A question on shocks

I am redoing my suspension on my Jeep Cherokee and I had a simple question on shock length. I have read all the other threads saying to flex your jeep out and then measure. The unfortunate side to this is that all of my stuff is getting replaced at one time and the guy installing it all is giving me a huge break on labor because of the amount of work. So with all my new stuff on I will not be able to measure it then order my shocks.

So in order to get the shocks I am humbly asking for your help. What length travel shocks have you guys used on a 1998 Jeep Cherokee 4.0L with 4.5"-5.5" of lift? I am going to be using Bilstein 7100's for this and wanted to use a short body with reservoir in the front and a non reservoir normal body in the rear. I will also be using the JKS mounts in order to get the Bilsteins to mount up to the factory locations. From what I have read it seems a 10" short body will work up front, my main concern is will the 10" normal body with no reservoir work in the rear? I know the 12" travel will likely be to long front and rear and I am unsure if I should get the 8" travels as I am afraid they would be to short.

Thank you very much for helping. I know I should just flex it and measure it, I just don't have the convenience of doing that with the way my Jeep is going to be built.

So no one has any thoughts or ideas on this? I would like to order my shocks, but I wanted you guys opinion on the subject before I spent almost $700 on shocks.

Here is what I am leaning towards at 4.5"
5100 Shocks:
BE5-6241-H7 front
BE5-6686-H5 rear

if you don't want to spend all the money at once, you could spend a litle bit on some el'cheapo's (cheapest you can find that fit) then take the time to disconnect them and flex out the rig so you can order what you really need. switching the shocks a second time will mean you don't have to work on rusted/seized shock bolts (as they should've been fixed by your buddy if they were a problem) and you can maybe sell the cheapo's onc eyour new ones are in.

just a thought

I would like to avoid spending more money on cheap shocks just figure out what I need to order for my real setup. I am surprised no one has any ideas on this. There are very few sizes available and it is not like 4.5-5.5" is an odd lift size.

I will check the sizes on those Dewidge thanks for the suggestion.

the reason people are hesitant to give you a straight up answer, is exactly that $700. thats a lot of money to have someone spend and you be wrong.

theres a lot of variables with differant mountings.

all my shock fitment's ive encountered at that height, would be useless for you, and posting them would only cloud the info pool.

patience, someome at that exact height, who's ran those exact shocks might chime in.

Straight up answers aren't what I am looking for. For instance you say you have run something similar at my height but not the exact same thing. So knowing that. What did you run and what shock lengths did you use? Answering it that way would hardly "cloud the info pool" it would simply add to it. Most of the threads on this subject are filled with just measure it and figure it out and not a simple well at that I height I ran these length shocks with these mounts.

With more detailed information people can make more informed decisions. At least that is my point of view. ymmv

at 5.5", a buddy runs fox 2.5, 10's. thats with a t&j upper mount, and dropped lower mount. he used to run bilstein 12" 5100's. on my 3.5-4.0, i run fox 2.0, 10's, no conversions, oem rubber studmount. 100% oem fitment. i will soon be mounting a similar 2.5 shock at 3.5-4"


out back, i can only comment about my rig, at 3.5-4", my fox 10" 2.0's are too short, they were fine at 3". im going thru the cab with 12"s.

fox's change between shock size's, so my 2.0 10's are not the same length as my 2.5's. fox's are also slightly longer then bilsteins, IIRC, i know theyre not the same size, switching from fox to bilstein, or vice versa, can adjust compressed lengths. if you cant get a perfect fitment on one brand, you can switch mfg's to get a better size.