AAL with RE springs?

[fluidmotion]

im looking at tryin to go 2" to my RE 5.5 lift. im most likely going to do 2" spacers up front and i was looking at an AAL in the rear but how do you do the AAL with the RE leaf pack? also which leaf would you reckomend, long or short? and anywhere i should look into AAL's?

[Kurt]

Originally posted by fluidmotion:
im looking at tryin to go 2" to my RE 5.5 lift. im most likely going to do 2" spacers up front and i was looking at an AAL in the rear but how do you do the AAL with the RE leaf pack? also which leaf would you reckomend, long or short? and anywhere i should look into AAL's?

With a lifted spring pack, you will NOT get any lift. The only lift you will gain is the width of the AAL itself.

An AAL is meant to re-arch flatter springs for more height. Your RE packs are already arched to get 5.5" of lift. Your best bet would be shackles or block.

[fluidmotion]

you know of any good shakles that are bigger than my RE 1.25" ones that would give me a noticeable amount of lift?

[WagoneerXJ]

go with a 2" block, that's what I use, and have no problems...

[GottaBeJeep]

Originally posted by Kurt - JeepNorthwest.com:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by fluidmotion:
im looking at tryin to go 2" to my RE 5.5 lift. im most likely going to do 2" spacers up front and i was looking at an AAL in the rear but how do you do the AAL with the RE leaf pack? also which leaf would you reckomend, long or short? and anywhere i should look into AAL's?

With a lifted spring pack, you will NOT get any lift. The only lift you will gain is the width of the AAL itself.

An AAL is meant to re-arch flatter springs for more height. Your RE packs are already arched to get 5.5" of lift. Your best bet would be shackles or block. </font>[/QUOTE]Actually, they can. We have taken the main leafs out of old 1463 packs, cut the eyes off, and added them to another 1463 pack and have gotten between 1-1.5" of lift and firmed the springs up comfortably, since the springs are of the same spring rate coming from the same type of pack. Dirk (www.dpgoffroad.com) has a set of these 1463's with the 1463 main leaf AAL under his black XJ and the ride is great. I have also done numerous lifts on XJ's with stock packs and added the main leaf and even the second leaf off a set of stock donor packs and have gotten 1-2.5" of lift, depending on mileage, condition, and whether I used one or two of the leafs. Since the RE 5.5" kit comes with 4.5" leaf packs (1462's) then to get similar results, you would need a donor set of 1462 leaf packs. Basically, what ever pack you are running, if you get the same donor pack and add one or two of the main leafs, you will get some more lift without killings the quality of the ride. Aftermarket AAL's ride so harsh because they are usually of a higher spring rate than the pack they are going into and do not work together with the rest of the pack.
However, getting donor packs to match your current setup is usually an expensive way to achieve the lift height you want, so longer shackles would be about the best way to go. Lift blocks are just a bad way to go. They create a taller fulcrum causing more stress on the springs, especially when under load.

[fluidmotion]

so what shackles do you reckomend? im already running the RE 1.25 shackles in the rear, all ive been able to find is rustys and teraflex 1.5 shackles that are any bigger than mine

[Thomas M]

Thats the catch. I dont think there are any shackles on the market for the xj that add more than 1.5" of lift. Some say not to use blocks at all, some say 1" of block is ok. Some say 2" is ok.....

The method gottabe described is the ideal though and with some luck cheaper than buying a whole new set of leafs (if you can find a used set like what you have).