Hi all,

I'm looking to improve the on road ride of my JKU and add a lift too.
My question is, what are the best shocks for this ?
I've seen that Rancho make an adjustable shock now, would this be a good way to go and are there any other adjustable shocks out there ?

Goatee

 

Shocks are definitely a can of worms. The only limitation is your budget. The Rancho 9000 adjustable are a good inexpensive shock. However, you just have to figure that you get what you pay for.

If it's on road ride your looking for, then moving up to something with a reservoir would also be something to look into if your budget permits.

I currently have Bilstein 5100's which is also a good inexpensive shock. They would compare to the Rancho 7000. I got the Bilstein because I needed something inexpensive, around $85 per shock. Eventually when budget permits I plan to get something with a reservoir. The main advantage that will give you is if you take any fire roads or bumpy roads. It will also help for daily driving. It won't help much when rock crawling though.

Another advantage of more expensive shocks is that they're rebuild able. If you break one of the Rancho 9000's, you essentially throw it out and buy a new one.

 

OME Sport

 

The best setup may be the EVO bolt-on setup with King coil-overs. Anything else is probably a compromise.

 

If you have the JkU black shock, a cheap upgrade would be purchasing a set of Rubicon take offs from someone. They are a good upgrade over the factory blacks until you do a lift.

 

I like my fox 2.0s. I also have rubi take offs if ur interested.

 

Sounds fabulous and expensive, I didn't say but I only have around $1500 bucks to throw at this :-(

 

I was talking about the King coil overs when I said expensive :-)

 

$1500 total for lift kit and shocks? Or just for shocks?

Assuming for lift + shocks, you're probably in the range of Bilstein 5100, rancho 7000 or 9000.

 

The differences between a shock and a better shock are how long will the shocks function without failing or deteriorating, and how they perform under very demanding circumstances & heat.
Other than that, any two shocks which have similar valving, would feel the same.

Softness comes from the shock & coil combination, and the shock influences ride quality much more the coil does.
Fox, and others, offer shocks that you can adjust by simply rotating a knob. This eliminates the need to send the shocks (at least once) for re-valving. You can easily tweak the ride softness by yourself.
Just don't make them too soft, or the bump stops would be often hit.

Shock reservoirs are not made for softer ride, and they do not soften the ride. The valving controls softness, regardless of the reservoir.
Typically, very expensive and soft-riding cars don't have shock reservoirs.

Reservoirs prevent shock heating problems.
The extra volume and cooling area of the shock fluid helps when shocks are required to work real hard in high ambient temperature and for a long time.
One of the examples for the benefit of reservoirs is Baja races.

On roads, reservoirs may begin to show their benefit only after hrs of continuous fast driving on bad roads in very hot weather.

I have Fox w/ reservoirs, because when I go to the desert in southern Israel, for many hrs of offroading in ambient temperature of 40+ Celsius, the reservoirs prevent overheating of the shocks.

On regular roads, reservoirs, by themselves, won't make any difference. Valving will.

…and the EVO bolt-on is a compromise vs EVO more sophisticated front & rear suspensions…

While King is considered to be the best, I have yet to see Fox or OME fail. I've seen them fail only due to faulty installation.
Metal Cloak offer their 6Pak Long Travel Shocks, which look very promising. They are double shocks.