whowey

Uugghh.... Thats the exact set-up I had on my first XJ... A shackle broke in half on the second obsticle I attempted... When it broke it, the remains of the shackle and the leaf pack eye came up and punctured a hole right in the floor of the jeep... VERY SCARY few seconds... Luckily a friend trailed my XJ home for me. Give me a Long AAL any day...

A short AAL will ride harshly and sag more quickly than a long AAL... An extended shackle forces the rear end on the spring pack down in relation to the centerline of the Jeep, so it increases the chances of axle wrap.

usarmy0101

thanks guys i will start this some time next week

okcjeeper

Who made the shackle that broke? My lift shackle is way more heavy duty then the stock shackles any day..,..

ColoradoJeepXJ

You shouldn’t need to trim with a 2” lift and 31”. One thing to watch for with stock rims and 10.5” tires is the clearance between the tire and the springs in back. I never had a problem but had less than 3/8”clearance on mine. I did spend a good deal of time off road and on the highway with no problems but in hind sight, that was two close.

okcjeeper

May not need to trim but definitely bump stop it better then stock or it will rub...or at least based on looking at mine anyways..

usarmy0101

thanks everyone i really nned the help and im getting it THANKS TO CF

okcjeeper

Good deal..and great thing is we all have our own opinions, perspective and experiences so you get it from all angles of thinking.. Who's view is correct all depends on well who's perspective.

Blackburn

10.50 wide tires on stock or stock offset wheels normally rub the control arm when turning near the steering lock. This isn't effected by lift and nothing but less backspace solves it

Shackles on stock arch packs do tend to bind up on flex but deeper arched packs and long shackles seem to work fine

usarmy0101

yes i agree 100% and i really havnt choose witch one to instal yet the shackle or short AAL. it scares me that i could randomly have a whole threw my floor and not get home so is rough country make good shackles? but i also dont want my stock leaf springs to sagg back to stock after a while either.

muddeprived

If it's your DD, go with Shackles. Add-a-leafs usually stiffin the ride. I got a very good long AAL kit, Old Man Emu, and even this kit stiffins my ride. I really wish i went with a shackle setup. A short AAL will eventually sag, or your factory springs will sag around it. I had a RC AAL on my jeep as my first modification and it was the worst mod i've ever done. It was a long AAL, but stiff as hell and made my factory springs bend over the end of it

2" and 31" tires on a 97+ xj will rub. I've tried 31" tires on 1, 2, 3, and 3.5" lift and rubbed on nearly all of them. It mainly rubs on the lower fender corner and rear fender corner. I chopped a little off but you can't really tell.

whowey

It was Rough Country....

Just like the pic posted, an all-in-one box lift kit.

It was only $99 back then. Zero customer support from RC. Since I bought it from a reseller, they told me to call the reseller to get the warranty honored. The reseller told me since it was a failure of the part, that I had to call RC to get it replaced.

That isn't even mentioning just how awful the Rough Country shocks are.

okcjeeper

Yeah my lift shackles are pretty darn beefy and I am not afraid to off road with em...Solid shackles for sure. Rocky Road may have horrible customer service but their shackles are well made but the grease cert position is just not well thought out..

usarmy0101

are the rought country shackle good in quaitly? they say they are HD but idk this is my first time owning a jeep and my first jeep project

ktmracer419

That may just be the most confusing scentence on the internet today.please explain.

ktmracer419

and stock spring packs with extended shackles will lessen spring life If you don't bumpstop to keep your springs from inverting.
I went from a 2" lift to a -2" lift in a matter of a month when i put 1.5" extended shackles on my xj with 120k mile stock spring packs