Shocks upgrade

[Retmarncc]

I have a stock (factory-loaded) 2021 JLU Rubicon with ECO Diesel. She is bone-stock and factory-loaded. No lift kit….. Looking to upgrade the shocks. Any kind of a substantial bump or rough road hit causes the front end to track its suspension limit. I am guessing it was too much to use a shock system to compensate for the added weight of the ECO Diesel. Any suggestion?

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[Soapy]

My son installed the Mopar 2 inch lift on his ecodiesel and it rides good. I think it has the basic Fox 2.0 shock. I personally like a Bilstein 8100 shock with remote reservoir. They ride a bit stiffer than the 5100s. both will ride stiffer than the stock. The 5100s are a great shock value for the quality and about 1/3 the price of the 8100s.

 

[deznut6]

+1 on the Bilstein 5100... makes my 4cyl. handle like a go kart...you need to take in account your vehicle's weight...in suspension science there is "sprung weight" ( the vehicle's weight on top of the springs) and "un sprung weight" ( everything on the bottom of the springs...axles, wheels, tires)...due to all the sprung weight a diesel carries... might want a premium shock like the Bilstein 8100...hth

 

[Retmarncc]

My son installed the Mopar 2 inch lift on his ecodiesel and it rides good. I think it has the basic Fox 2.0 shock. I personally like a Bilstein 8100 shock with remote reservoir. They ride a bit stiffer than the 5100s. both will ride stiffer than the stock. The 5100s are a great shock value for the quality and about 1/3 the price of the 8100s.

Does he have an ECO Diesel?

 

[Retmarncc]

+1 on the Bilstein 5100... makes my 4cyl. handle like a go kart...you need to take in account your vehicle's weight...in suspension science there is "sprung weight" ( the vehicle's weight on top of the springs) and "un sprung weight" ( everything on the bottom of the springs...axles, wheels, tires)...due to all the sprung weight a diesel carries... might want a premium shock like the Bilstein 8100...hth

Its this taking into account I have an ECO Diesel?

 

[deznut6]

Its this taking into account I have an ECO Diesel?

Yes....Force = mass x acceleration...my little 2 door 4cyl gas turbo doesn't have the mass ( weight) of your Eco Diesel...that's why the 5100s work well for me ... I don't know what shocks the factory put on your Jeep....I attached pix of my take offs (OEM) with P/Ns IF that will help ( and if they are the same (!) no wonder your Jeep is wallowing around)...please remember "comfort" and "handling" are two different things...if it "handles" ... it may NOT be comfortable for a daily driver. Acceleration in any direction plus the weight ( mass) may require a stiffer ( More damping in both compression and rebound) shock than the 5100s provide....or bite the bullet and buy the 5100s, they're a well built shock and work well for me

 

[greige]

Yeah, the bump stops come into play pretty early on the ecodiesel to prevent the axle from hitting the oil pan. I still have the factory shocks on my JLUR diesel but I put on the AEV 2" lift. I will eventually add the 5100s but have no idea if that will help with your (our) issue. I am tempted to remove the 2" spacer from the front bump stops.

The way I understand it, the bump stops on most Wranglers are designed to stop the tires from hitting the fenders during articulation so that when you add a lift you add spacers to the bump stops for the same reason, but for larger tires. In the diesels it's to prevent the axle hitting the oil pan. So I need to do some more research, but if I'm hoping that if I remove the front bump stop spacers, I will get more travel but not enough for the axle to hit the oil pan.

 

[BDinTX]

Yeah, the bump stops come into play pretty early on the ecodiesel to prevent the axle from hitting the oil pan. I still have the factory shocks on my JLUR diesel but I put on the AEV 2" lift. I will eventually add the 5100s but have no idea if that will help with your (our) issue. I am tempted to remove the 2" spacer from the front bump stops.

Yep bump stops is exactly the problem. I had the AEV lift and the bump stop extensions they provide had to came out because I was still bottoming out all the time. It negated the benefit of having a little more height. Once I took them off I went with a 1/2” puck which was perfect with the Bilstein 5100s.

@Retmarncc the problem on our diesels is they don’t have a lift from the factory yet still have extended bump stops like Jeeps with the XR package. Another issue, at least with mine, was the rubber bumper hardly protruded. So we end up with very little up travel, and not much cushion.

This is mine, with the AEV spring, and their bump stop extension removed with the 1/2” puck added. Notice how much space between the puck at the bottom and the rubber bumper at the top. Also notice only about 3/4” of the rubber bumper protruding from the metal. It isn’t enough to slow things down before metal on metal contact.

Springs out, bumper out, checking maximum shock compression at metal to metal contact between bump tower and strike pad:

Compare that to my wife’s 2.0T. It also has the 2.5” AEV lift, their bump stop extension is installed, no added puck and only slightly less space between the pad at the bottom and the bumper at the top. But WAY more rubber bumper exposed.

 

[Soapy]

I quizzed my son about his ECOdeisel setup. He had the Mopar lift for the ecodeisel that came with Bilstein 5160 shocks, He felt that the Mopar kit springs were too soft so he went with the Aev extra heavy springs that give an extra 600lb. weight capacity and also used some metal cloak bump stops that were shorter. He said that fixed the problems he was having. He felt the light duty mopar springs were really making the shocks work too hard. We both ran a hard trail and my 2 door rubicon X shocks were spent before we I got all the way in on the trail. I replaced mine with 8100s on my 2 door JL X. After he did the same trail he got the Aev heavy coils and fixed his problem.

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