Add Rubicon shocks only

[Kenrod]

Team I was able to pickup some Rubicon shocks and the steering shock for my 2018 Wrangler 2 door JL Sport S. Will these work with the standard springs?

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[aldo98229]

Yes. But they will make hardly any difference.

 

[Reinen]

Might as well save them for when you find Rubi take-off springs. There's really no point to swapping them unless your current shocks are bad.

 

[azwjowner]

Yes. But they will make hardly any difference.

I recently swapped my Sport shocks on my 2 door door for Rubicon shocks off a 4 door and noticed a substantial difference. However, I'm the kind of person who's always attuned to ride quality.

On road, the Rubicon shocks are worse. There's slightly sharper bumpiness over minor road imperfections. However, the ride is more controlled for larger bumps like expansion joints on freeway offramps.

The Rubicon shocks offer significant additional downtravel over the Sport shocks, which is why I installed them. Haven't gone off-road recently but I expect they will offer advantages in rougher terrain as well.

Finally, the shocks also increased my ride height by 1/4", as a result of the nose pressure.

 

[Headbarcode]

Team I was able to pickup some Rubicon shocks and the steering shock for my 2018 Wrangler 2 door JL Sport S. Will these work with the standard springs?

You will lose uptravel for the sake of adding droop that your current springs can't support. They will simply unseat from the spring saddles and fall out. You'll have a better final product by pairing the Rubicon shocks to Rubicon springs. To gain the most height, along with the ability to resist sag under the added weight of cargo and mod weight, look for a set from a Rubicon that was originally built with steel bumpers, hardtop, and tow package.

 

[azwjowner]

You will lose uptravel for the sake of adding droop that your current springs can't support. They will simply unseat from the spring saddles and fall out. You'll have a better final product by pairing the Rubicon shocks to Rubicon springs. To gain the most height, along with the ability to resist sag under the added weight of cargo and mod weight, look for a set from a Rubicon that was originally built with steel bumpers, hardtop, and tow package.

That's not true. The Willys comes with Sport springs and Rubicon shocks.

 

[Headbarcode]

That's not true. The Willys comes with Sport springs and Rubicon shocks.

After 6 model years, the Rubicon still has the same front lower control arms as a Sport and they continue to scratch their heads on why they have a tendency to wander. And they went nuts with the xr's front bumpstop towers, resulting in many owners bottoming out during on road driving.

Rubicons are give or take 1.5" taller than Sports, depending on spring rates. The springs dictate ride height, and the shocks control it. Pairing shocks from the tallest model with springs from the shortest will result in less uptravel because the shocks will bottom out sooner. Down travel will increase, but the limiting factor is the free length of the short springs.

Explain what exactly is untrue about any of that.

 

[azwjowner]

After 6 model years, the Rubicon still has the same front lower control arms as a Sport and they continue to scratch their heads on why they have a tendency to wander. And they went nuts with the xr's front bumpstop towers, resulting in many owners bottoming out during on road driving.

Rubicons are give or take 1.5" taller than Sports, depending on spring rates. The springs dictate ride height, and the shocks control it. Pairing shocks from the tallest model with springs from the shortest will result in less uptravel because the shocks will bottom out sooner. Down travel will increase, but the limiting factor is the free length of the short springs.

Explain what exactly is untrue about any of that.

1. Not all Rubicons are 1.5" taller than Sports. I compared the springs on my 2 door Sport S to a 2 door Rubicon (looking up the springs by VIN) and my front springs were the same. Only the rear springs are taller, and that's probably because the Rubicon had a tow package.

2. You said the springs would fall out: " You will lose uptravel for the sake of adding droop that your current springs can't support. They will simply unseat from the spring saddles and fall out." The fact that Jeep pairs the Sport springs with the Rubicon shocks pretty solidly confirms this isn't true. I've also had my Sport springs with the Rubicon shocks at full extension with a disconnected sway bar after I installed them, to test out the droop, and the springs were not loose at all.

