Shocks: what do you like and why?

Joe J.

Joe J.

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 18, 2009
Location
King, NC
Just want to get some input here before I make my next purchase. Does it really make a difference having a regular hydro shock vs. a nice expensive chrome plated bedazzled shock? One for just regular trail use and street driven, its not like I'm going to do sweet jumps off the top of Everest any time soon. What say ye?

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What I think,....does not really matter that much! When I lived out west we build trucks to run in the desert, running 60 70 mph and jumping 6 feet or more! In that application we used a type of gas/oil shock or nitro, this way in extreme heat and movement the oil would not foam up and bust the shock, in our case we are crawling over rocks as slow as we can (at least some of us do) in this case a oil shock (does no return on its own) works just fine!! And a lot less $ . I laugh every time I see a rig on the trail with $1000
remote gas shocks!
 
Kinda how I'm thinking. But do they last any longer? Say, bilstines vs. Skyjacker cheapo's, I can usually get a couple good years out of the hydro's before they start to feel useless. And I've had Nitro's before and they made my jeep ride like a two horse wagon.

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Bilstein 5100s. Descent road comfort. Great on the trail. Medium to stiff ride so they do a great job keeping the tires on the ground. You can invert in the rear of your TJ. I run the long arm versions with 180 lb/in rate springs. No oscillations and very little bounce or wheel hop.
 
Ill just say this I love my fox shocks man the ride quality is out standing! Plus if the seals wear out just get them replaced
 
I hear ya goofy, its just like the more I have to replace over time the less I feel it necessary to spend on the pricey stuff. Unless its a part that I'm positive will outlast my jeep I can't seem to justify it. I'm becoming more of a cheap bastid the older I get I guess, and I was already tight to begin with lol.

I also know that in a short time I'm liable to spin around and do something completely different to the jeep than I have planned right now. I hate how the rear shocks mount on a tj so I know that is one thing that will be addressed in the future, just not sure exactly how I want to do it yet.

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I don't have any knowledge about shocks, but if the Bilsteins I have will work for your rears, they could be "bought" pretty cheap. I'm thinking for around 12 Cold Coronas they could be yours! I don't know if this will help your decision or not.... Their is one catch.. The "payment" would need be in a lump sum!!! No two or three beer payments!! :flipoff2: oh and one quick spelling lesson.. "I" before "E" exept in Budweiser and Bilstein!
 
I ran stock shocks, then Rancho RS9000's for a while. I thought they were pretty good. Then I put Old Man Emu shocks on there, and it totally changed the way the jeep rode. It was a fantastic difference and well worth the money, especially since that was in 2002 and I STILL have them on my jeep, and they STILL work well and have a strong gas charge, 11 years and probably 80k miles later.
 
prolly need to know what they are going on and how you plan to use it....if your going fast and hitting bumps NOTHING makes a bigger difference than shocks....if your crawling prolly not
 
Fox all the way. You can tune them to do what you want and ride how you want them to. Its also the last set of shocks you will buy. They rebuildable so you never have to replace the shock itself. The seal kits are also pretty inexpensive.
 
Thanks for the replies. I think adjustable and/or rebuildable shocks will be in my jeeps future. Right now tho with the rear suspension still being evaluated I'll just settle for some cheap ones. I asked because I'm currently putting 4 inch springs under the tj in place of the 2.5's and the front can use longer shocks and the rear ones were too long to begin with so I'm good there. And I'm just using the tj as a trail rig that can drive to the trails for now.

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depends on what you want to spend. i have bilsteins in the rear of my TJ and they ride great. had procomp 3000s in the rear and they lasted less than 500 road miles and veber hit the dirt. have rough country 2.2 shocks up front and am not impressed with the ride. justmy opinions though
 
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