NO shocks a bad idea?

Well i have not installed my new rear shocks yet. I am going to try and get them installed before we leave but its not looking like i will. can i do any damage not having any rear shocks?

Very bad idea. The rear-end will bounce/oscillate any time you hit a dip or bump, and depending on the circumstances, you could lose control pretty quickly. Make some time and get them installed if at all possible.

x2!! Running without shocks would be a very bad idea! They don't take very long to install, anyway.

anthrax323 said:

Very bad idea. The rear-end will bounce/oscillate any time you hit a dip or bump, and depending on the circumstances, you could lose control pretty quickly. Make some time and get them installed if at all possible.

Click to expand...

Utter BS. I'm currently running one shock on my rear because I ripped the shock mount off the axle last offroad trip, and this is the 2nd time its has happened. The change in handling is almost negligible. The first time it happened I notice it bounced for a little longer than normal, but it is no where close to oscillating up and down just driving down the road. Its leaf springs in the rear, and spring itself will hinder damping, the shock damper is there just to return the system to a state of rest in the shortest amount of time, to provide a more comfortable ride. Coils would be a little worse, but its not as bad with leaf springs. I'm just saying, its not the Apocalypse like you are making it out to be.

Think about how many older cars are out there with blown out shocks, are they loosing control around every turn?

When I added my BB I broke the upper shock bolts...typical. I didn't have the ready equipment to knock out the weld nuts and run bolts from the top at that time. I drove it 2 miles home and another 8 miles to work. I did not enjoy those 10 miles. The ass end was bouncing like a porn star's...well, you get the picture. Leafs set height (among other things), shocks dampen. I would suggest putting those shocks in ASAP. More for comfort than safety. But I still wouldn't want to drive any great distance.

Ben -

I've been running one rear shock for about 3 years, now. On my 8.25, I busted a shock mount on the axle, and never fixed it. I put in the D44, and couldn't find the other shock, so I just run one. The Moab run, and CoFest (though broken for most of that time lol) was on one shock, and I don't even notice.

When I first got the 44 in, I drove for a day with no shocks, and you can really feel the difference. You'll notice, but you'll be fine as long as you're aware.

Steve

Begster said:

Utter BS. I'm currently running one shock on my rear because I ripped the shock mount off the axle last offroad trip, and this is the 2nd time its has happened. The change in handling is almost negligible. The first time it happened I notice it bounced for a little longer than normal, but it is no where close to oscillating up and down just driving down the road. Its leaf springs in the rear, and spring itself will hinder damping, the shock damper is there just to return the system to a state of rest in the shortest amount of time, to provide a more comfortable ride. Coils would be a little worse, but its not as bad with leaf springs. I'm just saying, its not the Apocalypse like you are making it out to be.

Think about how many older cars are out there with blown out shocks, are they loosing control around every turn?

Click to expand...

and i call utter BS on you. ive driven around with both 1 rear shock, and no rear shocks.... (both in-city stuff, like getting something to eat, less than 5 mph.) with no rear shocks, your car is pretty hokey, i would NOT get on any freeway in my area without them!

you do understand 1 shock, and no shocks are two differant situations? 1 shock WILL dampen enough to prevent bouncing.
also, blown out shocks, still provide SOME dampening, anything that has friction in it's travel will probably dampen enough to prevent major bouncing.

I have had to drive 2 seperate XJ's with totally different lifts both with no rear shocks and one with no shocks altogether. While it wasn't advisable, it certainly isn't scary. Yes they sway and bounce but that's what you get when you drive with no shocks. I wouldn't do it any more then absolutely necessary.

Begster said:

Utter BS. I'm currently running one shock on my rear because I ripped the shock mount off the axle last offroad trip, and this is the 2nd time its has happened. The change in handling is almost negligible. The first time it happened I notice it bounced for a little longer than normal, but it is no where close to oscillating up and down just driving down the road. Its leaf springs in the rear, and spring itself will hinder damping, the shock damper is there just to return the system to a state of rest in the shortest amount of time, to provide a more comfortable ride. Coils would be a little worse, but its not as bad with leaf springs. I'm just saying, its not the Apocalypse like you are making it out to be.

Think about how many older cars are out there with blown out shocks, are they loosing control around every turn?

Click to expand...

Same here. Except its an upper mount.

