4-4.5" Bastard Pack Info

[stoney88mj]

Trying to build a low budget wheeling rig and I'm looking for bastard pack info. I tried using the search function to find threads and couldnt find anything.

 

Is there and easy to build 4-4.5" bastard pack

 

 

Or should i just do a spring over and figure out how to drop the ride height and inch. Really don't want to go over 4.5-5" of lift since i don't want to deal with control arm angles up front.

[ftpiercecracker1]

Anything past 3in really REALLY needs to have so kind of control arm angle correction. Unless you have new rear leaf springs, 4.5-5" of lift is probably what you will end up with doing an SOA.

 

Bastard packs are used a ton, but i have never heard of someone gaining that much lift from one.

[stoney88mj]

They are the factory(or atleast factory age looking springs)

 

I'm gonna toss on some aftermarket control arms but really don't want to use drop brackets. I ran a 4.5" lift on my old xj and it rode fine without drop brackets but i did have adj. upper and lower lca's on it.

[Eagle]

Bastard packs are used a ton, but i have never heard of someone gaining that much lift from one.

 

The 4" lift that was on my '88 MJ when I bought it used a single, short AAL on each side to generate 4 inches of lift.

 

Rode like a ... truck. But it can be done. With a couple of longer leaves from something like an older S-10 or Dakota, maybe even YJ Wrangler (anything that's spring-under), it should be easy, and would have to ride better than a single, stiff, short AAL.

[stoney88mj]

Yeah i really want to avoid a AAL.

[48MJ]

For a bastard pack look for spring under vehicles with 2 1/2" springs. Some of  my favorites are Dakotas, S-10, front Wagoners, and some older p/u's. But you will probably get a max of about 3 1/2". Anyway that is my experience with an '86' Comanche. I've opted for spring over on one of my other Comanches and it worked nice.

[Eagle]

Yeah i really want to avoid a AAL.

 

What do you think a bastard pack is? It's a stock spring set with one, two or three add-a-leaves.

 

You can build up a custom leaf pack with as many leaves as you want -- or as many as you need to get where you're going. My Javelin autocrosser originally had three leaves from the factory -- I spliced in a second set of Javelin springs and ended up with either five or six leaves on each side (don't remember which). It still rode okay -- a lot firmer than stock, but I prefer that -- and handled great.

 

Many years ago I had a 1947 Hudson 1-ton pickup. I have no idea how many leaves were in the springs, but it was at least twice as many as the other two Hudson pickups I owned. They were so stiff that it didn't have shock absorbers -- and didn't need them, because [a] the springs didn't deflect, and that many leaves generated enough friction that they were self-damping.