles, and they DO NOT require longer shackles.

So I am not sure why you feel you must go to longer shackles, nor why you can't use stock shackles.

I just read thru the instructions for the HD no lift relocation brackets from their website, and it even shows using stock shackles, and has no instructions otherwise.

Now, some of the holes in the bracket may work much better with longer or aftermarket shackles, but they are not required.


Is that shackle angle pic with the vehicle weight on it or is the axle hanging in the air ?

I would be less concerned about blowing shocks and more concerned with all that rust in the shackle box and more then likely in many other areas of the jeep.

The picture is with the vehicle weight. I see now, I contacted the person who said their shock blew out and he explained that he supposedly just had too much weight in his front end which lowered his front end too much that made him eventually bottom outhit shock when he hit a curb so that question is now answered. I think I just misinterpreted why his shocks blew out at first since I'm still new with suspension mods. I was concerned about using stock shackles because someone mentioned in their youtube video, precisely at 11:03 that these brackets weren't meant for stock shackles. Afterwards, I also found the installation write up from HD engineering themselves showing them using a stock shackle so it just confused me. I guess I should just take the company's word for it over anything so thank you. I did go with rusty's 0.75 in shackles since they are the shortest and do provide zerk fittings for grease.

The rust is really only bad in the rear and this area really.. The front end has minimal rust. I guess getting these new relocation brackets will help with that though since the box does look very rusted, I'll probably also get the new brackets welded in there.

i know those boxes will replace the current rusted box, but I just figured there was more rust. If its just in that area, that is good.

Good question about being in the air or not.

If the Jeep is on the ground, the shackle angle is definitely bad.

Imo, op needs a set of leafs w/ 4.5 inches of lift that are the correct length.

I don't feel like getting into what manufacturer is best, but that seems to happen alot.

You get 4.5" "lifted" leafs but there too short.

This is one of the downsides of buying an already lifted Jeep... The guy said he thinks its a 4.5 in lift but I measured the lift today and it says otherwise.
I measured from axle tube to the frame rail type of thing and got 5.5 inches of lift front and rear :/

I'm going to install the brackets then we'll see what the new angle looks like.

It doesn't really matter how much "lift" is involved, if the leaf isn't long enough you end up with something that looks like the pictures.

If your after not lifting the rear any higher the best thing would be a longer spring. You could use the stock length shackle that way, or something a inch or so longer to get the angle better.

There's no good fix for a spring that wasn't thought out well though.

Imo

Doesn't relocation shackle mounts off set the rear of your spring some? You have to get between the frame and the relocation mount to put a nut on it or something for the spring so you've moved the spring out of parellel correct?