3. Uptravel is a function of bump stops, not shocks. The shocks don't "bottom out sooner." Now if the shocks hit their minimum compressed length before your bump stops limit uptravel, you will blow the shocks out. But the physical minimum compressed length of the Sport is sufficiently large that Rubicon shocks do not blow out. See https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/forum/threads/the-2dr-sport-only-thread.15647/page-20#post-1040143

As you can see from the shock chart matrix, both Sport and Rubicon shocks fit the parameters of Sport springs: https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/fo...gs-suspension-information-chart-matrix.66591/

4. The Sport springs are not the limiting factor for down travel / droop with Rubicon shocks. (This should be evident from the Willys pairing them with Rubicon shocks). Indeed, the Sport springs are even long enough for longer Fox 0-1.5" 2.0 IFP shocks to fit and extend at full droop without a problem. See Trill's post, linked above and following 3 posts.

 

[Headbarcode]

1. Not all Rubicons are 1.5" taller than Sports. I compared the springs on my 2 door Sport S to a 2 door Rubicon (looking up the springs by VIN) and my front springs were the same. Only the rear springs are taller, and that's probably because the Rubicon had a tow package.

2. You said the springs would fall out: " You will lose uptravel for the sake of adding droop that your current springs can't support. They will simply unseat from the spring saddles and fall out." The fact that Jeep pairs the Sport springs with the Rubicon shocks pretty solidly confirms this isn't true. I've also had my Sport springs with the Rubicon shocks at full extension with a disconnected sway bar after I installed them, to test out the droop, and the springs were not loose at all.

3. Uptravel is a function of bump stops, not shocks. The shocks don't "bottom out sooner." Now if the shocks hit their minimum compressed length before your bump stops limit uptravel, you will blow the shocks out. But the physical minimum compressed length of the Sport is sufficiently large that Rubicon shocks do not blow out. See https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/forum/threads/the-2dr-sport-only-thread.15647/page-20#post-1040143

As you can see from the shock chart matrix, both Sport and Rubicon shocks fit the parameters of Sport springs: https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/fo...gs-suspension-information-chart-matrix.66591/

4. The Sport springs are not the limiting factor for down travel / droop with Rubicon shocks. (This should be evident from the Willys pairing them with Rubicon shocks). Indeed, the Sport springs are even long enough for longer Fox 0-1.5" 2.0 IFP shocks to fit and extend at full droop without a problem. See Trill's post, linked above and following 3 posts.

I'll admit that I was probably jumping the gun about springs falling out. It's been a long time since I got rid of all the factory suspension components, so I tend to forget that they don't provide enough articulation to lose their springs.

For every 2" increase of extended shock length, there's a 1" increase of collapsed length. That's fine, because there's still a 1" increase of total travel to match longer springs. And the taller tires to complete the package need extra bump stop spacing, so the 1" longer shock body doesn't matter. If lift height and tire sizes isn't increased as well, what's the point?

Back to the original point of this thread, what is the op looking to accomplish? A slight change in driving feel, or an increase in overall capability by increasing tire size and properly clearing them? After all, the latter is the norm around here.

 

[azwjowner]

For every 2" increase of extended shock length, there's a 1" increase of collapsed length. That's fine, because there's still a 1" increase of total travel to match longer springs. And the taller tires to complete the package need extra bump stop spacing, so the 1" longer shock body doesn't matter. If lift height and tire sizes isn't increased as well, what's the point?

That may be true once you're up against the physical limits of the shock body package, which I'm sure is true with big lifts, but that's not the case for lowly Sport shocks.

The front Sport shocks have a collapsed length of 15.63" and extended of 21.5".
The front Rubicon shocks have a collapsed length of 15.75" and extended of 23.63".

So you gain two inches of droop with no need to adjust bump stops and no loss of uptravel.

 

[entropy]

After 6 model years, the Rubicon still has the same front lower control arms as a Sport and they continue to scratch their heads on why they have a tendency to wander. And they went nuts with the xr's front bumpstop towers, resulting in many owners bottoming out during on road driving.

