better ride with shock resivor ?

xj-krawler88

NAXJA Forum User
Location
kona hi
i have a 96 xj 5.5 re sa lift on 33s i need to buy some new shocks mine our rusty and nasty will i get a noticable better ride while offroading if i buy a shock with those fancy resivors i do mostly long trails bumpy roads and some crawl time whats your guys opinion ?
 
3am, perfect time for a shock rant!

two identical shocks, except for one has a remote reservoir... they'll drive exactly the same... untill they heat up quite a bit. the non reservoir will fade quicker.... but 96% of people who dont live in the desert will never get to this point...

high end rebuildable shocks(fox, king, SAW, bilstein 7100+), are 100% better in everyway... but cheap shocks, with a cheap reservoir (fabtech, procomp, rancho) are just bullshit designed to cost more for suckers who dont know better, but want the bling. you can repair and get replacement parts for a king of fox shock.... you cant get shit for procomps..... theyre the equivelant of a disposable razor, thats nice and shiny like a re-useable razor, with a good handle and all that... that you must toss in the trash when it gets dull.... its counterproductive, and i look down on them for designing shit this way...
 
what xcm said

I got a good deal on a used set of remote pro comp mx6 shocks

filled em with nitro but one never held

took to a local cycle shop to see if they were rebuildable

they called pro comp and to no avail they are not even good for parts!

I have had skyjacker platniums (what you see on big lift fords, etc) which were some of the best riding nitro shocks ever even on the XJ

I have bilsteins on the front and pro comp racing (non res) on the back - they are pretty much the same and ride great for a linked and armored w/ exo work trail rig

so look at a quality nitro and do not waste any $$ on a remote res unless you just got to have the bling factor

look into: teraflex shocks (rebadged rancho's), old man emu (if they have them for that much lift), rancho adjustables, skyjacker nitros or bilsteins

nitro shocks feel stiffer but work better under all driving conditions

what coils do you have?
 
buy fox shocks and be done with it. completely rebuild-able and revalve-able. You MUST valve them before use or you are wasting your money though. I am running 70-50 in the rear of my XJ and it needs to be much stiffer. needs to be about 80-85 compression.
 
what xcm said

I got a good deal on a used set of remote pro comp mx6 shocks

filled em with nitro but one never held

took to a local cycle shop to see if they were rebuildable

they called pro comp and to no avail they are not even good for parts!

I have had skyjacker platniums (what you see on big lift fords, etc) which were some of the best riding nitro shocks ever even on the XJ

I have bilsteins on the front and pro comp racing (non res) on the back - they are pretty much the same and ride great for a linked and armored w/ exo work trail rig

so look at a quality nitro and do not waste any $$ on a remote res unless you just got to have the bling factor

look into: teraflex shocks (rebadged rancho's), old man emu (if they have them for that much lift), rancho adjustables, skyjacker nitros or bilsteins

nitro shocks feel stiffer but work better under all driving conditions

what coils do you have?
Uhhh... Pretty sure fox builds the MX6 for procomp, should be the same goodies inside. Promise they're rebuildable. Too bad you're in GA haha.
 
Uhhh... Pretty sure fox builds the MX6 for procomp, should be the same goodies inside. Promise they're rebuildable. Too bad you're in GA haha.

if you want a fox shock, buy a fox shock.... why buy the cheap shit they sell to the retards who dont know better? theres no reason for 'branding' in offroad shocks... your either one of the best, or part of the rest. only a complete mouthbreathing retard would look at the fox shock and say 'i like that, but wish it had a procomp sticker on it',


from the pics i see on google, they dont look like the same shock. aparke4 and jeeperjohn are two people who mention basically being told to XXXX off when they call procomp.... UNNACCEPTABLE! you run em if you like em!
 
what xcm said

I got a good deal on a used set of remote pro comp mx6 shocks

filled em with nitro but one never held

took to a local cycle shop to see if they were rebuildable

they called pro comp and to no avail they are not even good for parts!

I have had skyjacker platniums (what you see on big lift fords, etc) which were some of the best riding nitro shocks ever even on the XJ

I have bilsteins on the front and pro comp racing (non res) on the back - they are pretty much the same and ride great for a linked and armored w/ exo work trail rig

so look at a quality nitro and do not waste any $$ on a remote res unless you just got to have the bling factor

look into: teraflex shocks (rebadged rancho's), old man emu (if they have them for that much lift), rancho adjustables, skyjacker nitros or bilsteins

nitro shocks feel stiffer but work better under all driving conditions

what coils do you have?
the coils are rubicon express i bought it lifted so not sure on what size the guy clammed 7 inches wich is bull i think its the 5.5
 
