• NAXJA is having its 18th annual March Membership Drive!!!
    Everyone who joins or renews during March will be entered into a drawing!
    More Information - Join/Renew
  • Welcome to the new NAXJA Forum! If your password does not work, please use "Forgot your password?" link on the log-in page. Please feel free to reach out to [email protected] if we can provide any assistance.

Best shock options for stock XJ?

Been running Rancho's for over 20yrs, love their adjustability.
 
I see them listed in the Quadratec webpage. I've had them for several years and am very happy with them. Best all around shock I've had for highway, bad roads and some off road.
 
First, define "best". Maybe my best is different than another persons best.

I had a set of Rancho RS5000 shocks and I gave them away because they sucked so bad. Too stiff on pavement, and too mushy on the 4x4 trails. I have Bilstein 4600 on both the Daily drivers with 2-3 inches of lift, BDS shocks on the CJ-7 and DoetschTech DT-3000 on Blue the 2000 XJ.
 
Last edited:
I went monroe.

Why? because i read several times they were "stock/oem/etc." and because i'm cheap.
Cant tell ya how they ride yet, I've only got the rears, and front driver side on. Weather has sucked, and still gotta get the front passenger one on (along with the new coils).
 
I've ran Monroe gasomatics or whatever the heck they are for years and I don't mind them one bit. They're smooth enough for me on my stock one. Pluse they're cheap!

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
 
Monroe: Just don't buy the cheapest ones. My latest Cherokee had a set of cheapo Monroe that the pervious owner recently installed. After about a year they were completely worn out. For a few dollars more you can get DoetschTech or BDS which have a well controlled pavement ride, excellent control on the 4x4 trails, and they have a long life.
 
I see them listed in the Quadratec webpage. I've had them for several years and am very happy with them. Best all around shock I've had for highway, bad roads and some off road.

Everyone lists them on their website, but they don't actually have them in a warehouse - they wait till an order is placed, then go find the items.
 
First, define "best". Maybe my best is different than another persons best.

I had a set of Rancho RS5000 shocks and I gave them away because they sucked so bad. Too stiff on pavement, and too mushy on the 4x4 trails. I have Bilstein 4600 on both the Daily drivers with 2-3 inches of lift, BDS shocks on the CJ-7 and DoetschTech DT-3000 on Blue the 2000 XJ.

Best ride on the highway or in town, yet perform at least good offroad. Well made, long lasting.
 
Pick anything at your preferred price point. Long lasting will come down to use and getting what you pay for.
Likely more than you want to spend but any bilstein are pretty decent for these jeeps.
 
I'm running Monroe OESpectrums. They're good enough. They started off a little on the stiff side but got much better after about a month of driving, they've been on there for about a year now. I'd really like to toss some Old Man Emu shocks on there as I've heard the ride quality is second to none.

I've considered Bilsteins because they have a great reputation but I've read conflicting reports on ride quality of the lower speced Bilsteins. I ran KYBs on a performance car in the past and liked them but haven never ran them on a Jeep.
 
First, define "best". Maybe my best is different than another persons best.

I had a set of Rancho RS5000 shocks and I gave them away because they sucked so bad. Too stiff on pavement, and too mushy on the 4x4 trails. I have Bilstein 4600 on both the Daily drivers with 2-3 inches of lift, BDS shocks on the CJ-7 and DoetschTech DT-3000 on Blue the 2000 XJ.
I have rancho rx 5000 on my xj they suck is putting it mildly
 
Gabriel Max Control shocks they have the same specs as the Bilstein but about 3/4 the price. I have had them on a couple rigs over the years, from an 98' XJ, Ford Ranger and S10 Blazer and they performed well. Never had a problem with them and that includes on winding mountain roads, old town rough pavement and 4Corners area 4wheeling.
 
I have rancho rx 5000 on my xj they suck is putting it mildly

Rancho 5000's do suck you have to move up to the 9000's, I've been running those for 20yrs.
Back in the day I had up to 24 Bilsteins on the Class 1 Unlimited race car but that was before all the large by-pass shocks were even invented.
 
Im in the same boat, everything i can find says kyb excel g and monroe oespectrum should be pretty decent ride quality and not bad price around 25$ each, i only have about 1.5" lift and use the shock extension brackets, went cheap and got some red Gabriel ones last year and they suck, rides like a unloaded dumptruck.
 
Back
Top