Important BB questions....shocks, mainly

Alright, go gentle with me here. I'm a total noob when it comes to suspension, (more of an engine guy, personally)

I went to put a 1.75" BB on my 89 XJ. Did the front, and wound up with a total of 33" from ground to fender flare (about 19.25" from center of rim to flare). I believe this figures out to 2.5" of lift. Can someone please confirm??

My biggest problem is that my shocks are stock size....rated for 0-2" of lift. What do I do here??

These are brand new ProComp ES1000's....They should have worked, but I ended up with a bit more lift than I was anticipating. I was thinking of using washers to space the bottom of the shock up about 1/2", and the same thing on the top of the shock. This should get me right in the middle of the shock tolerances..... for the front, anyways.

The rears are a different story. I'm not too sure what I'm going to do here yet, but was planning on using the rear sway bar brackets as home-made BPEs. This should get me about another inch of shock compression in the rear.


Let me know if I've confused anybody with this (other than myself....)

You can use a jks "bar pin eliminator" kit to gain ~3/4" or so, and there is a company that makes shock adapters that bolt in from 1" to 2", but I can't remember who it is just now..

Hopefully someone will pipe up.

Yeah, just stay away from Rocky Road Outfitters BPEs, unless they've changed them since I got mine, they don't fit. FWIW, I ran stock factory shocks on mine with 3" up front and 1.5" out back for a good 3yrs or so w/o any issues. YMMV

natesjeep said:

can you run a 2inch coil/shackle lift with stock shocks.

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I wouldn't think how you acheived your lift would matter. According to the link below stock shocks would work for the front but probably not the back.

http://members.aol.com/Stvns/XJhelp2.html

Thanks for the speedy responses, all.....You're making me feel better about this whole thing

Rod Knee said:

Stock front height center of hub to flare is 17.5 inches IIRC. So your lift is 1.75 in. Leave the shocks on unless they're worn out or you just want ones with the fancy boots.

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My current shocks are completely shot. I was extremely surprised at how much smoother my ride is, now that I've got un-broken coils up front, as well as the brand new shocks.

I guess my biggest concern is that the shocks just look to be extended really, really far. I don't have the cash to drop into new, longer ones...so we're trying to do this on a real tight budget. I'll see if I can get someplace flat to park and measure out the lift tonight.....and see if I can grab a photo of the shock as it sits.

Better that your shocks are a bit over extended than overcompressed, especially if you just have stock bumpstops. That way you are less likely to overcompress your shocks and damage them. You don't want to lose uptravel either. As it has been explained to me, a stuffed wheel gets more traction than a drooping wheel. Makes sense to me since the stuffed wheel has more weight on it.

You might want to read the link. About 2/3 of the way down he talks about shock length, lift height, and using bar pin eliminators to reduce extension.

http://members.aol.com/Stvns/XJhelp2.html