3am, perfect time for a shock rant!

two identical shocks, except for one has a remote reservoir... they'll drive exactly the same... untill they heat up quite a bit. the non reservoir will fade quicker.... but 96% of people who dont live in the desert will never get to this point...

high end rebuildable shocks(fox, king, SAW, bilstein 7100+), are 100% better in everyway... but cheap shocks, with a cheap reservoir (fabtech, procomp, rancho) are just bullshit designed to cost more for suckers who dont know better, but want the bling. you can repair and get replacement parts for a king of fox shock.... you cant get shit for procomps..... theyre the equivelant of a disposable razor, thats nice and shiny like a re-useable razor, with a good handle and all that... that you must toss in the trash when it gets dull.... its counterproductive, and i look down on them for designing shit this way...
haha no it was like 11 pm my time when i wrote this iam in hawaii but thanks for the advice i was told b4 that those fancy resvoirs our basicaly looks unless ur going to be jumping i see lotz of those king shocks on big diesel dodges out here on 20 inch chrome rims itz funny:D
 
whats the deal with long arms i have short arm i see lotz of long arm upgrade kits on the market anybody here ever had short arm then went long ? is the ride and flex realy that much better to spend the dough on
 
plenty of info out there on long arms or drop brackets to fix your lower control arm angles. they do improve ride quality some, especially over 4". some will say you cant lift an xj 4+" without long arms/drop brackets.... others will say 'its a jeep, its fine'. the truth is somewhere in between. depends on your threshold for bad ride qualities.
 
ya i was looking at my lower arms the brackets look droped down like you were saying i get crazy flex and a good ride with my short arm set up its just you here so many people talking about how amazing it is bla bla bla
 
drop brackets and long arms do the same thing, if you have drop brackets your good...

personally, its a philosophical issue.... i hate the IDEA of drop brackets, they look like shit and hang really low.... its a ghetto-rig fix imho.

that being said, people love em, and people have raced jeepspeed with em.... whatever.
 
the coils are rubicon express i bought it lifted so not sure on what size the guy clammed 7 inches wich is bull i think its the 5.5

common 'problem' with rubicon express, they ASSUME youve got a jeep built like the cover of quadratech, heavy winch, heavy bumper, bunch of spare crap in the back... etc etc. you install a 5.5 lift kit with all this junk, and you'll get a 5.5" lift... install it without all the junk... i can see an extra 2" easily.... my re3.5 kit rides at about 4.5", even with a full cage.
 
3am, perfect time for a shock rant!

... but cheap shocks, with a cheap reservoir (fabtech, procomp, rancho) are just bullshit designed to cost more for suckers who dont know better...

Not sure your source of info, but Fabtech monotube resi (or non-resi) are high end, rebuildable shocks with with premium seals and internals. Parts are readily available and rebuilding can be done by Fabtech or any competant shock guy.
 
i think the best bet would be to buy a good shock. i run fox shocks on my sand rail. rear are resevoir type and front are just fox gas shocks. both work very well. i would be more concerned with valving than anything. i would lean towards a bilstein shock over a resevoir type shock on my jeep personally. imho bilstein has it when it comes to being an off road shock for a jeep. not many others out there can compare. when you start getiing into coilovers than the game changes a bit.
 
i think the best bet would be to buy a good shock. i run fox shocks on my sand rail. rear are resevoir type and front are just fox gas shocks. both work very well. i would be more concerned with valving than anything. i would lean towards a bilstein shock over a resevoir type shock on my jeep personally. imho bilstein has it when it comes to being an off road shock for a jeep. not many others out there can compare. when you start getiing into coilovers than the game changes a bit.

The only difference between a fox reservoir and a fox non reservoir is the reservoir itself, everything else is the same. They are both "gas" shocks, just the reservoir has an internal floating piston that separates the oil from the gas, so all of the gas is within the reservoir as opposed to the shock body as in an emulsion shock(non reservoir). Bilstein makes non servicable shocks, as well as the highest end race shocks/coilovers and everything in between so you may want to be a bit more specific with your statement. And coilovers are internally the exact same thing as an emulsion shock, or a reservoir shock, the only difference is the springs and hardware on the body, so the game really doesn't change one bit:).
 
Emulsion = Gas and oil mixed

While some manufacturers may commonize components between a res/non res model the performance of an emulsion shock NOT the same as a shock with an IFP. And for reference all Bilstein monotubes have an IFP.

So to answer the question of "is there a better ride with a reservoir" the answer varries. Going from a junk twin tube or a pos emulsion to a properly valved reservoir shock then YES there should be an improvement. But going from a properly valved monotube to a properly valved reservoir shocks there will be less of an improvement in ride if any.
 
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