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Budget boost question

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Old Jun 20, 2009 | 01:14 PM
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Default Budget boost question

A friend of mine is giving me his old lift stuff and it is a 2'' aal with 2'' coils. My question is do I need longer shocks and if so What should I look for? This is my wifes daily driver and Thats as high as I want to go with it. Thank you in advance.
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Old Jun 20, 2009 | 01:16 PM
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um i dont know exactly, i think they might extend more so you might not need them, i guess try the lift without new shocks then if you dont like it buy new shocks
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Old Jun 20, 2009 | 01:51 PM
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they might work but new shocks are recomended as they could overextend causing them to leak i would personally get new ones
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Old Jun 20, 2009 | 02:06 PM
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Originally Posted by lsc91
A friend of mine is giving me his old lift stuff and it is a 2'' aal with 2'' coils. My question is do I need longer shocks and if so What should I look for? This is my wifes daily driver and Thats as high as I want to go with it. Thank you in advance.
You could also go with the "Budget" shock extenders from AZ for the front for $3 and for the back try Bar Pin Eliminators
...Tj
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Old Jun 20, 2009 | 04:31 PM
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Bar pin eleminator can be off the rear sway bar also correct.
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Old Jun 20, 2009 | 09:23 PM
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Originally Posted by lsc91
A friend of mine is giving me his old lift stuff and it is a 2'' aal with 2'' coils. My question is do I need longer shocks and if so What should I look for? This is my wifes daily driver and Thats as high as I want to go with it. Thank you in advance.
You will not need new shocks for the back if all you do is add the AAls

To determine the front, measure the length of the coils and compare to the length of the stock ones. If they are the same, you will not.
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Old Jun 20, 2009 | 09:35 PM
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Originally Posted by 4.3L XJ
You will not need new shocks for the back if all you do is add the AAls

To determine the front, measure the length of the coils and compare to the length of the stock ones. If they are the same, you will not.
Pardon my ignorance: For the front do you mean uncompressed or compressed or some combination of the two? Why would adding 2in in the front affect the shocks in the front but not the rear? I don't get it, sorry.
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Old Jun 20, 2009 | 09:42 PM
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If you are just going to drive it on the street you will be fine, I just did a 2" lift on my Daily driver today and the shocks mounted no problem.

If you start to flex the suspension out the shocks could limit the travel, plus extending shocks like this (that are too short for the amount of suspension flex) could damage the shocks.
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Old Jun 20, 2009 | 09:51 PM
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Originally Posted by Schmoozer
Pardon my ignorance: For the front do you mean uncompressed or compressed or some combination of the two? Why would adding 2in in the front affect the shocks in the front but not the rear? I don't get it, sorry.
Good question.

When you use an add a leaf, you increase the spring rate, but not the free arch of the spring. At lease not appreciably. So you can use the same shocks. If you check Ranchos shock catalogue for instance, they will show the same shock for 0-3" of lift.

The front coils though need to be measured with no weight on the spring. There are some kits that offer a longer spring, but chances are that the spring will be the same length only with a higher spring rate to get the lift. I have a set of Skyjacker 3" coils that use stock shocks.
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Old Jun 20, 2009 | 10:04 PM
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Originally Posted by 4.3L XJ
Good question.

When you use an add a leaf, you increase the spring rate, but not the free arch of the spring. At lease not appreciably. So you can use the same shocks. If you check Ranchos shock catalogue for instance, they will show the same shock for 0-3" of lift.

The front coils though need to be measured with no weight on the spring. There are some kits that offer a longer spring, but chances are that the spring will be the same length only with a higher spring rate to get the lift. I have a set of Skyjacker 3" coils that use stock shocks.
Ah! That makes perfect sense, thanks!
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Old Jun 21, 2009 | 02:04 AM
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you will be fine with your stock shocks.... my last jeep i had, i only had a 2" lift and no rear sway bar and i never really had any issue with the rear shocks, and trust me i flexed the **** outta that thing trying to over-extend them... i drove up onto a loading ramp wall at my work and went all the way up to about the middle of the rear passenger door and noticed no difference afterwards....(basically till the tire was coming off the ground) now if your shocks are blown 2 begin with then yes they obviously should be replaced

i've also found that using shock extenders in the front is not really a great idea depending on how often the jeep see's the trails, plz ask me how i know lol.. the damn things bend and snap right where the extender screws onto the top of your front shock
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