im looking to put new coils and leafs on my jeep. and i am currently looking aT RUBICON EXPRESS 4.5 inch coils and 3.5 inch leafs. are they decent riding springs or are they stiff? i found a good deal on some at frankz website. im used to the sof ride of rustys springs after 4 years but they have sagged and need to be replaced. i know the rustys coils are rated at 180 lbs.

 

i'm sure if you liked your rusty's springs, you will definitely like the rubicon express springs. best riding suspension in my experience.

you will need a 1" extended shackle with the 3.5 inch leafs, unless you only want 3.5 and using a winch. the winch will drop the 4.5 front lift to about 3.5. however, new rubicon express 4.5 will probably net you 5-5.5 inches of lift in the end. or you can get the 4.5 leafs, but you want the extended shackle for better spring flex.
my 5.5 extreme duty RE kit gave me nearly 6.5 for 6 years of abuse. never sagged either.

 

I have 4.5" spring kit, front 4.5" coils, the rear is the 3.5" spring pack with a RE extended shackle (how the kit came) I like it, doesn't seam like its sagged at all, its about 5-6 years old.

If you want a soft ride the shackle relocation brackets made a big improvment.

 

A couple of things to keep in mind regardless of which springs you go with:

1.) Boomerang style shackles are a must for increased rear articulation.
2.) Even the best springs in the world will ride like poop if you don't pair them with a quality shock.

 

The spring rate on the RE coils is 240ish. I am 95% sure on that from reasearch. I'm assuming they gave this rate to allow for heavy bumpers and winch without a loss in lift.

 

oh yeah i for got to mention i am running two inch coil spacers and 2 inch blocks also with my current lift and skyjacker hydro shock for 6.5 inch lift. but i think my suspension is so old its sagged down to about 4.5 inchs. plus its an aal in the rear.

ideally i want to sit between 5.5 and 6.5 inchs with or without the spacers and blocks running the stated rubicon components.

 

Well since you want new coils and leafs, scrap the blocks, spacers would be ok, but id get full length springs.

I can't get to detailed I'm on my phone driving, but, id do the following


4.5 full leafs and lift shackle, or relocate shackles with a kit.
Get either 5.5 coils from RE, or 4.5 and use spacers to get where you want.

The latter is how I would do, but, really at that height I would think about long arms.

Ever thought about just going 4.5? The RE stuff will probably sit at 5 or 5.5. My 3.5 sits around 4 to 4.5.

The blocks helped your rear end to fail quicker, along with an AAL on it.

 

yeah i know the blocks arent the best idea, but they are tapered to help improve my pinion angle. and i have never had an issue out of the blocks. also i was figuring with the 3.5 leafs and rough countrys shackle relocation it will probably sit level with 4.5 coils and the 2 inch spacers minus the coil spring isolator. i also dont want to spend the money on extended shackles or an extra 50 bucks per leaf to get 4.5 leaves.


as to the long arms im running rough country drop brackets, RE super flex adjustable lowers, and bds adjustable uppers so right now at 4.5 it rides really good and flexs great on the trails.

 

AMEN TO THAT

another thing you forgot to mention is even the best springs in the world will ride like poopy if you don't have a decent shackle angle...

people seem to forget that shocks and shackle angle will make or break your ride and your flex

gotta love the guys with a 90° or worse shackle angle... they are screaming to the gods about how crappy the springs are... that of they run the cheapest shocks they can find and again... boo hoo hoo, my springs suck... boo hoo hoo