Buying General Springs Leaves to lift my 2wd MJ

[jakesmog]

89 Eliminator
I’ve been researching trying to figure out how to bring my rear up to about a 3” lift equivalent to match some 3” front springs. I’m looking for at least a level but some rake would be nice too.

 

I’m not sure how sagged my stock rear 2wd leaves are, I still have about a ~2” rake compared to the stock front springs. No one seems to make a MJ specific AAL, which would already be suboptimal.

 

General springs is out of the Metric Ton version, and I’m not necessarily searching for a higher load capacity anyways, so I was looking at the 1280lb 4(3/1) springs for ~$400 shipped.

The Hell’s Creek 3” lift springs are ~$1000 and I don’t know what their lead time is.

 

The GS should definitely lift the rear some, but I’m looking to at least level it with the front. To get a little extra height, can I add some of my old 2wd leaves if they’re not compromised? Also, what’s the most amount of shackle lift I can reasonably achieve without significant issues? 

 

[coheed]

This is with very used set of Rubicon Express 3.5" springs, the metric ton springs from General, and a zone offroad shackle (effectively 3/4" lift). It has the factory rake with this setup. The front is 3.25"ish over factory and the rear is a just over 4" unloaded. If you want it to sit level with a true 3" coil you probably won't need a shackle if the standard springs give close to what the metric ton springs do.

 

[jakesmog]

Thank you very much for the photo, and sweet rig! It gives me a lot more confidence for the GS. I was just kind of confused how it’s supposed to lift it so much if it just returns it to factory ride height. I suppose I would also get pretty tired after holding up a truck for 30-40yrs straight.

[coheed]

41 minutes ago, jakesmog said:

Thank you very much for the photo, and sweet rig! It gives me a lot more confidence for the GS. I was just kind of confused how it’s supposed to lift it so much if it just returns it to factory ride height. I suppose I would also get pretty tired after holding up a truck for 30-40yrs straight.

No, I think it's generally accepted around here that general is just making them incorrectly. These are not lift measurements as compared to the springs that were on the truck previously, they are compared to the measurements the FSM says they are supposed to be leaving the factory with. It's just a convenient accident for some that they give you a lift.

[jakesmog]

Well in that case that’s perfect. I’ll order the springs first and later see if I need a shackle to fine tune it. Hopefully the regular GS springs give me the same lift as the GS MT.

[Eagle_SX4]

I bought the general spring 1280lb spring and was expecting lift but did not get any. It remained stock height of 9 inches from the top of the axle tube to the frame

[jakesmog]

Perhaps that’s why I can’t really find anything on the 1280lb springs. I’d prefer not to bastardize a fresh pack of springs just to get a little more lift out of them. Maybe I need to put the lift on hold until the MTs come back in stock. 

[Eagle_SX4]

@jakesmogJust curious what does your rear ride height measure at right now? (Top of axle tube to bottom of frame). Stock should be about 8 inches for a 2wd and 9 inches for 4wd.

[jakesmog]

@Eagle_SX4 I am going to check once I get home from work. I looked up my build sheet and it doesn’t actually list my GVWR or payload, but it says Rear Spring Group 1. Idk if that means anything. I also did a lot more digging and found posts from General Spring themselves on here. 
 

This is nothing more than speculation but, if I have Spring Group 1 and it’s also the Eliminator which is supposed to be more sporty and less hauly, I assume this might put me towards the lower end of the free arch springs. Then I should expect to get more lift rather than less lift from even the 1280lb springs. The 1700lb springs are not even supposed to be any more lift than the 1280lb. So I’m still tempted to order them and try them out after measuring my current sag.

[gogmorgo]

Do you have a local(ish) suspension shop? You can get your original springs rearched for more height. Or get some added if you don’t get as much out of the General Springs as you’d want. They can also source new springs for you if yours aren’t worth rebuilding, which might save you money over shipping in a set. That’s what I did. Admittedly I’m in Canada so shipping them up here is exponentially more than within the US, but sourcing new springs from the local shop was cheaper than buying online, and then paying again to have more height arched into them and a leaf added was still cheaper than getting lift springs shipped up here. 

[jakesmog]

Looks like I’m just at 8” or perhaps a hair shorter

[ghetdjc320]

The general spring setup uses fairly thick leaves and are stiff “truck springs”. They work great if that’s what you need them for. You only need about .75” of lift to get you almost level with front 3” springs with just a tiny rake. Use a full length add a leaf and drill the center pin to MJ specs. Works well and gives you a really nice spring rate. You can see how my project sits with that combo in my build thread below.