Shocks=good
No shocks= not so good

Begster said:

Utter BS. I'm currently running one shock on my rear because I ripped the shock mount off the axle last offroad trip, and this is the 2nd time its has happened. The change in handling is almost negligible. The first time it happened I notice it bounced for a little longer than normal, but it is no where close to oscillating up and down just driving down the road. Its leaf springs in the rear, and spring itself will hinder damping, the shock damper is there just to return the system to a state of rest in the shortest amount of time, to provide a more comfortable ride. Coils would be a little worse, but its not as bad with leaf springs. I'm just saying, its not the Apocalypse like you are making it out to be.

Think about how many older cars are out there with blown out shocks, are they loosing control around every turn?

Click to expand...

Gotta disagree on the BS call. You are right - leaf springs do provide some level of damping on their own thanks to friction between the leaves, however, every vehicle is different, especially when accounting for loads and the type/rate of spring in use. A stiff/high rate spring without a shock could make for a bad situation.

Is it possible to drive safely without rear shocks? Certainly, if these variables play out well. In some (many, even) cases, it's simply bad judgement to assure safety when little to nothing is known about the variables involved.

I can't even imagine the potential outcome hitting a dip/bump at highway speeds with my Rubicon Express Extreme Duty leaf packs without shocks (particularly if the vehicle was empty). I guarantee you the rear end would leave the ground, which could be disastrous if it happened on anything but a dry, straight, level road.

Prepare for the worst, hope for the best. People have survived parachute failures when skydiving, but the doesn't mean I'd advise jumping without one. Extreme example, yes, but a similar concept. Don't set someone up for what could be a damned bad situation.

Begster said:

Utter BS. I'm currently running one shock on my rear because I ripped the shock mount off the axle last offroad trip, and this is the 2nd time its has happened. The change in handling is almost negligible. The first time it happened I notice it bounced for a little longer than normal, but it is no where close to oscillating up and down just driving down the road. Its leaf springs in the rear, and spring itself will hinder damping, the shock damper is there just to return the system to a state of rest in the shortest amount of time, to provide a more comfortable ride. Coils would be a little worse, but its not as bad with leaf springs. I'm just saying, its not the Apocalypse like you are making it out to be.

Think about how many older cars are out there with blown out shocks, are they loosing control around every turn?

Click to expand...

I tend to agree though not so strongly...

my MJ had pretty lousy handling with the completely blown stock shocks on it. Washboards would make either end skitter sideways a bit. The lousy tires it had on it didn't help matters.

My 98's front end will skitter sideways rather alarmingly if I hit washboards on a corner - we're talking ending up a foot or two off from where I expected to be, after about six or seven feet of washboards. I'm not replacing the shocks on it as I rarely drive it and it will be getting lifted at some point, so the shocks will get replaced then.

I wouldn't advise going without shocks.
I too have had the displeasure of running with 1 and 0 shocks. Both are different and I didn't like either.
Do it right the first time and move on to the next project instead of fixing the one you f'd up by not doing it correctly.
Stukboy

Begster said:

Utter BS. I'm currently running one shock on my rear because I ripped the shock mount off the axle last offroad trip, and this is the 2nd time its has happened. The change in handling is almost negligible. The first time it happened I notice it bounced for a little longer than normal, but it is no where close to oscillating up and down just driving down the road. Its leaf springs in the rear, and spring itself will hinder damping, the shock damper is there just to return the system to a state of rest in the shortest amount of time, to provide a more comfortable ride. Coils would be a little worse, but its not as bad with leaf springs. I'm just saying, its not the Apocalypse like you are making it out to be.

Think about how many older cars are out there with blown out shocks, are they loosing control around every turn?

Click to expand...

xcm said:

and i call utter BS on you. ive driven around with both 1 rear shock, and no rear shocks.... (both in-city stuff, like getting something to eat, less than 5 mph.) with no rear shocks, your car is pretty hokey, i would NOT get on any freeway in my area without them!

you do understand 1 shock, and no shocks are two differant situations? 1 shock WILL dampen enough to prevent bouncing.
also, blown out shocks, still provide SOME dampening, anything that has friction in it's travel will probably dampen enough to prevent major bouncing.

Click to expand...

X2. You're high if you think driving with no rear shocks will not be noticeable. Furthermore, if you can not tell the difference between 2 shocks, 1 shock, and no shocks then you should spend more time with your vehicle and actually learn it's characteristics. AAAAND, leaf springs or coil springs, it won't matter, they'll both bounce.

It is amazing how many people on here condone the operating of an unsafe vehicle.

Any vehicle being driven with bad shocks or no shocks at all is unsafe.

if you have the time to put the shocks in, do it.
if you don't have the time, and are not carrying anything extra in the rear end, then don't worry too much about it.

the BS, no your BS, no your BS is BS is going from best case to worst case... 2 shocks, 1, blown, none...

