Opened mine up for the size up from 3/8th (idr what it was) used a dremel and sandpaper tip and it went easy as ****. I also managed 4" of lift without a 90 degree shackle angle. My pack is built from a heavy 3/4 ton and nicer xj pack. Stock xj upper, xj 2nd, 3/4t 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th. Rides smooth enough and flexes great. Better than most 4.5" packs I have seen.

 

Keep in mind when you are considering cost of a bastard pack

Sets of leaf springs. $40
Center pins and u bolts $40

My first one lasted me 4 months because the springs were shot. I got a second set of leafs from a known truck and now it is good. $40.

In the end I still saved some cash from the full leaf packs, but the time and effort involved was a lot more than tossing in a set of new leaves

 

+1.

From someone who has bastard packed, just go new.

 

-1 nothing wrong with my setup. I rather like the performance of my pack.

 

I like my mine to, got me the 2in I wanted and only ran $220 with front spacers, four new shocks, Ubolts and pins

 

one good thing about doing a bastard pack for a stage one lift, you won't need to worry about that pesky front leaf spring bolt as you can just leave that main spring bolted in and build the pack under it.
some of you will know what i mean.

 

Not arguing that new packs would be nice, but my S10 packs cost me $30 and I would have had to buy new u-bolts either way. Add $7 for center pins and $7 for the drill bit and I'm only out $44 for these packs vs. $200+ for new ones. At $44 I can afford to experiment with these. If I decide they suck oh well, I'm not out much. I'm a big fan of junkyard upgrades and adapting stuff from other vehicles, to me its just more interesting and more satisfying than a catalog built rig. If I buy premade leaf packs later on at least I can say I've tried a couple different setups and found what worked best for me personally.

Dumb question: I see one section of the leaves is longer when measuring from the hole for the spring pin to the ends of the leaves. That longer section should be pointing rearward when installed on the Jeep, correct?

 

yeah, i think so. i never keep that info logged into my brain. i need room in there for more important stuff. lol.
just do a quick measure on your leaves from center to mounts and install them the same way.

 

Yeah that's what I did, the stock leaves had the longer section at the back, so I oriented the S10 leaves the same way.

I got everything together using all three of the S10 leaves under my XJ main. Right now it sits about 1" higher than I'd like. Any suggestions on which of the leaves I should remove, and whether I should swap them for XJ leaves or just leave them out completely?

Right now the packs seem pretty stiff, wondering if maybe I should also add a shackle so I can rely less on the packs to give me that much lift, as someone suggested.

Here are the leaves I'm using and how they look installed in case it helps anything.

 

looks good. that inch will settle in time. sure a shackle will help with the flexing, but if you tighten the u-bolts down while the weight of the jeep is on the ground, (jack under the axle works) as long as the weight is on the suspension, then it should flex pretty good.

don't forget to cut those u-bolts down.

 

I have XJ Main, S10 Blazer main, New AAL, and some S10 leafs for the rest. I have about 5" lift, WAY TOO stiff. I hate the way it rides and will try to take out the new AAL and see if I have more flex AND the height I want.

 

Mines:
Xj
S10
S10
XJ
XJ
XJ
(No over load)

3.5 inchs of lift exact. Love the ride. Rides just like a truck. The way it should be.

 

Well I got everything finished today and it actually doesn't ride too stiff at all, so I'll guess I'll give it a couple weeks for the springs to settle before I worry about the ride height. As for the flex maybe I can find something to test that on tomorrow (a bit hard when you live in the city lol), hopefully its decent though. And yeah I cut the u-bolts down haha.

 

One thing to check, as I cant remember if you mentioned it: watch your LCAs on the axle end. Street driving at 3.5" lift and stock everything might work, but Im worried about the upper part of the LCA colliding with the axle.mount when the axle drops. Im saving up for new LCAs, maybe new mounts. Just something I hear rarely talked about and was concerning when I noticed it on mine (when the lift was done it looks like the axle can only go down an inch or so before the two rub).

 

Yeah I saw that too. But I thought how often is both sides going to be drooping. One side will be up and one side will be down giving each other some more room. Ya know what I mean?