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Recently I bought a J10 to restore and the previous owner said he thought it had a 3" lift. It's currently on 33" tires with plenty of room in the wheel arches. Are there any markings on the springs that would identify the amount of lift? Thanks.

There is only one 3" kit that I know of, and thats rough country. If it rides like crap, its probably a rough country. Depending on their age, they may still have the part number painted on them.

the truck is in very rough shape so it rides like crap already. that said I would probably want to swap out a rough country product. I've pulled the shocks off which are caked with yuck and am almost finished breaking the u bolts free of the Axel. do you know where it would be painted on? could there be any stamping on them?

normally its on the top side of the leafs.

turns out its not a lift kit but rather a 3" block with an extra leaf between the Axel and the spring. it's held on with longer u bolts. its sort of like a body lift but for the spring. I'm assuming its a super cheap way to do it. any experience with these?

Blocks are generally frowned upon as a practice if it is being driven offroad. A good spring lift is always better in my opinion.

Blocks are barely OK on the rear but, the front should be spring-under-axle. How did the lift the front end?

The front doesn't have blocks. It's a 6 ply spring.

Looks like it might be a rough country RC640.20 kit.

Yeah. 3” front springs, 3” rear block.

I pulled it all off the frame yesterday since I am sanding it down and repainting it. I had to cut almost all of the bolts. the guy at the parts store said they are hard to find. I looked in the shop manual that I have but it doesn't seem to note what the sizes are for the bolts on the springs and shocks. is there anywhere that that is listed?

Typically a new lift kit will come with new bolts.

But. the spring eye bolts aren't hard to find otherwise. Many places have them online. The are spring eye bolts for 2.5" wide springs. Ford, GM, and Dodge all used the same ones (more or less). BJ's offroad may even have FSJ specific ones.

I have the Rough Country 3" lift on my Jeep. I was afraid it was going to be too rough of a ride due to all the negativity I have read about them. Just could not pass on the price though at $305.00, which included shocks. I needed a 2" drop pitman arm and it has been a great product for me. I will say, in my experience, that the ride is nearly identical to what the stock ride was. And in some cases better since now it has better travel before it hits the bump stops. Did it ride rough before? I don't know. It always seemed to ride well to me, but I am different that way. I still have kidneys when the day is done though.

I replaced the front shackles with XJ rear shackles. They are nearly identical. The only thing I could tell was different is that the bolts are metric rather than ASE. In some cases the same shackles are sold as SJ fronts shackles. The nice thing is that you don't have to change out bushings and they come with bolts. Look around and you can find them in the $20.00 range. Saves a lot of headache in the long run. Good luck.

I have a 3" lift on mine that rides like crap (lifted by previous owner). Springs in the front and blocks in the rear, so it must be that Rough Country kit. The springs in the rear must be original, and a bit saggy, because she was nearly an inch higher in the front with the 3" kit as is. Then I took out the bottom leafs in the front, to try and soften up the ride -- she dropped an inch or so (now just slightly lower than the rear), but still super stiff. The shocks are no good, which doesn't help, but new shocks won't soften stiff springs.

I know the solid axles will never allow a real smooth ride, but I drove an '89 land cruiser all over Australia, leaf-sprung front and rear, and the ride quality was an order of magnitude better than this truck :/

I'm ready to put a whole new suspension system on her. Can anyone recommend one that has decent ride quality? A smaller lift would be ideal, but she is primarily an on-road vehicle, so I could even consider going back to stock. That is, if the 31's would fit?

31x10.5 will fit on a stock J10. Hell Creek used to offer a stock height spring. Might call and see if they still do. They're in the vendor section on here.

rurcon wrote:I have a 3" lift on mine that rides like crap (lifted by previous owner). Springs in the front and blocks in the rear, so it must be that Rough Country kit. The springs in the rear must be original, and a bit saggy, because she was nearly an inch higher in the front with the 3" kit as is. Then I took out the bottom leafs in the front, to try and soften up the ride -- she dropped an inch or so (now just slightly lower than the rear), but still super stiff. The shocks are no good, which doesn't help, but new shocks won't soften stiff springs.

