Xtreme Recon 1" Spacer??

[hoag4147]

Damn thats super disheartening. Fortunately my buddy is a mechanic at BMW and his boss lets him use the shop to work on other vehicles after hours. Im going to be calling in some favors soon I guess. Do you think I should go ahead and get longer springs?

If you are only adding steel bumper (no winch), and sticking with 35s a 1” spacer should work well IMO.

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[double J]

I have the steel bumpers, and a winch. Didn’t like the rake. Used a teraflex gladiator leveling kit that I had from my gladiator. Did not ad to the bump stop. Just used 1”, and 0.5” pucks. You can purchase the 1”, and 0.5” pucks separately. Just had to do minor adjustments to straighten steering wheel. Took it to bald mountain near Stuart’s Draft Va. had no problems.

 

[Craigger]

Im picking up my XR with the plastic bumpers soon. I plan to add a steel front bumper. I have the 3.6 with the tow package. Do you think a 1” spacer will do the trick?

That's probably going to work but will depend on how much weight you're adding (what is weight of bumper and are you adding a winch?). Add the bumper, make some measurements, then buy the correct spacer. In my case with an aluminum Rock Hard patriot bumper and a Warn Evo 10K w/synthetic line, 1" was perfect.

 

[Craigger]

Do you foresee longer shocks in the future? I am wanting to level out my XR via the spacer route but I don't want to compromise the shock travel.

I haven't had mine off-road to the point of full droop but I'm guessing that you're right that the shocks are the limiting factor (someone with more knowledge can correct me if I'm wrong). I'm guessing the stock shocks are fine for the incremental change but to answer your question at some point I will do a proper lift with springs and reservoir shocks with 37s.

 

[GATORB8]

I haven't had mine off-road to the point of full droop but I'm guessing that you're right that the shocks are the limiting factor (someone with more knowledge can correct me if I'm wrong). I'm guessing the stock shocks are fine for the incremental change but to answer your question at some point I will do a proper lift with springs and reservoir shocks with 37s.

On the non-392 XR, I believe the stock shock specs are
Front Compressed: 17.25"
Front Extended: 24.38"
Rear Compressed: 19"
Rear Extended: 27.38"

The spacers themselves would only limit travel if they caused spring bind in compression before 17.75" (approximate stock bump), very unlikely. They will add the equivalent free length to the spring, so they'll allow more droop before spring dropout.

They will reallocate the travel between up and down. If you add an inch of ride height, you'll transfer one inch of downtravel to one inch of up travel. The shocks have the same travel, you are just changing where you measure up/down from.

In general, shock extension will be your droop limit, unless there is a conflict before that extension (or you drop the spring out of place). Front conflicts are usually the LCA brake line bracket in the high 20s (can just be cut off), front driveshaft at 29" (install aftermarket), and shock body to frame (outboard shock mounts) around 29-30" with 2" bodies (possibly sooner with larger shocks). Rear conflicts are sway bar hitting the shock in the high 20s (fix is longer links, or space down sway frame mount) and parking brake cable length (reroute under frame xmember) around 30". You will of course need to prevent sway bar inversion with proper sway bar end link length, front or rear, that would be a bad day. Suspension bushings probably won't limit straight droop, but you may bind with a lot of flex at some point (or destroy bushings).

 

[Kansas JL]

Appreciate this thread very much! This is exactly what I also need to do. I plan on just doing the teraflex 1 in front and 0.5 in back. Just enough to level out things again. I have never used spacers befor. I assume there are no drawbacks especially with such minimal lift??

 

[Mocopo]

Appreciate this thread very much! This is exactly what I also need to do. I plan on just doing the teraflex 1 in front and 0.5 in back. Just enough to level out things again. I have never used spacers befor. I assume there are no drawbacks especially with such minimal lift??

The only really drawback I can see is you are messing with the caster angle even more. I be doing a 1.5" spacer in the front and .75" in the rear, but I don't see it as a permanent solution. Will move to a real lift, or at the very least get new LCAs within a few thousand miles (not really a daily driver for me, so that could be a year or so).

 

[Jeeppaul91]

That's probably going to work but will depend on how much weight you're adding (what is weight of bumper and are you adding a winch?). Add the bumper, make some measurements, then buy the correct spacer. In my case with an aluminum Rock Hard patriot bumper and a Warn Evo 10K w/synthetic line, 1" was perfect.

