I am trying to decide between the fox 2.0 and the bilstein 5100 for my lifted XJ. I have a 5.5 lift and want to ride smoother going down the road. Any help would be great! Thanks

 

Bilstein 5100s, i have some they ride nice, Fox 2.0s are alot more expensive for essentially the same thing, unless you get reservoirs, those are nice

 

you only need reservoirs if you're driving very fast over washboard type terrain. otherwise they are quite useless on the slow wheeling trail. other than they look cool.

i would go with bilstein 5100 for sure. they have them valved specifically for xj's.

 

My Bilstein 5100 with a 4 1/2" lift short arm rides well both on and off road, they are a proven mid range shock for the XJ's.

 

And MJs.

 

I have 5100's as well. They are a bit "tight" for my tastes, I was hoping to get a bit more give but I also only have about 1000 miles on them. They did soften up considerably after 2-300 miles though.

The big benefit was the Bar Pin eliminators I put on - rides sooooo much quieter now and I got another 1" of down travel roughly.

Never ridden in a rig with FOX shocks though so I can't comment on them.

 

My XJ is heavy bumpers/winch/armor/recovery gear/tools/spare parts, etc. I'm sure that makes a difference also.

 

I've got to strongly oppose that. you'll have no problem overheating a 5100 while rock crawling. they will fade and a high quality shock is not just for looks.

I still agree with going with a 5100 as opposed to a fox 2.0/resi though. and if your bilstein 5100 can do it, the fox 2.0 non resi probably can't do it that much better (approximately $100 difference out of pocket)


it's your call. whatever you get make sure to properly bump stop and limit strap, I've broken/blown a handful of 5100's

 

5100's are tried and tested here, you can't go wrong with them either.

 

i've got 5100 and 5165 with resi.
just go with 5100, that's all you would need.