Jetta Wagon Jeep XJ Spring lift

I figured i'd post this here for any of you looking to lift your wagons. The 90's Jeep cherokee coil is the exact same size and thickness as the front coils in the VW, but are 18" overall length (stock is 14") and have 8 coils instead of 6. Eyelet and base width are identical. I used these front and rear. In the front I cut off 1 coil from the XJ spring because it was a little too stiff running the full length, the stock rear coils have two eyelets however the base is the perfect size to fit the width of the XJ coil.

Sits 2" higher then stock, no other modifications necessary but will max out your shock in the rear. Will need a spring compressor to stuff them in the front but would be much easier with a bench-type compressor like mechanics have. You will need to jack your back end up pretty high in the rear but if you let the axle droop you can stuff them in and then slowly let her drop and adjust as necessary to get them in the right positon. I am trying to locate some 29" offroad tires and then I will have gained 4" of ground clearance. Suspension is much tighter but very comfortable especially for a little "light offroading"


Flex pic, currently sitting on 26" tires.

does it sit level? Rear looks way low but I know you are up on a berm.

boise outlaw said:

Sits 2" higher then stock, no other modifications necessary but will max out your shock in the rear.

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That's as bad, if not worse, for the car as 'bottoming out".
On compression there are urethane bump stops to add spring rate and use up compression energy before reaching solid height on the shock absorber. There's no similar item on the extension stroke.
OK, I'll grant that the car body has more weight / momentum on the compression stroke than the wheel/tire/axle has on the extension stroke, but the 'slide hammer' effect as full extension is reached isn't beneficial.

SkyRyder55 said:

does it sit level? Rear looks way low but I know you are up on a berm.

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that is a "flexed" pic, front drivers is fully extended, rear drivers is fully compressed. Its more to show articulation, Extra clearance is necessary around here. I will take some more level pics of her when the build is done.

That's as bad, if not worse, for the car as 'bottoming out".
On compression there are urethane bump stops to add spring rate and use up compression energy before reaching solid height on the shock absorber. There's no similar item on the extension stroke.
OK, I'll grant that the car body has more weight / momentum on the compression stroke than the wheel/tire/axle has on the extension stroke, but the 'slide hammer' effect as full extension is reached isn't beneficial.

Click to expand...

Static she barely sits at full extension, add a little weight to the rear and she rides great, usually have the top box and back end loaded up with camping gear. I believe that the guys using the lift spacers drill up near the top of the shock and add a 1" spacer so they can keep their shocks under full extension, but eventually i will just replace with longer ones . I still believe this is a superior option to the $300 spacer kit, and by playing around with how much you cut the jeep coil you could achieve the ideal lift for your vehicle.

update!

i've been running this for a year now and it is still working great! Had to replace the CV joints recently (i believe they were the original) and at 240k i think it was more due to wear then driveline angle. Will be upgrading the rear shocks to something a bit beefier and maybe with a little more travel but otherwise it is a solid design.

Can you give a bit more info on what year xj coils you used and did you use fron coils in fron and rear in rear ( do those have rear coils? )

Also curious about an update. Did you find longer shocks and if so off of what?

Also would like to hear more about this setup and if you upgraded rear shocks

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I haven't done this setup, but I do own an XJ and they're coils in front and leaves in back.

I'd guess the original poster used the front coils from a 4.0 (inline 6)-equipped model, which would mean anything from 1987-2001, but since it's been 4 years since the thread was started I have my doubts he'll be popping in to answer...

Yea I seen the date after I replied... rookie mistake lol

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Hi

Actually I read that cutting off from a coil spring makes it stiffer not softer. ... of course it also makes it shorter..

How much difference makes it I guess would be a percentage of the amount taken off... as far as business is concerned. .

Definitely going to look at this thread with interest because I wanted to make my car a little taller also but admittedly I did it with more conventional Jetta Springs