JK-Pez

2018 JKU......3 1/2” lift.......recently installed lift w/o shocks so I could purchase preferred brand. Shock length now is 21 1/2” in front and 22” rear. Shocks recommended for my lift size are 25 18” extended, 15 1/2” compressed. This leaves me only 3” droop in the rear and 4 1/2”ish up front.compressed over 5” front & back. Looking at same brand shocks for 4”-6” lift, compressed is 17 3/8” compressed and 28” extended. I WILL have my sway bar disconnected while wheeling at times. I have extended brake lines I’ll also be installing. How much compression do I NEED on shocks? I realize bumpstops and limiting straps figure into this as well. I know ideally cutting inside fender wells and welding hoops would be ideal but that won’t happen. Using stock mounting points, is 4” enough for compression? Jeep is 90% road driven but I don’t want to lose ANY off-road performance. Thanks for any and all answers..... Mike

BoraBora

Since you have extended brake lines, you should:

• Remove your stock shocks
• Re-mount tires (if you took them off to remove shocks)
• Raise the axle until either the bumpstop hits, or the tire hits your fender (and bumpstop appropriately)
• Measure the distance from the mounting holes
• Use this measurement as your collapsed length and go look for the longest shock you can

Up-travel and down travel are all give-and-take. The shock recommendations for your lift size are only 10" travel, who recommended that to you? You can look into 11-12" travel shocks. What you lose in up-travel, you're gaining in down travel (as well as stability).

resharp001

Are you looking at Fox 2.0 shocks for 4-6" lift by chance?

jadmt

people way smarter than me say for most all around offroading look for a 60/40 ratio of uptravel/downtravel.

TheDirtman

What is your tires size? Best to flex and measure like borabora said.

JK-Pez

You are correct sir!!

JK-Pez

Tire size stock at this point (& probably for another year or so)

resharp001

Those are the same shocks I run on my 3.5" lift. I would suggest those are much longer than what most people are looking for. You're going to get a lot of down travel which can cause issues itself. Definitely look at limiting straps if you are dead set on these.....and at that point realize you're not going to be using the full extended lengths. Are your front shock mounts outboarded? If not, you probably need otherwise those shock bodies will get eaten up on your frame rail when drooping.

When I added these shocks I had factory shock mounts. Shock bodies got eaten up on frame rail. Added Metalcloak outboard brackets. Get so much articulation that ended up twisting the entire factory shock mount. Cut off all front axle brackets and added 1/4" artec bracketry. Couldn't outboard the new shock brackets enough due to C gussets getting in the way, so STILL had to use the MC brackets which would not fit around the artec brackets, so had to be chopped up and welded. I'm now outboarded as much as possible, and have built in to a situation were almost any other shock is probably too short for me....ugh. In the rear, I ended up chopping my rear lower shock mounts and added EVO Rockstars......which then limited my uptravel due to those long ass shock bodies back there. In general, the shock lengths on those FOX 4-6" aren't ideal. Granted, I have 37" tires, and my use might differ.

Not sure what part of lineup you're looking at. I have the non-rebuildable model (shocks are just disposable to me). They were the evolution series at the time, but seems like the series names have changed. They are nothing special.

JK-Pez

Not what I WANTED to hear but EXACTLY what I needed to hear! Thank you!! Guess I will be practicing patience as I receive then immediately return these shocks..... limiting straps will be on the menu down the road..... were you constantly into your bumpstops during up-travel??

nthinuf

Maybe this is going off on a tangent, but I started jotting down shock specs when I was looking for my last set, and am curious what the thought process is for picking shocks (beyond the measurement process that borabora noted). As an example:

Fox 2.0
28.28 / 17.15 / 11.13 (front)

OME LT
27.28 / 15.90 / 11.38 (front)

So the front OME is an inch shorter than the Fox, but has 0.20" more travel overall. How does this figure into deciding on the correct shock length? Is there a time when you design a suspension for more downtravel to where that extra inch will be needed, even if the shorter shock actually gives more travel?