leveling suspension

I hae a 3 inch lift kit on the 57. 283 up front. Front sits a couple of inches lower than rear. Any thoughts on best way to level it out? I was thinking of taking off the leaf spring hangers up front (stock shackel reversal) and welding some spacers to drop them an inch or more thus raising front up. I have already installed extra lift daystar shackles all around. Any aftermarket hangers do this trick?
Thanks,
Paul

 

If you just move the front hangar downwards you are going to reduce your caster angle (it's gonna rotate the top of the knuckles and diff forward). This can cause handling problems. You should have increased your caster with the longer shackles but without measuring the caster angle it's hard to know what effect you will have. Ideally you want 3-6 degrees of positive caster (top of knuckle leaned back from the vertical). Any less and you can have pretty severe wander on the road, too much more and you can have hard steering at low speeds and accelerated tire wear.

 

How can one measure the angle accurately? Any thoughts on why the front sits lower if both front and rear have same new lift springs? ANother alternative?

 

quite a few places sell dangling protractors. I got mine from sears. get under the jeep and measure the angle through the knuckles with one and watch the arrow.

 

So I should measure the caster angle first then adjust it to get the 3-6 degrees positive (top of steering knuckle posterior of midline) but no more and no less. By the way, I am not sure what length shackles I have. Where does one measure them from? What lift should I expect with 1 1/2 and 2 1/2 shackles? Is the v8 engine the cause of the lower front?

 

I am running a SBC V8 and I have the same issue. I installed a Superlift 2.5" lift. I used the standard shackles. My front rides much lower than the rear. I was thinking of larger shackles, or lowering the rear.

 

If you have 2 passengers in your back seat, or otherwise fully load the rear of your CJ, does it sit level? I have a BDS 2.5" lift and a winch on the front. If I have my back seat full, it's close to level.
I had a 4WD pickup once and had one extra leaf made for the front springs since it had a bigger than stock engine and a PTO winch.

 

My cj5 is not complete yet. I am hoping with the addition of a trailmate 1 tire carrier and full size spare, seats, and roll bar everything will eventually level out. I am going to wait until all is mocked up before checking the caster and adjusting. Adding a leaf spring sounds intriguing though...

 

Unless you don't have the (lift) room why not put stock shackles in the back?