1 Inch Budget Lift Calculations

[Lost_Wrench]

So I am 90% done with a small lift on my 96 XJ with 235's and I have a few questions for those more experienced with lifts. Firstly, I am restoring this XJ and keeping it as stock as possible, so I only wanted a very subtle lift, like 1 inch over stock height. I purchased 1 inch coil spacers for the front, along with new (stock) HD Coils. I went with the Heavy Duty coils because they were actually cheaper than the other stock ones available at Oreilly so I figured why not? Stiffer ride maybe? I was assured that they were not aftermarket coils for a lift kit. Well after finishing the front suspension components and installing the 1 inch spacers, the front is waaay taller than i had anticipated. I have 20.5 inches from center of rim to bottom of the stock fender flares. The back wheels prior to new shocks and leaf springs were 16 inches from center of rim to bottom of the fender flares. AFTER I installed the rear leaf springs (Dorman 929-301) and new rear shocks it is now 17.5 inches from center rim to fender flare. The only parts I have not installed are the adjustable rear shackles that are still in the mail. They can either be installed in the 1 inch lift, or 2 inch lift setting depending on which holes are used. I had originally planned on using the 1 inch setting but now I feel like I will have to use the 2 inch setting just to get it close to the height of the front, and that will still leave me an inch short. What Happened?
Are those HD Coil Springs actually supposed to provide lift? Not sure what else it could be, the spacers are definitely 1 inch, i measured them before install. Now I'm debating what to do. I want the ride height to be even but I didn't want this much lift. Should I remove the front spacers and still install the rear shackles at 2 inches just to even the fronts and backs, or just deal with the front being 1 inch or 1.5 inches higher than the rear? Would that even be noticeable?

Maybe I should have gone with the AAL but now that the new leafs are on I'm not doing that. Any suggestions on how i can even out the ride while hopefully still achieving my 1 inch of lift?

 

[Agreen]

Both the new coils and leaf springs will sag in a little as they sit with some weight on them, but I don't think it's going to sag that much in the front compared to the rear. I think I may have gained 3" in the rear with the same Dorman leaf springs, but it lost an inch within about 6 months. Sounds like you might need to pull that spacer from the front and hike the rear up 2" to level things out, because I have a feeling they're going to settle evenly.

 

[Anak]

I say pull the front spacers and use the 2" setting on the rear. Then drive it and see how things settle. Once you see how things settle you can decide if you need to put the spacers back in front and if you need to do something to the rear.

You have too many variables in play at the moment. Time is the variable you can't really alter right now, so work on the variables you can alter.

 

[Lost_Wrench]

Thanks for the replies! As suggested I'm going to pull those spacers and go with the 2 inch setting once my shackles arrive. A friend told me those HD Coil Springs are likely the same ones that also go on the ZJ's that have the V8, so the XJ with the 4.0 just doesn't have enough weight to compress it as much, hence my unexpected new height.

 

[Lost_Wrench]

Update:

I removed the 1 inch spacers from the front end, and installed the adjustable rear shackles on the 2 inch lift setting. This has made the front end 19.5 inches from the center of the axle to the bottom of the fender flare on the front, and 19.25 in the rear. The look of the rig is very nice with 235's. Test drove afterwards and no vibrations or driveability issues whatsoever, even at highway speeds. So for anyone looking to do a relatively easy 1.5 inch lift, here are the components.

Front: Stock HD Coil Springs (same springs as on V8 ZJ)
Rear: Dorman 929-301 Leaf Springs w/2 inch rear Shackle lift.