Swampy Posted March 25, 2019 Share Posted March 25, 2019 Hey guys I searched and couldn't really find anything specific pertaining to this question. I want to upgrade my shocks from the classic white body lift shocks that come on most aftermarket lift kits. As you can see in my sig, I did a soa rear lift with 2wd leaves. I was considering getting bilsteins but I don't know what lengthtravel shock to run the rear? 10", 12", or 14". I do plan in the future to add shackles or an add a leaf if that changes anything. The main kit I have been looking at is Bilstein Gas Shock Set Jeep Cherokee XJ w/6-8" Lift This kit comes with 12" travel 5100s up front and 12" travel 5125s for the rear. Any help is greatly appreciated Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DirtyComanche Posted March 25, 2019 Share Posted March 25, 2019 What are you using for mount points? Ultimately you're going to need to measure them. I'm using almost stock length shocks with my SOA, because I put XJ style shock mounts on the axle. They're the longest I can run without having issues with them bottoming out before I'm on the bumpstops. If you have really low mounts on your axle you may be able to run longer, or if you have more bumpstop than I do. When you add a longer shackle or AAL it will absolutely change everything too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle Posted March 25, 2019 Share Posted March 25, 2019 3 hours ago, Swampy said: Hey guys I searched and couldn't really find anything specific pertaining to this question. I want to upgrade my shocks from the classic white body lift shocks that come on most aftermarket lift kits. As you can see in my sig, I did a soa rear lift with 2wd leaves. I was considering getting bilsteins but I don't know what lengthtravel shock to run the rear? 10", 12", or 14". I do plan in the future to add shackles or an add a leaf if that changes anything. The main kit I have been looking at is Bilstein Gas Shock Set Jeep Cherokee XJ w/6-8" Lift This kit comes with 12" travel 5100s up front and 12" travel 5125s for the rear. Any help is greatly appreciated You're looking at the wrong specification. You need to measure the distance from your lower shock mount to the upper shock mount, then choose a shock that will put that dimension approximately at the mid-point of the shock's travel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DesertRat1991 Posted March 25, 2019 Share Posted March 25, 2019 ^ What he said. Measure if you want to be certain. Also, in stock form Cherokees and Comanches don't use the same length rear shocks. So when you look at a kit spec'd for a Cherokee with [X]" of lift, that doesn't mean it will fit a Comanche with the same amount of lift. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle Posted March 25, 2019 Share Posted March 25, 2019 2 hours ago, DesertRat1991 said: Also, in stock form Cherokees and Comanches don't use the same length rear shocks. So when you look at a kit spec'd for a Cherokee with [X]" of lift, that doesn't mean it will fit a Comanche with the same amount of lift. In fact, a Cherokee kit won't work for a Comanche. When I removed the 4" lift from my '88 MJ Chief, I had a good set of XJ shocks I wanted to use. The fronts. of course, went right in. For the rear, I foolishly assumed that I could just remove the bar pins from the XJ shocks and bolt them into the MJ. So I removed the bar pins -- only to find that when fully extended the rear shocks were a half inch too short to go into the MJ. So I then had a perfectly good pair of shocks that didn't fit an MJ, and which could no longer be used in an XJ because I had removed the bar pins. Not ... smart. Shock travel was immaterial, since they wouldn't even go into the vehicle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swampy Posted March 25, 2019 Author Share Posted March 25, 2019 Just so you guys get an idea of what my rear axle/ shock set up looks like. When I head back home from school I will measure the distance from mounting point to mounting point and find shocks that would fit in there. How would shackles/add-a-leaf affect the shocks. Would I have to get longer ones? I haven't been completely sold on either was just thinking about them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeep Driver Posted March 25, 2019 Share Posted March 25, 2019 31 minutes ago, Swampy said: Just so you guys get an idea of what my rear axle/ shock set up looks like. When I head back home from school I will measure the distance from mounting point to mounting point and find shocks that would fit in there. How would shackles/add-a-leaf affect the shocks. Would I have to get longer ones? I haven't been completely sold on either was just thinking about them That looks pretty good, I'm impressed. Nice job. My 5125 part number is - 33-186542 If your static measurement is 20" to 22" these will fit. There are no MJ 'kits', spec your own shock, do your homework. Bilstein has a site and lists all their shocks with specs. https://cart.bilsteinus.com/Portals/0/BILSTEIN-OR-Catalog-2019(WEB).pdf I'm thinking of going 5165 next time around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
89eliminator Posted March 26, 2019 Share Posted March 26, 2019 i had almost an identical setup (SOA, 2wd leafs, lift shackle) and the same shock mounts. I ran 12" travel 5100s. Had about 4-5" uptravel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle Posted March 26, 2019 Share Posted March 26, 2019 3 hours ago, 89eliminator said: i had almost an identical setup (SOA, 2wd leafs, lift shackle) and the same shock mounts. I ran 12" travel 5100s. Had about 4-5" uptravel. As I commented above, without knowing the compressed and extended length, travel length tells you nothing about whether or not a particular shock will fit. Here's a link to Monroe's fitment section on their web site. Notice how you can find shocks of similar length with greatly different travel, and you acn find shocks with similar travel but greatly different extended and/or compressed length. You can't just buy a shock based on travel distance without first knowing the distance between your upper and lower mounts. http://www.monroe.com/downloads/install-instructions-guides/MonroeMountingLengthSpecifications.pdf Swampy: Yes, a longer shackle or an AAL will change the distance between your shock mounts. It's a lift -- the reason you would do a shackle or an AAL is to get more lift, right? So if you intend to do one of those modifications, wait until you have made the suspension change and then buy your shocks to fit the modified suspension. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