Rubicons are give or take 1.5" taller than Sports, depending on spring rates. The springs dictate ride height, and the shocks control it. Pairing shocks from the tallest model with springs from the shortest will result in less uptravel because the shocks will bottom out sooner. Down travel will increase, but the limiting factor is the free length of the short springs.

Explain what exactly is untrue about any of that.

People have done it. The willys is exactly that. A sport with the red shocks. You get all the droop available from the rubi shocks without springs unseating. You also will not bottom out the shocks and they can compress pass the point of compressing the rubber bump-stops. So uptravel should remain the same.

Swapping the sport shocks with the rubi shocks should improve offroad capability quite a bit. The rubicon shocks are already a bit short for the Rubicon so they might actually fit a sport better.

The rubi shocks are harder to compress than the sport shocks. Sport shocks are super soft actually. So they might make the on-road ride a bit stiffer. That's the only downside for people who care about this or those who can even notice a difference.

It is a 30minute job and totally worth it.

 

[entropy]

Might as well save them for when you find Rubi take-off springs. There's really no point to swapping them unless your current shocks are bad.

Better articulation and better performance offroad overall since they are stiffer and longer. They are able to better dampen the coils. You'll essentially be able to match the flex of a Rubicon but you wont have the same ground clearance of course. So might drag more when flexing unless paired with larger tires, like the willys.

 

[Headbarcode]

That may be true once you're up against the physical limits of the shock body package, which I'm sure is true with big lifts, but that's not the case for lowly Sport shocks.

The front Sport shocks have a collapsed length of 15.63" and extended of 21.5".
The front Rubicon shocks have a collapsed length of 15.75" and extended of 23.63".

So you gain two inches of droop with no need to adjust bump stops and no loss of uptravel.

Ok, that makes sense. I've lightly wondered why Sports and Rubicons seem to have similar amounts of articulation when disconnected, regardless of their different ride heights. As soon as my Jeep made it through the first 10k shakedown miles, I left the factory parts in the rearview and never looked back.

And just for the record, I'm a fan of all Wranglers and don't consider any of them to be lowly.

 

[Headbarcode]

People have done it. The willys is exactly that. A sport with the red shocks. You get all the droop available from the rubi shocks without springs unseating. You also will not bottom out the shocks and they can compress pass the point of compressing the rubber bump-stops. So uptravel should remain the same.

Swapping the sport shocks with the rubi shocks should improve offroad capability quite a bit. The rubicon shocks are already a bit short for the Rubicon so they might actually fit a sport better.

The rubi shocks are harder to compress than the sport shocks. Sport shocks are super soft actually. So they might make the on-road ride a bit stiffer. That's the only downside for people who care about this or those who can even notice a difference.

It is a 30minute job and totally worth it.

It's interesting that the compressed lengths are closer than the extended lengths. So yeah, I guess it's worth it if one is just simply looking to stiffen the ride a bit.

And yeah, I remember the stock Rubicon setup being too soft with the springs and the shocks were stiff. Even with the 60/61 and 91/92 springs, they didn't feel well tuned to the shocks. The Dynatrac springs and tuned Fox shocks in the Endurosport lift kit were a huge improvement. I'd still be rocking them if I didn't go north of 37's.

 

[azwjowner]

It's interesting that the compressed lengths are closer than the extended lengths. So yeah, I guess it's worth it if one is just simply looking to stiffen the ride a bit.

And yeah, I remember the stock Rubicon setup being too soft with the springs and the shocks were stiff. Even with the 60/61 and 91/92 springs, they didn't feel well tuned to the shocks. The Dynatrac springs and tuned Fox shocks in the Endurosport lift kit were a huge improvement. I'd still be rocking them if I didn't go north of 37's.

Eventually I'm going to run the Fox 2.0 IFP 0-1.5" shocks, which fit and provide another 2" more droop over Rubicon shocks even. And the Sport springs still don't fall out: https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/forum/threads/the-2dr-sport-only-thread.15647/post-1041924

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