how-to shock length?

After much searching and reading, and websearching too I am trying to figure out one of two things.
One, a quick answer on which Bilstein Shock to order for my rig?
or
Two, how to find how much travel I have without a ramp, fork lift etc etc?
I have a 3.5" lift (going up another 1-2" in a month or two) and plenty of trimming. My 33's stuff no probs front and back and off road I haven't noticed any rubbing. Thats with no bumpstops at all in the back and nothing added to the front. Some can be made no problem, but I am waiting to add the shackle/spacer before I bumpstop them. I also have BPE's front and rear, and am thinking of ordering the JKS shock conversions brakets for the front uppers.
So I don't want to order a set of Bilsteins made for 4" of lift, to find out they are limiting me one way or the other, but without a ramp, or a lift truck, etc I can't find out how much compression/droop I have in order to measure my lengths needed.

Any ideas on how to go about finding what I need?

Why not just jack up the side of the Jeep? Same effect as a fork lift, just as long as you get the tires off the ground.

There's no way to accurately measure without unhooking the shocks and flexing it. Every jeep flexes different, even 2 with the same lift. Try an assortment of hilifts and floor jacks/jackstands.

ponyracer1 said:

There's no way to accurately measure without unhooking the shocks and flexing it. Every jeep flexes different, even 2 with the same lift. Try an assortment of hilifts and floor jacks/jackstands.

Click to expand...

Right-o... unbolt the top of the shock and flex it all the way, measure eye-to-eye and you have your shock length that you need to look for.

A 12" eye-to-eye measure means you need a 12" shock.

I understand the lift part, jack one side with shocks unbolted (both I know) and measure the distance.
I am just not sure I'll be able to fully compress one side and droop the other with the jack I have.
I am going over to a buddies tonite tho, so maybe if time permits we can have a look see and what the options are.

thanks for the ideas and help.

as you will find out, compression will be your limiting factor when fitting shocks(if you want a reasonable amount of droop), if you measure the eye-eye(mount to mount) length at ride height, just look for a shock that will perform in that range(between listed compressed/extended lengths), measure your distance from bump-to-stop at ride height and try to match that value as close as possible with compression available from ride height, you will then have to live with the amount of droop you can get from that shock. Hope that isn't confusing. In my experiences it is hard to find a shock that fits (isn't too long)and still allows some compression/droop, ended up getting the short bodied bilstein 7100s, they are shorter shocks with the same travel.

thanks, I think I understand what you've said.
park it,

measure eye to eye and record. look for a shock that has the amount of travel = to the length of the shock in its ride hieght state.

measure bump stop distance and record. a shock should give this much compression (or near to it) to perform how I want it too.


a quick run to the garage gives me a front ride height of 20" and compression distance of 6.5"
rear rides at 18" and to bumpstop is 4"
taking into account my Ranchos are 23.75" ext w/9.3" of travel in front, 20.85 ext w/7.5" of travel in rear, I will want to get something with atleast as much travel as those, and another 2" minimum for the added lift I want to put on in the near future.
so with another 2" of lift
front compressed length of no less than 16.5", can bumpstop if needed to get right length
rear compressed length of no less than 16", can bumpstop if needed same as front

I can get Bilstein BE5-A465-H7 for the front and BE5-A465-H5 for the rear.

is it just me or did I just ramble on into 2-3 dif subjects I know little about and come up with an answer that seems to fit my needs, but have no idea how I got there, I believe I did.

let the corrections begin