In my pic above I've got my "necessities" in milk crates but probably not 100lbs worth. Now when I add a 100lb feed sack of shelled corn in there she squats a bit.

 

Yes, you probably have relatively new rear springs. But the Jeep from the factory was 1" higher in the rear than front. Over time, the leaves begin to loose their tempering and begin to settle, with a common complaint being a sagging rear with original leaves at this point in time 30 years later. Keep it for 15 years and you will see what I mean

 

Earl - totally random side note question - what do you do (if anything) to fit the "full size spare" in the back??? I have a J bolt (presumably original) and with the wheel from my old Wrangler (30.5x9.5R15, regular tires are 235/75R15) the bolt is a nightmare to use. It's possible, but it's a fight to get the nut threaded on the end as it's juuuuuuust a bit too short. (Once the nut is on I can turn it so it tightens up). I considered a few things, but I think I'm going to have to pull the trim off and see if I can push the bracket out (hoping it's just bolted to the body and I can put some washers on it), but I figured I'd ask considering you've got a full size spare mounted in yours and it's a comparable year XJ.

 

First the really dumb question.
Which way is the wheel facing in the cargo area?
What I think it is.
Jeeps could come with full size spares or space saver spares.
I believe that Jeep might have used a different J bolt for each.
We had a '95 Grand Cherokee at the auto parts store for deliveries a long time ago.
When the owner junked it I grabbed the J bolt cause it had a full size matching spare
from the factory.

 

Right now the wheel is facing down.

Ok, so in all seriousness, it's pretty clear the J-bolt is the mini-spare style since my spare would look like Earl's with the outside of the wheel.
Yes, according to the parts catalog it's 125mm vs 174mm.
Apparently there are some available, but they want freaking $20 for the part + shipping. I saw the price and I'm thinking, whatever, $10.. plus another $10 to ship a single bolt? I'll have to check ebay when I'm out of work.

 

Facing down. LOL.
I always thought it was stupid to a degree that the spare faces out like that. You can't check the tire pressure of your spare like that.
The '95 GC that we junked was a Limited. With the Quadra Trac AWD. So I guess that is why it came with a full size spare.
Kind of under the impression that all ZJ's came with full size spares though.
Thinking boneyard is your cheapest option.

 

HEY guys,
My j-bolt is the long one. Thing is the vehicle came with the little donut spare.

I'm not using the spare you see in my pic above anymore (using a full size OEM steel rim on a 235). So I went and tried the wheel in my pic because I couldn't remember how I mounted it. I could make a short j-bolt work. Pat,if your spare set up is the same as mine you can to. On mine the mounting hardware comes with three parts. A j-bolt,a t-nut,and a cone shaped spacer. The bracket that comes through my trim has two holes for the j-bolt. Using the bottom hole put the j-bolt through it. With the tire facing out like in my pic put it up on the pedestal that's on the floor. Position the tire so you have a wheel stud hole at the 6 o'clock position and with the j-bolt turned to it's highest position pas it through the stud hole. Now here is where having a short j-bolt makes a difference. You can't use the cone shaped spacer but you could come up with something to replace it with a have plenty of j-bolt thread to spare. HOPE you can understand my instructions.

 

Euro- That Jeep looks in fantastic shape, once you take care of the front, you should have an amazing machine.

Earl- Question for you, I am in the planning stages for my Jeep, I'm doing shocks first and then springs. My current ride height is 17.5 in the front and 17 in the rear, measured from flare lip to center of rim. If you get a chance, would you be able to tell me the measurement with the setup that you have? I'm still debating if I would want to use the 3/4 spacer with the moog springs, or just use the moog springs with the insulator. My goal is to be level, or slightly higher in the rear ( to account for the eventual settling).

 

The front is 19.5" and the rear is 19". There use to be quite a few of members here who did the up country mod. It seems most if not all got a full 2" up front with the 3/4" spacer w/o the isolator. In the rear lift varied from 1.75" to 2" (I believe one member got a bit above 2"). If the differences were because some used Dorman leaf springs with the already installed rubber bushings or some used the Crown's with either rubber or poly I don't know. I used poly. If you like the stance of your XJ as it sits now another 2" at each end should work for you.


About going with shocks first. I found that the travel of stock front shocks were fine with the 2" lift but the rear were within 1.25" of topping out. The Rubicon shocks I have on the rear now are 23.25" extended and 15" collapsed which works fine. So if you get a set of stock shocks now the rears would be too short in my estimation.


Scroll down and read at least the first review at the link if you already haven't:

 

YOU WERE RIGHT !

A 1" spacer in the front is the perfect compensation for the slightly upper leaf springs from Crown / Dorman.
Slightly upper than stock is perfect for me.

So to whoever is wondering, this is a good combination.
(but larger wheels would improve the look, Jeep are a never ending story)

 

CLASSY looking vehicle! You could go with 235/75R15 size tires on those rims if your wanting something larger.