Wanted: shocks for 4.5" lift

Looking for an inexpensive set of shocks for my '96 with 4.5" lift. Hoping some of you guys may have a set of good take-offs from doing an upgrade before I go out and buy new ones. Not looking for anything fancy, just something better than the whooped el cheapo's that are on it now. I could also use a good steering stabilizer, too.

stock JK shocks (not rubicon, just plain black shocks) might work for you, they did for me and a few others, they bolt in and you can usually find a set on CL for $50 or less

Thanks for the tip. I'll look into it. Initial searching leads me to believe the fronts may be too short for my amount of lift, but that's the internet. Nothing beats holding the parts in your hand and comparing. For the record, I'm seeing the Rubicon shocks have no bar pin on the fronts. Is that the only difference other than the obvious mono tube design? I've already got BPE's on my fronts.

Oh is it the stock JK ones that are the proper length? I bought rubicons and made some ghetto fab shock extenders for the time being. They really were maybe an inch longer than the stock ones.

yeah, they are bolt in other than the bar pin, Tim is running a set on his 4.5 I believe

I have the stock JK shocks on mine with 4.5" of lift. The only trouble I have is that i'm bottoming out on the rears, but I think that's because I made my shock mounts too high when I welded them on the axle.

For the price you can't go wrong. Very impressed with the ride of them too!

I run a set from a Wrangler X. Got them for $20 as a set of take-offs at the local 4WP Store.

Thanks for the advice on them, but I'm just not convinced they'll work. I went out and measured what I have now at static height, and they're 21" from the inner fender mounting point to the center of the eye with BPE's installed, and I have 5.5" of exposed shaft with plenty of droop left. Again, I have yet to hold them in my hands, but from what I've seen the JK fronts are only 22.7" fully extended. If that is true, they would limit me to less than 2" droop.

651896 is the part number on the shocks I currently have. I haven't searched what they are yet, but other than being totally worn out with rusty shafts, they seem to be perfect. If need be I'll just suck it up and buy new ones.

Went out and flexed it out this afternoon. I've got just a hair over 25" at full droop.

For you guys running 4.5" of lift, what is your coil length at static ride height? I have roughly 16" of coil height, measured from the bottom of the spring up to (but not including) the rubber isolator.

This is an old RE Superflex kit, for reference.

Georgia Mike said:

Went out and flexed it out this afternoon. I've got just a hair over 25" at full droop.

For you guys running 4.5" of lift, what is your coil length at static ride height? I have roughly 16" of coil height, measured from the bottom of the spring up to (but not including) the rubber isolator.

This is an old RE Superflex kit, for reference.

Click to expand...

Mike, I saw you were wondering what lift height for shocks. For reference my XJ has 3.5" coils from my short arm RE lift kit. I took measurements of my axle with no shocks flexed from droop to static height to compression. Bump stopped for 35s FYI.

These are all probably +/- 0.5"

Extended = 25"
Static = 21"
Compressed = 16"

Being said I picked up some of the red and black JK rubicon shock take offs and have ran them for 2.5ish years now. They have enough compression but I am sure that they are my limiting straps up front

Looking at getting some OME or bilsteins to replace them even though they aren't quite shot yet.