OldSch88L

If this can help for reference, these are my shackle angles right after I finished my install. Like I said, I put my spare back in, had the leafs and shackles bolted loosely, then had a "husky" friend (250lbs maybe) stand in the bed while I tightened everything up. When the leafs will show signs of relaxing, I'll loosen the bolts and tighten them with just the truck's weight.

I bought them a bit over a year ago. From all the old posts and reviews I've read, the original version of those leafs really seemed bad. The ones I bought were the new generation I guess; Rusty's went to another subcontractor and they are now made in Canada. They're also painted now. They're a bit fiddly to install given their extreme arching, but I'm overall pretty satified by the quality, and they ride real nice. Be aware that out of the box on my truck at least ( ex-2WD 4-banger, 6 foot bed converted to 4x4) I had way more than 4.5 inches of lift, and had to put my spare tire back under the truck to add weight to try to match my Rubicon Express 4.5" front springs. It kinda worked, but I still have a slight rake, similar to stock. I'm leaving it alone for now, as I expect that the leafs may settle down over time.

Kinda like the color, I'd love some bronze or dark gold accents with it if it was my truck...

It reminds me of like 2 years ago... A member from my local facebook Jeep club put his survivor Comanche for sale. He just put some new floors in, the rest of the truck was solid, but the paint was thrash and the smallest amount of rust was starting in the common places on the body. It was advertised for like 6000$ canadian. A few weeks later on marketplace, I saw the same truck for sale by a shady used car dealer. The dealer did a quickie paint job, changing the truck from the stock burgundy color to black, added JK wheels and tires, sprayed in some bedliner, shot the underside of the truck with gravel guard and advertised it for 24000$ canadian. The ad stayed for a couple months with the price going down from time to time. The last time I saw it before the ad disappeared it was down to 14000$. I don't know about you guys, from the various parts of the US, but over here, a showroom MJ barely fetches 10000$ canadian.

Looks like a stainless steel doorstop on wheels

Just a suggestion; the AMC era XJ and MJ steering columns are GM parts that have been around the block, from squarebodies, S-10s, Blazers to almost all of their cars from that period. So, maybe try a search to see if any of the GM guys found a solution to your problem?

At 3" lift and 31's, I tried WJ arms and it still rubbed. However, I had 15X8 Ravine wheels, so different width and offset. Also, from experience, at 3" lift, WJ arms are too short contrary to whatever chart says. My wheels were set back in my front fenders and my caster angle was off. So I guess it's a combination of a little bit of everything. Personally, I'd use WJ arms at 2" or less of lift.

And by the way, I bought them pre-cov1d; I almost fell out of my chair when I saw how much they're selling them for now!!!

Here, I finally remembered which brand shackles I used; here the link! https://www.amazon.ca/Maxtrac-Suspension-410520-Lowering-Shackle/dp/B00D3XV834

Go with a 2 position Chevy 1500 drop shackle; that's what I had with my 3" lift and I was on the first set of holes to be level, the second set gave me a slight rake. I now have 4.5" coils with Rusty's rear leafs, and they're way more than 4" out of the box. I had to put back my spare tire under the truck to add weight, ans asked my 225 lbs friend to stand in the bed while I tightened the leaf and shackle bolts to reduce the rake as much as possible. We'll see how they settle with time; maybe they'll finally come down to 4 inches.

Are you just talking trucks, or overall? Because when I worked in a body shop from 2017 to 2020, my favorites where Hyundai/Kia and Subaru, then every other japanese car. The worst that I hated with a passion where Audi, BMW, Mercedes and VW. Those Silverados ain't to bad, but they have their bad designs... I had to change an oil cooler on our 2016 delivery truck, which involved removing the grille, which first involved removing the front fender flares, headlights, upper valance...

Is that a 6 foot bed roll bar? Any chance you could post the length of the kickers? Mine were cut and shortened tu put in another vehicle, so I'm trying to put it back to spec.

Interesting! That means my '88 doesn't have its original header panel...

Sorry, I got no pics, but I'm finishing up on restoring/reviving and old 1995 White 30" snowblower that I got for cheap. That involved rebuilding the blown auger gearbox, ultrasonic cleaning and rebuilding the original Tecumseh carb that was full of varnish and old gas, and catching up on regular maintenance. There's absolutely not a single part on it that says "made in china"; it's all made in USA, so you know it's worth the time and effort!

