Seebradgo

It's come time to "refresh" my rear suspension. I've got some rear sag with the leafs, but the death nail came when I noticed both rear shocks were leaking. I'm not sure if they are OEM since the shocks are a dark blue (anyone know the color of the OEM shocks?)...but I can tell they are both leaking.

I want to duplicate the Up Country suspension and possibly another 1" while I'm doing it. Originally, I was going to go with Crown 4886186AA or Dorman 929-301, but many of the recent reviews have put me off either brand. The quality seems to be really hit or miss with both brands lately. I've read a few stories recently of people getting leafs manufactured at 2 different factories, Mexico & Columbia, when ordering Dorman or Crown, which has me leery about going with either brand. Thanks to all of the research on this forum, I was to find the General Spring 97-547 leafs. Shipping is expensive to Florida ($70...ouch!) but I'm willing to pay for quality. Manufactured in the US is always nice and generally worth the increased cost. Since the General Springs come with bushings, it helps me justify some of the additional cost.

Now comes the complete setup. I'm going to go with the General Springs and couple them a set of BDS 1" Greaseable Shackles. I want to maintain around 19.5" height from the hub to the flare post settling. Three questions come to mind:
1) Are the 1" shackles overkill? I want to replace the existing shackles anyway and adding 1" to combat settling or while under a load seems logical.
2) If stock height is ~17" and I bump up to 19.5"...should I consider a rear brake line extension or drop bracket? I don't want to overcomplicate the job, but I don't want to tear a brake line either.
3) For new shocks, I think I'm going Rancho. I've always had good luck with them and they have my brand loyalty. Should I go the RS55129 that is basically an OEM replacement of 20.03" extended length or should I go an extended shock like the RS55245 that has an extended length of 24.6"?

I consider myself shade-tree mechanic and comfortable doing the work. However, it's been a long time since I tackled anything with rear leafs. I've been an XJ owner for about 6 months now and I'm loving every minute of it. Been a 6 month "lurker" of this forum and new to posting so go easy on me. haha.

Thanks all!

Martlor13

I would get adjustable shackles, but thats just me...thats what most seem to use with crown/dorman/general spring leafs. I have dormans and adjustable schackles and i have it set to where j am lifted 2 inches over stock. I have another spot on the shackles if i want to go higher.

Seebradgo

I looked at adjustable shackles too. Some of the adjustable ones looked kind of flimsy. Which ones did you go with?

Martlor13

a lot of people recommend the iron rock boomerang shackles...but i had some RC adjustables laying around and used those....fine so far with almost 2 years on the setup

Seebradgo

Nice! Thanks! I know people dog on RC from time to time but I ran a budget build on my 4X4 from RC for years and it held up well.

Total side note...what shock length are you running in the rear? Did you stick with stock length (~20") or did you bump up an extended shock (23"/24") in the rear?

Martlor13

oh dont get us started over here on RC. All the vets know to never recommend them...where i work, we are a dealer, only reason i had them lol......i am running bilstein 4600 shocks... no idea what length they are, but the guys at bilstein told me they are for stock up to 2 inches of lift. Some other options that are widely recommended are red body wrangler Rubicon takeoffs

XjJunky

I bought a set of General springs 2 years a go. They are good quality. I do 4x4 a lot and agter 2 years they are already sagging and need replaced. Going to go with 3 1/2" OME spings now. So depending on how much and how aggressive of 4 wheeling you are going to be doing they might not laat as long as you would hope

Seebradgo

That was one area I was concerned about in the back of mind. Heard a lot about General's upfront quality, but I didn't see a lot about their longevity.

Seebradgo

Circling back on the original post. After doing even more research...

OEM replacement shocks are 12.9" Compressed & 20.3" Extended while the Longer shocks are 15.0" Compressed & 24.6" Extended. I think I'm going to install some extended shocks in the rear just in case. At the end of the day, my rear end should be sitting between 2" to 2.75" higher than stock (Up Country Leafs + 1" to 1.75" Adjustable Shackle). I want to make sure I'm adequately covered while also covering myself if I ever just want to drop in actual 3" lift springs.

To make sure I don't bottom out the stocks, I'll slap on a set of extended rear bump stocks. I feel like the longer shocks make for a safer bet with this setup.

XjJunky

You will definitely want to use the longer shocks

EZEARL

These from a Jeep Rubicon can be had at E-Bay for under $100 for 4 if you keep an eye out. They are good for from 0" to 3" of lift.

Seebradgo

I'll keep an eye on eBay to see if I can snag a set. Looks like you need to bar pin eliminator on the front & rear and add a shock pin adapter on the front for these?

EZEARL

SORRY guy. I chose the wrong pic from my folder. Here you go:


Here some helpful info:
https://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f11/...ite-up-603221/

Seebradgo

Ahhhh! Much better! hehe. I thought to myself...those are going to take a lot of modifications to mount! Thanks for sharing the updated pic!

EZEARL

I also added a link in that post for some helpful info.
Also I didn't use bar pin eliminators as they would have made the shocks too short. I'm a 2" lift.