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Shock Boots?

J

Jeep

NAXJA Forum User
Location
North Texas
I tried a search and found no good answers. So are the shock boots important or are they there mostly for looks? Rancho 5000's - if it matters.

Thanks,
Michel :wave:
 
What's a shock boot? I havn't run a shock boot since i put the lift on. No adverse effects i've seen. And, most Jeeps you see pics posted of don't have em either. Most of the trucks that have shock boots ussually have about 5 shocks on each wheel with 3 or 4 steering stabalizers with an 8 inch block. At least that's how it is down here. :dunce:
Tylor
 
Living in Utah, which salts and sands the roads during the winter, I've found that shock boots are great for hiding all sorts of grime, sludge and crud and concentrating it in the area where the shaft seal is located,as well as rusting the paint off the shockbody where it hides under the boot........sounds like a great way for the seals to fail prematurely, and perhaps for vendors to sell more shocks? At the very least, it's a great way to spot the poser from the non.........while I've never had a set of seals fail, I also haven't run shock boots for 10 years......hardly scientific, but loaded with speculation, and a fairly lengthy run-on sentence too......hope this helps.
 
Big waste of money. They don't do anything but keep "crap" of out the shock. They really allow water and dirt to trap inside there so if they did come with them keep them if not don't buy any. Just my thoughts. Juice
 
How about drive shaft boots? I lost my front driveshaft boot on the Rubicon and was wondering if I should replace it. It does seem to keep the grease in and keep the shaft lubed. I can now see the splines on the front drive shaft.
 
If you get them in hot pink they add a couple of horse power. :dunce: Like what 92jeeper said, I see them mostly on the trucks that never leave the mall.
 
jjvande said:
i run them in the rear to keep rocks from dinging the chrome surface of the shafts. ~~high speed stuff.
Click to expand...

oh my. :confused1
 
I run them on my Bilsteins just cause they came with them already on and they where attached so well I just decided to leave them. The drain holes where really small so water could get in but I doubt much dirt will. Other companies the boots seem to be crap though and quickly fall off.
 
If the shocks are mounted shaft down and body up, I think they are good, to keep the shafts protected from flying rocks. Might even in this configuration cut holes in the very bottem to allow drainage. The other way they are bad news as stated above they keep all the crap in and no way to drain.

james

www.geocities.com/jammerjameharmon
 
jammerjamesharmon said:
If the shocks are mounted shaft down and body up, I think they are good, to keep the shafts protected from flying rocks. Might even in this configuration cut holes in the very bottem to allow drainage. The other way they are bad news as stated above they keep all the crap in and no way to drain.

james

www.geocities.com/jammerjameharmon
Click to expand...
That link doesn't work. www.geocities.com/jammerjamesharmon is what it is, I think
 
Being the contrarian I am I'll have to dissagree with the crowd here. I feel they help a lot. They keep most (not all) of the mud and grime away from the shaft seals. Shaft seal failure is the main reason for shock failure. Look at motorcycles. Street bikes work fine with standard wiper style forks. Off road motorcycles, however, all use boot style protectors for the reason I just mentioned. I work in the hydraulics industry. Whenever a cylinder is in a very dirty environment we recommend a boot, or bellows, to protect the rod and seals. It only makes sense to use the same approach to protecting your cylinders (shocks) in the muddy off road environment. Yes, you should pull them down occasionally to check for junk caught inside. I do every month or so and have yet to find much, they do their job pretty well.
Just because something is used by posers doesn't mean it's intended use is wrong.
 
My Bilstein 5100's have boots and a lifetime warrantee. I don't pretend to know more than Bilstein, so the boots stay on.



Ron
 
My rancho 9000's came with boots, but they weren't on the shocks. I got the 2 boots for the fronts on no problem, but the rears wouldn't go on over the already installed pins, so I left them off. Been about 2 years now and no problems either way. I also ran some Pro Comp 3000's for about 2 years with all the boots on, never had a problem. Lived in Utah at the time. If you like them, put them on, if not, leave them off. You'll probably upgrade, trash them in an accident, have to buy a different-length shock, or sell the vehicle before the seal fails either way.
 
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