Hummm sorry, as I don't want to divert the thread, but curiosity got the best of me! What year/model got those kind of letters? All the XJs/MJs I saw had stick-on letters and no holes in the header panels?

I suspect you may have been confused; I bet you found listings for "handbrake cable-front" and "handbrake cable-rear"... The front one simply is the one from the pedal to about the beginning of the bed, then there's a splitter bracket that the "rear" cables attach to and go to each wheel.

I messaged General Springs about the military wrap springs, and even gave them the GSC-571 part number, and they had no idea what I was talking about, saying that they never offered that product...

For 3" of lift for the rear, you can experiment making a "bastard pack", or like I said, get some Chevy 1500 drop shackles. Chevy's use their shackles inverted, so a longer shackle will lower them, while it will give our trucks a lift. They can be found cheap and often have two set of holes. My previous setup was 3" coils up front, metric ton rear leafs with Chevy drop shackles on the lower lift setting on 31s, as seen on the pics with the black wheels. The other pics are as of lately with 4.5" coils/4" Rusty's leafs (with stock shackles) still on 31's. Keep in mind my truck is a 4 cylinder, and the lift coils are often engineered for the 4.0 Litre, so being lighter, I might be getting more lift up front. Also, in my latest pics, I still didn't have my adjustable front control arms, so you can see what I mean about the front axle being set back...

I just finished my 4.5" lift on my truck, and let me tell you, the "cheap" part pretty much ends at a 3" lift. With a 3" lift, you can get away with front lift coils, 16.25" tubular lower control arms, a Chevy drop shackle for the rear, and slightly longer shocks. With a 4.5" lift, you'll need and adjustable track bar, longer brake lines, longer driveshafts, pinion angle shims for the rear, and for the front, your axle will sit way back with stock control arms. So, either get control arm drop brackets and keep your stock arms but lose some ground clearance, or use adjustable length upper and lower control arms. I first tried the longer 16.25" tubular lower control arms with stock uppers, and caster shims maxed out, and still the axle was set back in the front fenders, and couldn't get the truck properly aligned. I went the adjustable route up front. For the rear, I didn't want to waste time trying many combinations of mix and match spring leafs, so I went with Rusty's 4" leafs. There's a lot of flak about those leafs, but they date many years ago, and Rusty changed contractors to build them lately. Honestly, I am really happy with the ride and quality, and the only downsides thus far is that brand new, they are way more than a 4" lift. It has not been a year yet so I don't know if the will settle. Second, with the crazy amount of arch to give the lift, they are a bit fiddly to bolt on the rear shackles. But with the right front suspension geometry, Rubicon Express 4.5" front coils and Rusty's leafs, I really love the ride. However I ended up spending more than I intended, even tough I spent over a year shopping, waiting for black friday sales and such to find the best deals. So all that being said, I think the best in your case would be a 3" lift.

My thoughts are white letters out for an old school truck or old school look, and only if you have a big enough sidewall. White letters on small sidewalls and big wheels is a no-no for me.

I bet that's the idle stepper motor expanding to prepare for the next startup, which is normal.

Dang, I should've taken pics of my setup! My wire was cut just like yours, so I took the retainer off my 1998 Ford Ranger, which just barely goes through a Ravine wheel's center bore, then took a beefy bolt and washer, drilled a hole through the bolt, looped the cable through the hole and tied it with 2 cable clamps. I keep an eye on it from time to time and all is good so far.

This one has been for sale for a while, probably due to the ridiculous asking price (IMO), but it does look very nice and properly restored and not just thrown together. The only negative thing I could find based on the photos is that he has the wrong grille for the model year. I think it's more of a 10000-12000CAD$ rather than 21000$, as when I bought mine in 2018, ultra clean survivors went for between 6000 and 9000CAD$. Not to bash on that seller; just a reality check. Super nice truck nonetheless. https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1331482514455282/?ref=search&referral_code=null&referral_story_type=post&tracking=browse_serp%3Aecaab6ea-a04c-484e-9ce4-7669a7245d29

Great work sir!!! I'm keeping my old dash just to practice doing that eventually. I was planning to use urethane expanding foam to fill the cracks in the padding, but I need to find one with the right "squishiness"; I once saw one that was a dark gray and was softer once dry than the regular yellow stuff, I just have to find out which brand it was.