Rear shock replacement?
 

My 2015 JK Rubi Unlimited Hard Rock Edition's rear shocks are seeping after 6K miles of mostly gravel/dirt and blacktop driving. I want to replace them with a better that OEM quality Red shock without changing the ride height or ride stiffness. The front shocks look OK. he dealer wanted $400+ to replace with OEM shocks. Looking for suggestions as to what shock to replace them with.

Rancho 9000x's- they'll be adjustable and they have a warranty. I've got the 5000x's and they're comfortable but the 9000x's are adjustable firmer and softer than these.

Thanks for your suggestion, I will check them out..

I would replace all 4 if you are going to replace any of them.

I figured I would need to replace all four after thinking about it. Thanks for your input..

Fun times. I recall first time I replaced shocks on the jeep. What seemed like a simple 20 minute task ended up being more fun than I thought it would be. :rotflmao2: ...specially when installing gas charged shocks. That dang upper bolt for the front passenger is a booger too if I recall. I do think the Ranchos are your best bet as well. Most others are either crap in general or on the stiff side. The red dust boots Rancho uses are about as close as you're going to get to a red shock as well for factory height. Metalcloak RockSports are red, but they are only offered in long-travel form for lifts.

Couple thoughts on the 9000s (I've got about 100,000 miles on some):

• The adjustment is a plastic knob and shaft. After a bit it may lock up such that if you rotate it, it will break (mud gets trapped in there). So,don't think of it as adjustable for the terrain, but rather, adjustable so you can set it early on to the best compromise. Or, buy those cheaper 5000s. ;-)
• That adjustment knob is exposed to possible damage crawling over rocks and such. This is especially so on the rear axle, even (for me) with the EVO sliders welded on.
• I have a 2.5" lift and found that I had the wrong length on the rear axle. Not sure how that happened, but I did have to replace with longer shocks for the rear: Kept pulling the shaft out of the shock cylinder (did it twice, once on each side). Anyway, suggest measure carefully if your Jeep is modified, and don't be surprised if you get different answers for front and rear.

So Mark, you've got some serious miles on them- would you buy them again or are you looking for something different? The 5000x's are nice IMO but they could be a little firmer. The length was something I recognized before I ordered....but then I went and screwed it all up by putting in front and rear shock brackets (outboard the front, raise the rear) so now I need a little more bumpstop but nothing crazy.

Thanks Mark for the heads up on the plastic adjuster on the 9000's. Since I have made no tire/lift changes to my Hard Rock do I need to order the 0 to 2" lift or something else?

The best thing to do is look at your current lengths and compare to the Rancho's lengths. You would need to confirm, but I believe factory lengths on that Hard Rock would be same as the Rubicon, and I believe those are as follows:

front: 14.75" collapsed, 22.75" extended
rear: 14.63" collapsed, 23.13" extended

If that is correct, then the corresponding Rancho numbers would be:

front: #RS999326, 13.938" collapsed, 21.813" extended
rear: #RS999328, 14.69" collapsed, 23.12" extended

I received my Rancho 9000's, so I took off one front shock to compare. I unbolted the bottom of the OEM shock after using some WD40 overnight on the top nut and using a wrench to hold the shaft to loosen the top burr. Once it broke free I just held it to keep it from turning while I rotated the entire shock to unscrew it. The OEM shock has one rubber spacer that protrudes through the hole in the upper shock mount and a beveled washer and a nut on top. The Rancho shock has two rubber spacers and a larger shaft. Do I use the second rubber spacer on top or just use the bottom one with only a washer and nut on top?

Use both. Been so long since I've seen a stock shock....can't believe they only used 1.

If your stock shock only had one then somebody has been in there. The bottom one protrudes through the mount as you noticed and then there's a donut of a top isolator that fits around that protruding piece and then the beveled washer sits on top. I've got a drawer full of them from doing various shock swaps. The 12+ are terrible to change shocks up front with the battery tray sitting all over the top shock mount. My friend and I would rock, paper, scissor to see who would do that side every time.

The battery tray parts can be broken easily to get them out of your way. That's what I did when I changed my shocks. Even then it is still a pain due to limited space to swing a wrench.

Sorry I was wrong as the OEM did have a top rubber spacer that I could not see until I retrieved the nut, washer from above the shock bracket. So yes I need to use both..... Thanks for the reply!

My bad, I finally pulled the top nut from above the mount and see that it has a rubber spacer as you say......