XJ Rear suspension help.

[idaxj97]

Ok so im planning to buy a trailer and rtt for camping my problem is that when my wife and I and our two dogs pack for a weekend we end up sagging our cherokee pretty good. Im looking at replacing the rear RE 4.5" lift springs with other 4.5" springs my problem is i want to avoid sagging when i add the trailer. The opitions im looking at are, air shocks, air bags, or adding a AAL to the new spring pack. what would you recommend. Thanks for your input.

 

[shogun]

Options are limited because you cant optimize for all situations.

Have a spring shop build an additional leaf, but if you go too far it will ride poorly, so that wont be sufficient.

You can tune it for a little tail-high when empty. Also, be careful not to load the trailer too front heavy, as is common.

Ultimately the most functional solution will be airbags which will need to be tuned when fully loaded and again when empty.

 

[G.Nenzel]

I am in the same position and went with a set of 9 leaf Deaver's. In your position (I built new shackle boxes resulting in 1 1/2 lift) I would install with a 1" lift shackle and then tune with blocks to get the height perfect.

 

[jeepdreamer]

If your happy with the height/ride as it is except for when you got it loaded then go Airbags. You won't notice they are there empty and will do their part when you fill them.
Air shocks... YIKES! No sir. Not for me. I'm not putting all my extra sprung weight on the diameter of the shock stud or bar pin.

As mentioned... don't overload and pack the trailer smartly as possible. If you find yourself towing a lot you may also look into a load equalizer as well as the air bags.

 

[XJINTX]

When I only had the 3" lift I had air shocks and they were great with my trailer. I have CO2 onboard so I can adjust for hauling the traier... let air out at basecamp and then air back up for trip home. I never had an issue. Now I have a 4.5" lift and had to move to Bilsteins all around. I also have a custom made leafpack and shackel relocators which REALLY helped the ride.

Too bad you were not at 3" I would send you the airshocks and you could try them. That entire 3" lift is just taking up space.

 

[VanIsle_Greg]

I have heard of folks using a set of Firestone airbags. The only issue, they do not make a kit bolt on for the Cherokee... not to worry as you can modify a kit to work. I think there were some threads on Jeepforum about this? I am in the same boat, and my 3.5" leafs were custom built for my Cherokee with an overload leaf for towing. After 3 years they were sagged... 3.5" leafs and 2" shackle and I am sitting at 3" total lift...bah. Flat again. lol

There is no perfect combination for towing, I have come to that conclusion. You sacrifice flexibility, towing capacity, ride quality or a little bit of everything. In my opinion your best option is the bags with a custom setup for your ride height and weight requirements. They will however limit your flex in some situations... depends on how you use your Jeep I guess? I need to go back to the drawing board, getting my leafs replaced soon...again.