BigC9164

Bought these JK Sahara edition FRONT shocks off craigslist. They have 5,000 miles on them. Cost $40. Just have the fronts for now. After I feel how these ride Ill get jk shocks for the rear or possibly jump up to Bilstein 5100s.

My 99 XJ has a five year old 3" RC lift. I am very excited to ditch the RC 9000 shocks. My back will thank me.

Went with the RC bar pin eliminators (even though these orient the shocks the wrong direction??). I will have sway bars connecting and do not plan on heavy wheeling any time soon. This XJ is my DD.
This BPE kit is only $20 on Amazon. Hard to pass up.

I went with a Rancho RS981 poly bushing kit. This kit required slightly opening up the holes to fit over the 7/16 shock pin. No big deal.

Went to the local hardware store to pick up some grade 8 bolts, nuts, and lock washers to replace the rusted Chryco hardware.

I have had the shock bolts drenched in PB blaster for 48 hours. Fingers crossed the break free easy tomorrow when I do the install.

Metmknice

Should ride decent or better.
The JK Rubicon shocks are a bit more stiff in a good way.
IMO, with stem-mount top, lower mount orientation is negligible.

Rear mounting, because of the angles, proper mounting is more important.

cruiser54

You'll like them, but the red ones are better yet.

BigC9164

I did not go with the RED Rubicon shocks because i was after a softer ride. at least in the front.

Install took about a half hour. Getting the stock bar pin bolts out was the hardest part. broke one them and almost stripped another. Took about 15 min just to tackle the first one. Once you get a good technique down the rest come out pretty quick.

Drilled the mounting holes out just a tad to fit the 3/8" grade 8 hardware.

RIDE QUALITY: Pretty good. I will know more once i replace the rears as well. You can definitely feel a smoother ride when going over "ripples" in the road at about 45mph. Pot holes do not make as loud of a noise now but you still feel them obviously. Going over speed bumps at 5-10mph soak up a little better when you go up them; when you go down them, the jeep suspension articulates much more and absorbs the bump big time! But does not rebound too much at all. I have not taken these down a bumpy dirt road and probably wont any time soon so i cant tell you the difference but i imagine it will very smooth!

PICS:

BigC9164

Looks like the JK shocks only have about 3" on down-travel on my XJ with 3" lift... hm.... should be fine FOR ME. at least for now. But I will keep an eye on them... plenty of up-travel however.

cruiser54

The red shocks are not stiff. They're comfy. I've used both.

BigC9164

how different are they compared to the black ones?

cruiser54

Better ride and performance.