Im adding the Mopar stubby bumper and the steel skid plate

 

[NChap89]

On the non-392 XR, I believe the stock shock specs are
Front Compressed: 17.25"
Front Extended: 24.38"
Rear Compressed: 19"
Rear Extended: 27.38"

The spacers themselves would only limit travel if they caused spring bind in compression before 17.75" (approximate stock bump), very unlikely. They will add the equivalent free length to the spring, so they'll allow more droop before spring dropout.

They will reallocate the travel between up and down. If you add an inch of ride height, you'll transfer one inch of downtravel to one inch of up travel. The shocks have the same travel, you are just changing where you measure up/down from.

In general, shock extension will be your droop limit, unless there is a conflict before that extension (or you drop the spring out of place). Front conflicts are usually the LCA brake line bracket in the high 20s (can just be cut off), front driveshaft at 29" (install aftermarket), and shock body to frame (outboard shock mounts) around 29-30" with 2" bodies (possibly sooner with larger shocks). Rear conflicts are sway bar hitting the shock in the high 20s (fix is longer links, or space down sway frame mount) and parking brake cable length (reroute under frame xmember) around 30". You will of course need to prevent sway bar inversion with proper sway bar end link length, front or rear, that would be a bad day. Suspension bushings probably won't limit straight droop, but you may bind with a lot of flex at some point (or destroy bushings).

Thank you for the detailed response! That’s great intel.

My ‘22 XR is the 3.6 w/ tow package & plastic bumpers. Since then I’ve installed a CavFab stubby steel bumper and frankly it didn’t feel much heavier. That said. I’d love to eliminate the minor rake, especially when I add a winch (eventually). I can add the 1” spacer easily enough. Thanks!

 

[Craigger]

The only really drawback I can see is you are messing with the caster angle even more. I be doing a 1.5" spacer in the front and .75" in the rear, but I don't see it as a permanent solution. Will move to a real lift, or at the very least get new LCAs within a few thousand miles (not really a daily driver for me, so that could be a year or so).

That's a really good point. When I upgrade the suspension I'll probably add adjustable LCAs to the list. Amazing how expensive the 1" spacer rabbit hole is getting

 

[GATORB8]

Thank you for the detailed response! That’s great intel.

My ‘22 XR is the 3.6 w/ tow package & plastic bumpers. Since then I’ve installed a CavFab stubby steel bumper and frankly it didn’t feel much heavier. That said. I’d love to eliminate the minor rake, especially when I add a winch (eventually). I can add the 1” spacer easily enough. Thanks!

I know everyone seems to want to get level, but remember the rake is there for a reason. Cargo and trailer tongue weight. If you start level and put a 350 lb tongue load one, you'll be towing with a 2"+ negative rake and pointing your headlights in oncoming windshields.

 

[GATORB8]

That's a really good point. When I upgrade the suspension I'll probably add adjustable LCAs to the list. Amazing how expensive the 1" spacer rabbit hole is getting

Some aftermarket LCAs require less than the XR 5" of backspacing (at least per their websites), which may limit options for manufacturers. If your long term plans include full lifts and either new wheels or wheel spacers, you can adjust caster with aftermarket UCAs instead of LCAs. Not only are they normally less expensive, they won't be your backspace limit. No reason not to use adjustables from the lift you intend to pickup long term.

 

[XtremeRetard]

I went with 1.5 and 0.75 daystar still a slight rake with aftermarket winch/bumper up front. 2" would level it.

Stock shocks suck. Way more droop to be had with swapping shocks.

Oh also I installed the mopar lower LCA's and almost bang on 6 deg caster.

 

[Wheelin Matt]

Man I must have gotten lucky with an early XR. Here it is at the dealership with my lemon Ecodiesel next to it that I traded for the XR. Barely a rake with plastic bumpers.

Now, almost a year later and 18k miles, stock suspension. I added aluminum front bumper & winch and underbody skid plates & new wheels and 37’s. No need for spacers or lift or anything and I’ve taken it Offroad all over Colorado, Utah & Southern California.

 

[Nskeries]

IMO the XR with plastic bumpers has an extreme factory front rake in comparison to others. I felt like it needed a 1” without adding steel bumper. So when I added steel bumpers (front and rear) plus Teraflex Alpha HD tire carrier and heavy 37 spare I still added an additional 1” more than rear to front. I ended adding 2.5 front and 1.5 rear for my 37s. I still need to mess with my bumps.

Did you go with just the spring spacer or did you do the lift with new spring etc?

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