Is your rear end sagging a little? Did your Add-a-leaf not give you as much lift as you thought it should? Or are you interested in just boosting the height of your XJ by a couple of inches. Well lift shackles are a safe, easy and great option when trying to remedy this solution.

There are several companies that offer options as far as lift shackles go for the Cherokees. If you just need a 1/2" or so then you can go to the local salvage yard and look for shackles off of a Jeep Comanchee. They're a total of 1" longer netting you 1/2" lift. Both Terra-Flex and Rocky Road Outfitters (Formerly Summit Offroad) offer shackles giving approximately 1.5" of lift. Another option that has come to my attention for lift shackles that will give 1.5" are shackles from a Chevy Z71. I have not verified that this will work so you will need to take your own measurements but I know a couple people that have used these shackles from the Chevy and say they made no modifications and that they bolted right in.

Well because of my lack of desire to go cruising through the salvage yard looking for a Z71 and my desire to have a 1.5" boost in the rear I decided to go to Glenn and his crew at Rocky Road Outfitters. This is not the first time I have used their products and because of they're GREAT customer service, dedication to trail testing, "bulletproof" parts and they're determination to provide XJ owners with quality usable parts to build they're off-road machine I decided to use their parts.

A quick buzz on the phone out to Utah had my shackles on their way to my house. A few days later I got this box (that weighed a lot more than I thought it would) containing my shackles. If you take the time and look at the factory shackles they are about 1/8" thick and are cut out of one sheet and stamped into the form creating a shackle. When I opened the box, I thought "Boy these things are HUGE" Made out to 3/8" steel they look indestructible. Rocky Road's shackles come with fluted poly bushings and a grease zerk for easy maintenance. The powder coating is a nice dark gray and is heavy duty. They didn't come with any installation instructions but there really isn't a whole lot to it, and I'm just going to tell you how to.

I've done the lift thing but have never ventured into taking the shackle off. So I made sure I had the right size wrenches as the shackle nuts are bigger than what comes in the standard set. The top bolt on the shackle goes into the frame and is bolted into a nut welded on the inside of the uni-frame. There is virtually no way to get a wrench into this nut and I've heard stories about people breaking the nut free from the weld and not being able to get the top shackle bolt out. So for two nights before, I hosed all the bolts and threads that I could see with penetrant to try to avoid that problem.

Before you get started make sure to block up the front wheels to keep your truck from rolling away since you will be jacking up the rear end. In order to get the shackles bolts out you must take the weight of the truck off of the shackles. I got out my hi-lift and started jacking the truck up from the rear till it appeared that the truck wasn't putting any weight on the shackle on one side of the truck. I started on the Right side. Then I went at trying to remove the bolts. Here's where no matter how much penetrant you used you'll still need a breaker bar and a BIG, LONG Cheater bar. (Or at least I did) Once I was able to break the top bolt loose then I broke the bottom bolt loose. YOU MUST break the lower bolt loose while the top bolt is still connected or you'll never get the lower one loose. I wrenched the bolts out and then pulled the old shackle off. The bolts will probably have to be wrenched out the entire way as they are quite tight and you probably can't get a hammer in there to knock them out.

After I took off the factory shackle I held up the New shackle and there was no way that I was going to be able to pull the spring down far enough to line up the holes now since the new shackles is 3" longer overall. Remembering a conversation I had with someone on the XJ-list, I recalled him saying he used the factory jack to aid in pushing the spring away from the truck. I decided to give it a try and boy did it make it SO MUCH EASIER. (REMEMBER: you are working with a spring, of which will be put under enough tension that may cause serious harm if not worked on properly.) You can take the jack and place the base on the spring about halfway from the axle to the shackle, then the top is positioned against the uni-frame so that when you crank on the jack it pushes the spring further away from the frame. After doing this it made it VERY easy to line up the holes on the new shackles and to bolt them in. The ability to raise and lower the factory jack in small amounts makes bolting it back up a breeze. Now that you have the new extended shackle in place go ahead and bolt it back together.

Once you have it back together then you can go to work on the left side. I didn't even bother using the hi-lift jack on the other side and relied only on the factory jack on top of the spring. Now that I know this handy little tip I can take my shackles off and put them back on in under an hour (don't ask me how I know this)

Tip: Spread Anti-Seize compound liberally over the shackle bolts and nuts so that if you ever need to take them off again it will make it easier.

Bonus: Many of us who have lifted our XJ's have dealt with the vibrations associated with incorrect u-joint angles. By installing longer shackles you are effectively pointing the pinion higher and most likely making the shims that you might already have in place unnecessary.

Remember working on your truck is an easy way to have fun and save money, but always make sure you have full understanding of the task you're about to undertake and ALWAYS double check your bolts to make sure that they are tightened to the proper torque specs.

Rocky Road Outfitters (formerly Summit Offroad)
PO Box 681245
Park City, UT 84068
888-801-7271
mailto:gwbuild@summitoffroad.com