Somewhat of a predicament... (Up travel vs. Down travel)

Interesting info. I'm going to be looking for shocks soon myself. Something in the 2.5 inch, 10" travel variety and as short as I an find. Just a quick perusal of the various on-line catalogs turned up the 9100 weld-top significantly shorter then everyone else. Really not happy to hear they're discontinuing the weld-top option. I could really use that extra 2 inches.


The 10" weld top is still active. Only 12", 14" and 17" weld tops are discontinued. 12"-17" weld tops are replaced with short body screw tops that have yet to make it in the catalog.

As far as travel lengths on an XJ go I have to thank the folks at T&J's performance. Mike Barnett took the time to explain why Jeepspeed limits front travel to 10" and also what options there are to fit longer travel shocks up front. The short version is that if the XJ is used for crawling (full drop on only 1 side of the rig) then a longer travel shock can work. But for the desert where the front axle is going to full droop with both wheels the XJ will begin to get into steering bind and bumpsteer.

After discussing all of this with Jim it sounds like we are going with a 10" weld top, cheated out to 11" which will yeild 16.87" colapsed and 27.87" extended. If this works out well I will work on an 11"x 2.5" production 9100 for the XJ front end. If anyone else is interested in a pair of these "Crazy Jim" 11" 9100's let me know. Might as well build 10 instead of just 2.
 
Last edited:
This thread leaves me speechless, but I do have a question... Does the "crazy Jim 11" 9100s" come with a budget build price tag? ;)

I am also a bilstein fan and their service is top notch!
 
The 10" weld top is still active. Only 12", 14" and 17" weld tops are discontinued. 12"-17" weld tops are replaced with short body screw tops that have yet to make it in the catalog.
Well, that explaines the listing in the catalog I downloaded. (only listed the 10" under the weld-top) I guess the Jeepspeed guys are tho only ones ordering the short shocks, and only for the front. D:

Don't make me say it :gag:
Yeah, yeah, "that's what she- /your girlfriend- /yo mama- said." Got it out of your system now? :rof:
 
Man... I gotta give it up for Bilstein once again!

After spending quite a bit of time on the phone with Joel from Bilstein, I've decided on what I'm going to run. What I've decided to run isn't nearly as important as the process we went through to decide. Joel called me the other day, and we talked a little bit about what I wanted to do, and the pros vs. cons of this vs. that. Once again he filled me with a wealth of information, and broke it down in an easy to understand lingo.

We talked about possible shock mounting positions, and doing something different than the norm, and how we could get away with certain things. He talked to me about the screw top vs. weld top, and that they no longer offer a weld top. He also talked to me about building some custom shocks. On one hand, I could have a badass set of magic shocks, that were as long as 10" shocks, but pulled 12" of travel. The downside of this, is that everything would be custom machined and one off built, which Joel had no problem doing, however if I ever break something, it won't be as easy as finding his trailer to get another part! I'd be done for the weekend, or carry spares. We got off the phone, and I had some thinking to do, I slept on it and decided I needed to go cycle my suspension to see what I had to work with.

So today rolls along, and I wake up to a voicemail. This man CALLED T&J's himself, and talked through some things with them out of his own curiousity. He talked to the guys there about the geometry and different mounting etc, bouncing ideas off some more people. It's awesome to me that Joel went out of his way to do this, he's a busy as hell guy! And then called me with this info, to help make a decision. Mind you it was around 3:30 that we finally decided what shocks to run. Joel had to leave at 4:00... he was going to build my shocks, right then and there in a half hour! How's that for a wait! I doubt KING would have my shocks done that quick ;) Hahaha jfwy Rich. I told him not to worry about it, I'm not in a hurry, and we'll figure it out tomorrow. I just wanted to fill you all in on WHY I do, and always will from this point on run Bilstein's on anything I own. Their customer service is TOP NOTCH, for me, a guy who DOES NOT race, and who Joel owes nothing to.


Now that is awesome. Its stories like that, that make me want to go with a company like Bilstein. A company that is known WORLDWIDE but will still bend over backwards for a single person. I have had bad experiences with big companies like that but its great to hear that kind of stuff. Good stuff Bilstein :clap::clap::clap:
 
OH... MY GOD... I cried when I saw them.

IMG_3839web.jpg


IMG_3835web.jpg
 
Back
Top