Installing Longer Spring Shackles - Jeep Cherokee (XJ) 

I'm so glad you find my stuff useful. Thank you!

It's how we cope. Thanks for watching, man!

Haha, definitely! Those old shackles were way too short for the lift and very worn. A much needed upgrade. Thanks for checking out my video!

The beauty if being a two-bit youtuber who films at home: I get to wear whatever I feel comfortable in. haha! Thanks for watching man!

Thanks!

+little mancave on the prairie Thanks man!

Hey, thanks man. I hope it was helpful for ya!

+sinaloacosala1 LOL

Lol. Thanks Clyde!

Thanks man! It would be dishonest if I tried to make it look like I knew what I was doing.

Ahha gotta have mistakes, how do you enjoy those shackles? Wanting more of a lift in my 99

The old shackles were maxed right out so the springs could hardly flex. These new ones made the ride much nicer but beware of driveline angle changes! Check out my video about shim removal to see what happened with mine.

Wow, that's weird. I honestly don't know what the reason would be. I know there are a few other good shackle replacement videos on youtube and I don't recall any of them replacing their axle pinions. Perhaps someone smarter out there might know. You could always try a small (1.5"-2") add-a-leaf for a little extra lift. It's more work but it would help your springs out. A lot of people build their own too. Look up "bastard packs" for some examples.

Haha me too

I think you're right. If you're talking about that bumper bolt behind the shackle, trimming it down is probably a good idea. Thanks for the comment and for watching!

You'd need to support the rear of the vehicle so the axle and the springs can hang freely. So yeah, big jack stands. And your tires can touch the ground, but the body still has to be supported so the axle can hang and springs aren't bearing any weight at all. I think your best bet is to support the truck high enough that the axle fully hangs and tires are just a couple of inches in the air. When you unbolt the shackles from the springs, you can let the tires sit on the ground. It's alot easier to jack your axle up to line up a bolt hole than it is to try and yank things into place... as you may have seen. Hopefully that made some sense. Thanks for watching!

+rick252007 Thanks man! Glad it was helpful. I was sort of in the same boat as you. New springs and shocks before getting the shackles. I didn't change the shocks (again) since the height increase with the shackles is small and I figure they should be fine. Depends on what you have but I'm not having any problems. I'm also not crawling over rocks so my shocks are probably never reaching their full stroke either.

Oh man, that's a great question. I'm not familiar with blazer leafs going on XJs. To be honest, I didn't even know they were compatible. Are you taking the whole leaves, or just doing a bastard pack? Figuring out the lift you'll end up with is kinda tricky until you do it. Even spring manufacturers are all over the place when it comes to claimed height versus ACTUAL. Usually they tend to sit higher than you expect, but I think it's because manufacturers are expecting you have 300lbs of bumpers, a tire carrier, etc. The other consideration is that leaves will sag. Mine have finally sagged about an inch or so (since I filmed this video) so I'm expecting to use that second hole on the shackles sometime soon, to get her sitting level with the front again. I hope this reply was somewhat helpful. Thanks for watching!

The lift is a mix of parts I cobbled together. Rough Country 3.5" coils up front and procomp leaf packs in the back. Rancho shocks. I have a video prior to this one that explains everything I did. Check that out for more details. I think your worries might be correct. I got maybe an extra inch from those shackles over the stock ones. If you're running oem leaves I'm guessing they're pretty flat already. New shackles may just make that problem worse. You should consider new leaf packs or at least an add-a-leaf for the back. (Or google what a "bastard pack" is). Thanks for watching!

Greg H. Yeah, the bastard pack is made by adding a Chevy S10 leaf, right?

Yeah thats what some people do. Others will chop the eyes off the main leaf of another set of xj springs and use that. Lots of options! All of them kind of terrible. I personally recommend some cheap new complete leaf packs like my procomps. Much less hassle.

You can turf the swaybar on the rear. Its so small, it really does nothing. And you'll want some longer shocks too. I explain the things I did to lift it in this video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-IB3erK9XysI.html Its not a howto really, but hopefully it points you in the right direction. Thanks for the question!

I haven't noticed these being very noisy. But it is true, PU bushings are notoriously squeaky. The ones I used on my Comanche springs squeak like crazy.

I think I may have been talking about the leaf springs giving me more lift than I expected. I think the shackles should give you another inch of lift. For every 2 inches of shackle length, the axle moves about an inch. Or so people say. I did replace my brake lines with longer braided lines. Much recommended mod. Very easy. I got mine from rugged ridge and I liked them a lot.

@@spacerag Well, the nut inside the frame is broken off and spinning. A simple job just turned into a headache.

Oh bummer man. I think the easiest fix for that is to cut yourself an access hole to get into that frame rail. I think people generally go in from the top, though the trunk.

