This is not a new idea to those who have a lifted XJ, but it certainly is an inexpensive way to get 2" of height in the front. It does not address other relavant issues, such as shock length and brake hose length. Companies providing aftermarket parts provide parts similar or identical to these and are well worth the money if you factor time into your cost. However, we found that it is both fun and economical to build our own metal coil spacers in lieu of buying them, if you have the right tools and get a few friends together that all have a need for more lift. The example here is 2", but it is feasible to use this same technique safely for 1" to 3".

Here are two of our homemade metal coil spacers, show upside-down compared to the installed orientation.
They made from some black iron steam pipe and some large washers. The washers were special order (about $1.50 each) from a local fastener company (Fastenal) and the pipe was used (FREE) steam pipe that was removed from a building. A chop saw was used to cut the pipe and the two pieces were welded together. Then we hit them with some primer and spray paint. This design is the same as sold by some companies.

Here I (Scott) am holding the removed, compressed spring. At this point, the spring compressors are holding back a lot of potential energy. Take care with the springs at any point that they are in this compressed state . Air tools can really help out with running the spring compressors. Before removing the spring, we supported the vehicle weight with jackstands just behind the lower control arm mounts on the "frame". The front swaybar was also disconnected to allow more droop of the axle. Small clamps holding the spring to its lower pad also need to be removed with one bolt.

Update: March 26, 2001
by Andreas Ritterbusch

This article received a lot of attention and numerous questions regarding the dimensions. Here are finally the dimensions:

First the "giant" washer:

We used big washers from Fastenal (www.fastenal.com). 

Next the pipe (steam pipe, or black iron pipe):

We used some discarded pieces as mentioned previously. Probably the best place to get this is from your local contractor who does the roughing in and around your home. The dimensions for the pipe are relatively flexible. For the above project we used a pipe with a 3-1/2" OD (outside diameter) but a pipe as small as 3" OD should work just as well. Wall thickness is not as critical either as long as it is at least 3/16" or stronger.

There is some flexibility involved here. The pipe used in the above project was 3-1/2" OD and 3/16" strong.
The pipe shown on the left is 3" OD and 1/4" strong.
Length of the pipe depends on your requirements. Anywhere from 1" to 3" should work fine. If you are planning on using a second rubber OEM coil spacer, allow 1/4" to compensate. DO NOT use any poly aftermarket spacers! Only use the Jeep OEM rubber spacer because those have a metal inset that will protect them from the metal coil spacer's upper side. We used both combinations, with and without a second rubber OEM coil spacer on top, and we could not find a difference in performance. In other words, if a second rubber OEM coil spacer is not used, the metal coil spacer does not rattle, etc.

The rubber OEM coil spacer is listed in the 2000 XJ parts book as follows:
Part number: 5200 0229; ISOLATOR, Spring, Upper
(Those are the same spacers from '84 -'01, all models.)