89eliminator Posted March 26, 2019 Share Posted March 26, 2019 2 hours ago, Eagle said: As I commented above, without knowing the compressed and extended length, travel length tells you nothing about whether or not a particular shock will fit. Here's a link to Monroe's fitment section on their web site. Notice how you can find shocks of similar length with greatly different travel, and you acn find shocks with similar travel but greatly different extended and/or compressed length. You can't just buy a shock based on travel distance without first knowing the distance between your upper and lower mounts. the 5100/5125 series only has one collapsed/extended length in the 12" travel category Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swampy Posted March 29, 2019 Author Share Posted March 29, 2019 Not sure how good these numbers are but I pulled them from rusty's offroad. These numbers are from their 6.5" Mj long travel kit and the rear shocks are collapsed 17.58" and extended 29.57". I don't have numbers for my specific comanche but it should be close as I am 5.5-6" of lift rear Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle Posted March 29, 2019 Share Posted March 29, 2019 2 hours ago, Swampy said: Not sure how good these numbers are but I pulled them from rusty's offroad. These numbers are from their 6.5" Mj long travel kit and the rear shocks are collapsed 17.58" and extended 29.57". I don't have numbers for my specific comanche but it should be close as I am 5.5-6" of lift rear But you have custom lower shock mounts, so you have no idea how those compare to any other Comanche with the same amount of lift. You NEED to crawl under your truck and measure the distance between the upper and lower shock mounts when the vehicle is unloaded and parked on level ground. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swampy Posted April 7, 2019 Author Share Posted April 7, 2019 the measure meant from mounting point to mounting point on my rear axle is 20". and with a 1" add a leaf or 1" shackle it would be in the 21-22" range Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeep Driver Posted April 7, 2019 Share Posted April 7, 2019 On 3/25/2019 at 6:54 PM, Jeep Driver said: That looks pretty good, I'm impressed. Nice job. My 5125 part number is - 33-186542 If your static measurement is 20" to 22" these will fit. There are no MJ 'kits', spec your own shock, do your homework. Bilstein has a site and lists all their shocks with specs. https://cart.bilsteinus.com/Portals/0/BILSTEIN-OR-Catalog-2019(WEB).pdf I'm thinking of going 5165 next time around. 27 minutes ago, Swampy said: the measure meant from mounting point to mounting point on my rear axle is 20". and with a 1" add a leaf or 1" shackle it would be in the 21-22" range Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swampy Posted April 7, 2019 Author Share Posted April 7, 2019 those are the ones I was just looking at Haha. Thanks again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
89eliminator Posted April 8, 2019 Share Posted April 8, 2019 those aren't long enough if you plan on doing any sort of offroading. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeep Driver Posted April 8, 2019 Share Posted April 8, 2019 59 minutes ago, 89eliminator said: those aren't long enough if you plan on doing any sort of offroading. Any longer and he'll be at the bottom of the shock with no up-travel (short compression stroke). I keep reading statements like this but.............makes no sense to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted April 8, 2019 Share Posted April 8, 2019 bumpstops can be lengthened to control the uptravel. (and technically limiting straps can be added to control down travel) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swampy Posted April 9, 2019 Author Share Posted April 9, 2019 Maybe I could change my shocks mounts. I wanted to keep them up out of the way from getting hung up on different things, but if its an issue I can lengthen them below the axle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle Posted April 9, 2019 Share Posted April 9, 2019 1 hour ago, Swampy said: Maybe I could change my shocks mounts. I wanted to keep them up out of the way from getting hung up on different things, but if its an issue I can lengthen them below the axle Why not just buy shocks that are the right length for your suspension? That's why they make shocks in different lengths. You put the shock mounts where they are for a reason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swampy Posted April 10, 2019 Author Share Posted April 10, 2019 20 hours ago, Eagle said: Why not just buy shocks that are the right length for your suspension? That's why they make shocks in different lengths. You put the shock mounts where they are for a reason. Was thinking out loud... some ideas are best not spoken lol. I will order some bump stops and shocks to help finalize the rear suspension Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JEEP_cannible Posted April 10, 2019 Share Posted April 10, 2019 Has anyone suggested the bar pin eliminators yet? It only gives you 3/4 to an inch of extra travel,but making it easier to change your shocks(priceless).That also adds to the type of shocks you can use.I also have a little trick I used on my XJ front shock mount,(top side).It should work on any MJ.If I can find them I'll post some pictures. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle Posted April 10, 2019 Share Posted April 10, 2019 25 minutes ago, JEEP_cannible said: Has anyone suggested the bar pin eliminators yet? It only gives you 3/4 to an inch of extra travel,but making it easier to change your shocks(priceless).That also adds to the type of shocks you can use.I also have a little trick I used on my XJ front shock mount,(top side).It should work on any MJ.If I can find them I'll post some pictures. He asked about rear shocks. The XJ used bar pins on the upper end of the rear shocks, the MJ didn't. And his custom lower mounts don't. No bar pin eliminators needed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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