Stock shackles only have the one hole but if your shackles look like these, you can definitely use either of the two holes. The lower holes will give you a little lift but it depends on the angle the shackle is at too. Hopefully that makes sense! Thanks for watching man!

It definitely could. If a shackle is broken clean off your spring (or the frame) that end of the leaf is going to be flopping free and the rear would likely sit a lot lower on the corner with the broken shackle. It should be pretty obvious if you do have a broken shackle and if that's the case, you're going to want to fix that before you do anymore driving. Hopefully that helps. Thanks for watching!

I did. I just used whatever sized SAE high grade bolts fit the closest. The stock ones are metric so that would be ideal if you have a good bolt shop nearby.

I can't think of any reason why you would have to. You may need to mess around with the pinion angles of your differential or your transfercase. Realistically, 2 inches is a pretty small change and you likely won't need to change anything else. Check out my video about removing shims from my leaf springs for an example of my struggle to correct my bad pinion angles. Thanks for watching!

Just add a transfer case drop and you’ll be good to go. Easy to install too

+John Padilla haha yeah that's actually a good idea. At this point it might be easier to let it go and find one less rusty. I dunno. Procrastination always wins.

Hmm. It's actually possible they might clear the bolts if I flipped them around. I'll have to lay under it and have a look. To this day I havent done anything about those bolts being in the way and never gave it another thought. So either they havent been interfering, or they already got smashed out of the way. Thanks for watching!

@@spacerag Right on.. I only ask due our Freedom having one of them sitting against one of the bolts (worn, flat springs).. and I see they are on backwards since the zirk is in the front and the gusset is in the rear. Prev owner. It came this way and am about to put new leaf packs in at 280k. thanks for the fast reply.

Cool! You'll enjoy those new rear leaf packs. It'll make a world of difference.

That will lift the jeep up higher in the back but the springs will still be sad and saggy. You should consider fixing or replacing those springs soon too. Thanks for watching and good luck, man!

spacerag thanks for the reply I was at the junk yard today and found a 4x4 blazer with some leaf springs in really good condition so I think ima do a “bastard pack”. And of coarse I enjoy the content I’m new to the jeep world and off roading so I will be watching your videos!

Great stuff! A bastard pack is a nice, cheap way to get some life back in those springs.

spacerag awesome man! I didn’t know if that was a good way to go with the leaf springs being saggy but you just helped me decide! Thanks for the information man! Will be going that to achieve a 2” lift in the rear and will also get a spacer in the front to get a 2” lift up front plan on fitting some 30” or maybe 31” tires. Don’t want a crazy build just a nice daily driver I can take on the dirt road and trails on the weekends!

Depends on the shackles and the pucks you buy. The manufacturer should be able to tell you.

spacerag alright I’m thinking of getting that supreme 3” pucks and 2” pucks

A super shitty ride.

Hey! Thanks for watching. Sadly, if your leaves are already flat, nothing you do to the shackle is going to bring those springs back to life. They're just done. Moving to the next hole on the shackle may get you a little height for now, but those springs will just take an even worse beating... and probably start to curve the wrong way. Your best bet is to invest in some new leaf springs, or if you wanna take the time, you can save a few bucks by buying an add-a-leaf kit, or ask the google about how to build a "bastard-pack". I've done the add-a-leaf on my MJ and it worked, but it was such a pain. I personally recommend just finding some decent leaves. The procomp leaves I put on my XJ are holding up nicely. I hope that helps. Best of luck!

@@spacerag cool man thanks for the advise yeah fuck it im gonna just replace the whole pack i have 2 inch lift pucks in front just need to get leafs for rear to bring it up 🤘

Sweet. You'll be glad you did. New springs ride so nice.

What about 2 inch lift add a leafs???? Would that curve em back and lift back up??

They probably will but remember they'll be fighting those old springs. They might not last as long as new leaves. Probably still worth a try if you dont want to spend too much.

+Jack and LG those are Rough Country coils (4" over stock) I got second hand from Clyde at Pabst Boys Roadhouse with Rancho RS5000 shocks.

Isn't that how babies are made?

Fortunately, since its a jeep you can replace the nuts with new ones. But your nuts can only be replaced with silicone ones if you loose them. So win/win?

+John Padilla I would prefer brass myself.

Big time

+Dominic Gutierrez I did try that actually. It's just a little too sketchy. The trouble was that the spring wasn't sitting square until I unbolted both sides. Thanks for the suggestion! Maybe it's worth a try for someone else. :)

+spacerag it won't sit right but that's how I did mine last night on my 98 explorer to me to did to much ha but at least you got it done

+Dominic Gutierrez Right on! Where there's a will, there's a way.

+STEVE ROB Yeah. Especially with my projects.