Cheap shocks for 4.5" lift?

Anyone have suggestions for cheap, relatively soft shocks for a 4.5" lift? I can get four cheap stock height shocks for under $75, but anything for "lifted" starts at $50 per shock.



It's an 89 MJ with a Rough Country XJ 4.5" lift kit on the front, and spring over in the rear. When I did the spring over I moved the shock mounts and used the shocks that came with the kit. They're sitting at 20" extension right now, and I think the shocks were supposed to be 16-24".

Cheap parts are cheap for a reason.

I have had good luck with lightly used DoetschTech shocks from somebody else's upgrades to taller shocks.

Doh! After doing a bunch of measuring and searching shock catalogs, I remembered that when I moved the mounts to use the Cherokee 4.5" lift shocks (about 12 years ago?), that I raised them about 4.5". The stock ones hung well below the axle. So stock length MJ shocks should work!


I might go with a pair of oem length KYB shocks p/n 344090 which are 22.95" to 14.1". I'm tempted to buy that Chinese set of rear shocks for $30 just to see how bad they are. Can't be worse than the blown one that's sticking and groaning.

The last XJ I bought had a new set of auto parts store cheapo shocks on it. They lasted about 6 months and then started flopping about wildly like I was driving a 1970's Cadillac. I replaced them with some good used Bilstein 4600 that were $ 11 each at the U-Pull junkyard.

Just pulled the trigger on a pair of Monroe 20751 gas shocks. Being a cheap SOB, I couldn't pass up $36 to my door. Monroe quality isn't the greatest, but at least I could look up the specs unlike the off-brand eBay/Amazon ones. Who knows, maybe they'll be great. :} They've got to be an improvment over the fairly stiff Rough Country shock, of which one is seizing up and groaning.


Heading outside to start a regimen of spraying those bolts with PB Blaster until the replacements arrive.

If you can find a pair of new "take offs" from a Wrangler Rubicon, I believe those might work. I have a pair on mine, but I put them on 5 years ago.

I went to my local 4x4 store and made a deal with the guys there to buy a set that they pulled when they installed a goofy lift for a "bro" that wanted to look good at the grocery store.

Looks like the Rubicon stock shock length/stroke is right but the eyelet holes might be 1/2" instead of 5/8". I was surprised how hard it is to figure what shock part numbers correspond to what length/stroke and there is no information about the amount of damping. I didn't want a stiff shock meant for a F350 front on the rear of a lightweight MJ. KYB had all the shock info online, but you still had to figure out their notation for the ends. I also found a lot of the cheap offbrand shocks will fit but had much less travel.

It was after digging through all that and figuring out what part number would work, that I realized the KYB part number I came up with was the stock MJ rear shock, which jogged my memory about how much I moved the mounts.