OK lets talk about coil spacers

[jeepmaster]

lately im hearing a lot of talk about coil spacers... could someone tell me about them, i understand how they work on the coils, but how are they different than a body lift, are they better or worse etc. and im gonna sneak in a quick XJ question, could you put shackles on the rear and coil spacers on the front? and i think i recall something about only getting half the shackle lift, so if i wanted 2 inch coil spacers for the front, id need 4 inch shackles for the back?? im clueless here... perhaps a little help?[addsig]

[RAVEN13xxx]

Body lifts do just that.... lift the body. Coil spacers actually lift the suspension. Yes spacers will work on the front of an XJ. Just how much in the rear, I'm not sure. I'm a TJ guy.[addsig]

[Bounty__Hunter]

Rusty's Offroad has spacers for $38 a pair. I'd use an full-length add-a-leaf to lift the rear of an XJ, doesn't change the pinion angle as drastically as shackles. You're right in that shackles give half the lift of the difference in length. A 4" longer shackle would only give 2" of lift. You'd have to drop both ends of the leaf spring 4" to lift 4".

Rusty's also has 3" front XJ coils for $99, that's what I did. I then bought MJ (Commanche) shackles that lifted the rear 1" and bought 2" lift blocks from JC Whitney for 3" total in the rear. I would avoid shackles, and lift blocks increase spring wrap and wear out leaf springs quicker. Like I said, go with full-length AAL's for the rear of the XJ. I'm pretty sure Rusty has those too.

You can even add a couple of stock coil spring isolators (3/4" each) to the 2" spacer for as much lift as you want, they are safely stackable.

Give a shout if you have any qustions.[addsig]