I've run without rear shocks for a week, low speed dirt roads, upto 120kph highway driving and never had any worries the whole time.

the back end "whoooops" up and down, but when your at speed it evens out pretty quickly, it was actually more noticable at lower speeds.

the "I guarantee you the rear end would leave the ground, which could be disastrous if it happened on anything but a dry, straight, level road." is possibly talking about driving offroad, as on road it didn't happen to me on the road, but maybe that guaruntee doesn't carry over borders.

as for the original post, if "before we leave" means for a few days trip, nothing special and just road driving... I would say enjoy the trip.
if "before we leave" means trail ride/jeep-speed/expedition trip then I would wait until the shocks are in and you can get them mounted.

i need to drill out one side of the mounts as the weld has busted and it turns freely. I am planning on trailering to MOAB for fall fling and driving the XJ around moab then trailered back. i am going to do my absolute BEST to get these shocks in before moab the scenario would be offroading with mild road driving for a week.

techno1154 said:

It is amazing how many people on here condone the operating of an unsafe vehicle.

Any vehicle being driven with bad shocks or no shocks at all is unsafe.

Click to expand...

You're right, I should have called a tow truck the other day after my offroad trip to get my 3 shocked Jeep home the 2 hours I needed to drive, what was I thinking? I wonder if AAA would actually send me a tow truck, or hang up telling me not to waste their time?

crazyjim said:

X2. You're high if you think driving with no rear shocks will not be noticeable. Furthermore, if you can not tell the difference between 2 shocks, 1 shock, and no shocks then you should spend more time with your vehicle and actually learn it's characteristics. AAAAND, leaf springs or coil springs, it won't matter, they'll both bounce.

Click to expand...

I've actually never done a drug in my life. I'm not high, I know how my vehicle handles as I've owned it for over 5 years now, and if you read my post I said it did bounce some more, but the back of my Jeep wasn't bouncing off the pavement. And, ya, they will both bounce, but I've found my coils are a lot softer than my leafsprings.

xcm said:

and i call utter BS on you. ive driven around with both 1 rear shock, and no rear shocks.... (both in-city stuff, like getting something to eat, less than 5 mph.) with no rear shocks, your car is pretty hokey, i would NOT get on any freeway in my area without them!

you do understand 1 shock, and no shocks are two differant situations? 1 shock WILL dampen enough to prevent bouncing.
also, blown out shocks, still provide SOME dampening, anything that has friction in it's travel will probably dampen enough to prevent major bouncing.

Click to expand...

Both my rear shocks were blown and now I have only 1. Ya there is some damping, but I guarantee you are over exaggerating with the hokey driving characteristics. I drove just fine at 70mph, let alone in the city, let alone on the country back roads.

But I seem to think you missed where I said this.

Begster said:

I'm just saying, its not the Apocalypse like you are making it out to be.

Click to expand...

I was telling the guy that it wasn't like he was going to pull onto the road and he was automatically going to crash like he was making it out to be. I never said "hey dude, you don't need shocks ever, they are don't do anything period." I

anthrax323 said:

I can't even imagine the potential outcome hitting a dip/bump at highway speeds with my Rubicon Express Extreme Duty leaf packs without shocks (particularly if the vehicle was empty). I guarantee you the rear end would leave the ground, which could be disastrous if it happened on anything but a dry, straight, level road.

Click to expand...

Its funny, because those are the leaf springs I have.

beakie said:

if you have the time to put the shocks in, do it.
if you don't have the time, and are not carrying anything extra in the rear end, then don't worry too much about it.

the BS, no your BS, no your BS is BS is going from best case to worst case... 2 shocks, 1, blown, none...

I've run without rear shocks for a week, low speed dirt roads, upto 120kph highway driving and never had any worries the whole time.

the back end "whoooops" up and down, but when your at speed it evens out pretty quickly, it was actually more noticable at lower speeds.

the "I guarantee you the rear end would leave the ground, which could be disastrous if it happened on anything but a dry, straight, level road." is possibly talking about driving offroad, as on road it didn't happen to me on the road, but maybe that guaruntee doesn't carry over borders.

as for the original post, if "before we leave" means for a few days trip, nothing special and just road driving... I would say enjoy the trip.
if "before we leave" means trail ride/jeep-speed/expedition trip then I would wait until the shocks are in and you can get them mounted.

Click to expand...

This is a pretty logical post, I agree.

can some one point me in a direction search terms or linky for fixing the busted weld i have....

these shocks should mount right up correct?