I know the solid axles will never allow a real smooth ride, but I drove an '89 land cruiser all over Australia, leaf-sprung front and rear, and the ride quality was an order of magnitude better than this truck :/

I'm ready to put a whole new suspension system on her. Can anyone recommend one that has decent ride quality? A smaller lift would be ideal, but she is primarily an on-road vehicle, so I could even consider going back to stock. That is, if the 31's would fit?

I like my Alcans. They give my Waggy a ride that's just as good as any other car I have... probably even more comfortable than the Land Cruiser (60 series... 62 perhaps?) you had in Australia. In fact, I would say that the Waggy rides as well as my 80 series. I have a 2" lift but Bill at Alcan can make what ever you want. Just give him the specs. I have a 7 leaf setup in front and 6 leaf in the rear.

Thanks for the tips guys.

I checked with Hell Creek, they just have the RC 3" lift along with their own 4" and 6" lifts.

I've been reading through many, many posts, here and on the mothership, and Alcan comes up time and time again. Apparently they make BJ's 2" kit as well. I figure I'm looking for around a 2" lift, but it sounds like I am best off going straight to Alcan, in any case.

The Land Cruiser was an FJ62 Great truck. Would be awesome to get a comparable ride out of my J10!

I do believe Alcan does build the CURRENT BJs 2" lift springs, but you can also get custom Alcans w/ more leaves for a better ride, then what BJs offers (lower price, less leaves).

Ride is very subjective, so be careful what you read on the internet. A user may be going from a sagged stock spring sitting on the bump stops to a harsh riding RC lift, and think it rides just the same, but compare that to a Alcan built specifically for a smooth ride and it will be night and day, or to a new stock height spring. A brand new RC lift will ride harsher than one with a few thousand miles on it. Or one with a heavy front winch bumper. Plus, kits evolve over time, different leave counts, different manufacturers, different designs. My Rustys springs are very different than the current Rustys spring offerings, that everyone says rides good. And the state of the rest of your shackle bushings affect ride also, along with improper installation (torquing bolts without the weight of the car on them) can ruin the ride.

But from my experience, buy the best kit you can afford and be happy with it. It does make a difference to spend more, as you will get more. Springs with more leaves, better bushings etc, cost more to make.

If your looking for the best possible ride, get exact front and back weights on your rig, and contact Alcan or one of the other quality custom spring manufacturers, and tell them EXACTLY what you want. Not every spring that comes out of a custom spring shop is the same, as they will adjust the leave thickness and quantity to match your needs (ride quality, use, lift height, etc)

RamJetFSJ wrote:I do believe Alcan does build the CURRENT BJs 2" lift springs, but you can also get custom Alcans w/ more leaves for a better ride, then what BJs offers (lower price, less leaves).

Ride is very subjective, so be careful what you read on the internet. A user may be going from a sagged stock spring sitting on the bump stops to a harsh riding RC lift, and think it rides just the same, but compare that to a Alcan built specifically for a smooth ride and it will be night and day, or to a new stock height spring. A brand new RC lift will ride harsher than one with a few thousand miles on it. Or one with a heavy front winch bumper. Plus, kits evolve over time, different leave counts, different manufacturers, different designs. My Rustys springs are very different than the current Rustys spring offerings, that everyone says rides good. And the state of the rest of your shackle bushings affect ride also, along with improper installation (torquing bolts without the weight of the car on them) can ruin the ride.

But from my experience, buy the best kit you can afford and be happy with it. It does make a difference to spend more, as you will get more. Springs with more leaves, better bushings etc, cost more to make.

If your looking for the best possible ride, get exact front and back weights on your rig, and contact Alcan or one of the other quality custom spring manufacturers, and tell them EXACTLY what you want. Not every spring that comes out of a custom spring shop is the same, as they will adjust the leave thickness and quantity to match your needs (ride quality, use, lift height, etc)

Thought I would post an update on my old thoughts on the Rustys lift. As stated above, I have the older model of Rustys springs, with less leaves, and not anti friction pads. I am now very happy with my lift. Its broken in a bit, but more importantly, I replaced the original shackle bushings, and this in its self made a HUGE improvement in ride quality. Paired with the 5100 Bilstein shocks, I am now very happy with this lift.