BavariaJK

Looking for some advice/opinion for replacing the coils and shocks on my JK unlimited. I currently have a Rough Country 3.5 inch lift (jeep had it on already when I purchased). The ride is rough and the coils have some sag to them. I was looking at replacing the coils with synergy coils and the shocks possibly with bilstein 5100s. Some background, the jeep is a bit heavy, a 13 jku rubicon with a heavy steel front bumper with warn winch, rear bumper with swingout, aftermarkeyt sliders, hardtop, etc. I know someone is going to say replace the whole suspension lift and I would, but I'm stationed in germany for 2 more years and just having a quality lift shipped overseas will cost me a small fortune and the jeep doesn't fit in the my 1 car garage. I have some budget constraints, around 800 to 1000 bucks, so high end fox gear and the like are off the table. Someone will say check tire pressure, already done along time ago it's 29 psi on 285/70/17 bfg atko2's.

Additinally, if I went synergy, I imagine I would go with the 3 to 4 inch coils to replace the 3.5 RC...would that be for both the front and back or do I go 2 to 3 inch coils in the rear?

Any advice would appreciated.

cedarraider

I have never run them but zone off-road is a budget lift that I haven't heard anything bad about. 3 inch with shocks is like 440 4 inch 580.

TheTerminator

Why do you need a 3.5" lift for 32" tires? Get rid of the lift and go back to completely stock suspension. You can probably find it for free, as I wasn't able to sell mine and threw everything away.

BavariaJK

Had a zone lift on my TJ and didn't have any issues. Again, shipping an entire new suspension lift overseas is not a very affordable option. For example, it cost 12 dollars to ship a 10 dollar gas cap

Fully aware that 32s will fit on a stock suspension and 3.5 inch lift is overkill. The jeep had 35 inch toyos on it but that setup won't pass a german vehicle inspection, hence the change to 32's. If someone in the country of germany had a complete US spec JKU suspension and was trying to unload it, I would gladly go that route...but good look finding that.

Again, the questions are synergy coils worth replacing over the RC? what size do the fronts and back coils need to be if replaced? And are bilstein 5100s worth the cost to replace the rough country shocks? Appreciate in advance

TheDirtman

Just replacing the shocks and coils may help a bit but the reason for the rough ride is the things RC leaves out of the kit and the use of a drop pitman arm and drop brackets. Proper set up is the key to a good ride. Zone does things just like RC does and I would not go that route. I would drop down to a 1.5"-2" coil lift with new shocks. I was not impressed with the 5100's when I ran them and liked the OME nitro sport better for an everyday ride. Ran both shocks with the OME coils and I have run both the HD and no load coils from them. The no load gave a nice ride, much better then the HD and gave a true lift that was closer to 2" where the HD even with sliders and steel bumpers gave me over 3" of lift on my JK. Rock Krawler has a 1.5" coil and I think Off Road Evolution does as well but I have no personal experience with them since I run coil overs now.
There is a guy on here and on JKFreaks.com from germany that mentions the issues with the inspections there. His name is mitch and you may want to look his build up. Last I saw he was looking at putting the new OME bypass shocks on his JK.
Good luck.

jchappies

I would just replace the shocks and ride out the next 2 years on the RC springs until you get back state side and can replace the whole kit and do it right.

Jonathan_JK

Find a the kit you want on Amazon prime. They ship to APO/FPO for the same rates as the US. Atleast that's what I did when I was overseas. The cloud have changed it recently.. But as far as I know Amazon was the place to buy stuff while Overseas.

kmrtnsn

With the extra weight you are running I'd recommend going with OME springs and shocks.

Mallrat

For whatever it's worth, I too am stationed in Germany and I had GREAT success working with Rebel Off-Road to get military discount and shipping to the APO. They even split it up into multiple boxes to save A LOT of money in shipping costs.

Rednroll

I seem to be missing something. Why is an economical path to pursue separate Synergy springs and Bilstein shocks over getting a complete replacement lift? It seems like springs and shocks are 80% of the parts that make up most complete lifts. Is it that Synergy springs and Bilstein shocks are available in Germany and you're avoiding overseas shipping costs going that route?