I bought my XJ with a rough country 4.5" lift with 33's.

One of my front shocks is bad so I'm going to replace them both. I intend to put in the same rough country shocks again.

I have removed the fender flares and trimmed the sheet metal to allow for more travel.

Question, will the same shocks still have enough travel with this added room until the tire hits the fender? And yes I am going to figure out bumpstops too soon after this.

I'm not sure how rough country decides which of their shocks will have enough travel for each kit. This would depend on several factors like tire size, fenders, bump stops, etc;

Hoping somebody with real world experience can offer some input.

Worst case scenario I guess I can try to find something to flex on and see for myself if they travel enough. but it's hard to find something like that where I live without going too far away.
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Would anybody recommend something different than the rough country shocks that they know would work with my setup? Something that is priced similarly or lower than the rough country shocks?

Thanks.
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8-10" stroke shock would probly work. Maybe 10 mostly just replying so otheres chime in.

 

You are the one to answer that question. Your travel will be the same when you replace your shocks. If you are looking for a full stuff, your current shock travel may not allow that. If your shocks are long enough for the springs you have, there is not much you can do. However if they are too long, you can change either the lower mount or upper mount to move the shock up and that would give you more stuff. It all depends on the effort you want to put out to achieve it.

 

Well I just called rough country and the guy on the phone said tires and fenders don't matter. The axle still moves the same and they base everything off the axle movement not when tires hit fenders or whatever.

Sooooo I guess I'm just ordering the same shocks again and hopefully they work fine. Well, the new version of what I have. The current ones are discontinued.

 

You could jack it up as high as you can from the axle then put jack stands under frame to get droop.
then jack one side of axle up to get close to full stuff.
full stuff to full droop is your stroke hopefully at ride height shocks are near half this

 

I bought some of the newest RC N3 shocks because I needed some fast, after blowing out my BDS ones. Well, I could only stand them for a month before taking the recommendations of the experienced rock crawler TJ guys over there on that other forum and trying some Rancho RS5000X shocks. I have their RS9000XL adjustable ones on my Rubicon. SO MUCH better ride on and offroad! I wouldn't hesitate to buy them again. I paid $203 for all four shipped. I sold the RC ones on craigslist for $125.
p.s. Rancho has a ton of different shock lengths to choose from. Not the fits 3-4.5" lift like RC and others do.

https://www.gorancho.com/products/sh...shock-absorber

 

I'm sold on fox shocks. I've got the 2.0 ifp

 

Those are great shocks if you can get them specifically tuned for your Jeep. Not in the OP's price range though.
p.s. I had Fox shocks on my Motocross bike when I raced semi-pro. They've been top of the line in MX for many years. I paid $250 a pair years ago.

 

True.

You can order them tuned how youd like but they cost about 700 for a set of four to your door.

I'm thinking about a set of 2.0 tuned for my use with dual rate adjusters for the rear maybe 12" stroke.

I used t think shocks where all the same and were either firm or soft boy was I wrong.

I've ran 5100 and monomax actually think I like the monomax better than 5100s
These ifp though are better than both they feel softer but handle bumps much better arent as harsh dropping off ledges and going slow crawling through nasty terrian

 

I ended up buying two new N3 Rough Country shocks #23146 for $89.95 total.

It seemed the other brands I looked at either didn't have the correct size (looking at extended and collapsed lengths) or were more expensive than I'm willing to spend.
One perk of buying these is that I still have one good old shock which hopefully has similar characteristics even though it's a previous generation.

Hopefully they work okay and last for my purposes. Time will tell!





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The much better riding Rancho rs5000x shocks come in way more sizes and cost the same. With the RC shocks, you'll be able to tell if a quarter is heads or tails just by driving over it.
p.s. If you could stand the old ones, the new ones won't bother you either.

 

I actually tried to buy the Rancho shocks you'd suggested but I looked on a few different sites and couldn't find any long enough for an XJ? 🤔

And yeah I'm aware the RC shock is a cheap shock with not the best ride quality, and many times not the longest life. That's not a concern of mine with this vehicle. Just need something that works on a budget.


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