Critique my ideas - yj shock questions

Ok, 99 XJ.

Thinking of doing a 2" spacer and a shackle in the rear. Once thats done im thinking of running some YJ shocksup front. I dont wheel that often, so Im not going to go huge on tires, probably a 30 or 235.

So I figured id make up for the lack of tire size and locker with flex and travel. Ive heard you can run YJ shocks,

Stock XJ shock is 21.1 extended and 12.8 compressed
Stock YJ shock is 25.8 extended and 15.2 compressed

So that works out to be 2.3" more travel, you lose 2.4" of up travel (longer shock body) and gain 4.7" of droop. So compared to stock, the tire falls from the wheelwell an extra 4.7"

Seems worth it to me, but do you think the loss of uptravel (bumpstops being 2.5" lower) would cause any ride issues?

Your droop is limited either by your control arms or your shocks. Not sure which it is in your case but it's probably the shocks. I doubt that you will be able to gain another 5" of droop by just going to YJ shocks. The rear leafs probably wont droop much more (if any) w/ the addition of the shackles but will probably allow for more compression. As for the front, you need to look at bumpstopping otherwise the longer shock body will be your new bumpstop.

Also if you look at the shocks you've listed, you're really only getting an additional 2.3-inches of travel (same amount you're losing in compression).

Why not just spend a little $$ and buy some decent shocks?

uncc civilengineer said:

Why not just spend a little $$ and buy some decent shocks?

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What does spending more money have to do with it? As long as the extended and compressed measurements work for your application, then go for it.

Speaking from personal experience, 2" coils with yj front shocks work great together.

Billabong1416 said:

What does spending more money have to do with it? As long as the extended and compressed measurements work for your application, then go for it.

Speaking from personal experience, 2" coils with yj front shocks work great together.

Click to expand...

The reason being they quit making YJs back in 1995... that means if it's a stock YJ shock it's most likely going to be around 12 years old...

uncc civilengineer said:

The reason being they quit making YJs back in 1995... that means if it's a stock YJ shock it's most likely going to be around 12 years old...

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They sell brand new yj shocks at almost any auto parts store....

Billabong1416 said:

They sell brand new yj shocks at almost any auto parts store....

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Oh yeah my bad you're right.. I must have misunderstood the post... the new YJ brand shocks are supposed to be sweet.....

Here's a tech article I wrote several years ago. If you scroll down, you will find the info on shocks. Maybe that will help.

http://www.rocklizardfabrications.com/home_brew_budget_boost.htm