Jeep Wrangler Forum banner

3 upgrades, any experience w/ them?

2K views 15 replies 9 participants last post by  holiday 
#1 ·
So, I"ve had my unlimited sahara, jeep a year, with some off road, living in snow country(lake tahoe, ca). Drive a lot, 500 miles a week +. heading to moab for week soon, want to do some of the easier trails per ratings.

3 upgrades I'm thinking of doing, shocks, slightly bigger tires, true trac diff.

1. shocks;
I put the rancho 900s on, but don't think they are too great. a little better then stock maybe, but I want the best suspension for road and off road.
I am thinking of fox 2.0 performance reservoir w/ compression adj of 8 clicks.
seems more quaity, still adjustable, and hopefully better ride. experience? yes, htey are 320each instead of 70ish, but this is long term, and if it's better, worth it.

2. true trac, lots of good reviews, but some questions. daily driving, snow country, any negatives? i think traction improvement would be great for off road and when roads are really snowy, just want to make sure pos outweigh and negs.

3. tires,
I have run a few, have revo at 2 now in 265/70/17 on 9 inh wide rime.
they are just under 32. I am thinking either toyo open country at2 or nitto terra grappler G2 both in 285/70r17. I like that both come in P rated, 45 or 48lbs, so not terrible on milage. now, I average 20 on my revo 2 or hankook ipike studded in winter, a bit bigger, but not too heavy, maybe 1 -1.5 in milage, but better off road.

Any experience w/ these products?

thoughts?

thx!
Holiday
 
See less See more
#3 ·
ok



they are OK. similar to stock, but feel odd in rebound to me. kind a like a low end mt bike shock. I know the difference between say, an evolution series shock or a performance series in the fox mt bike line, is night and day on the trail.
so,
I thought the upper end fox w/ the reservoir would provide better damping, but still have the adjustability of the rancho.

thx!
Holiday
 
#4 ·
1. Shocks:

The adjustable Fox shocks are a great choice but comparing them to the 9000XL is not a fair comparison. The price and design point is completely different. I have run the Fox 2.0 and I often drive 2 family members JK's with Kings. I prefer the Kings and my next set will be Kings but at the time price point mattered. :)

Performance really comes down to application. On the road the road and at slow speed the 9000XLs are fine but once speed increases and the shocks have to cycle continuously then the Fox shocks will stand out. The Fox 2.0 is a great performance shock with good ride quality but I would never buy it for ride quality alone. For ride quality I would stick with 9000XL.

Ideally a shock will be tuned for the coils it is matched up with. That is why the stock Sahara shocks provide a decent ride even though they are not the best quality. The Fox shocks are in high demand so if you don't like them you can always sell them.
 
#9 ·
thx




good thoughts and help, thanks.

My question comes back to your last 2 points, I like that they are in demand, so I can re sale if they are bad, but between quality and adjustability, I can't see them not being a good choice.
if I still have stock coils, will that limit the benefit? should I look at coils at the same time? Jeep has 42k miles, I bought w/ 19K, and it has been mt roads since then. fora good street ride w/ small bump compliance but level handing, anything recommended?

I am leaning toward tires (going to the 33 inch terra grappler) and the fox reservoire shocks, still on the fence about lockers, due to some stories of the issues on roads in snow when surprises are less then ideal. planning on hells revenge though, and think rear trutrac may be key. Ghecko's comments are what I want, invisible on road, but make a difference when needed in moderate trails in tahoe and moab.

thx for the comments!

Thx!
 
#5 ·
get fox or even bilstein shocks. Get a locker, just do a reviews search for the different brands to see what the majority of users say. And the tires, well thats gonna be a huge debate. The stock rubicon bfg mud terrains are 32 inch and awesome. They ride nice and are relatively quiet. Just my two cents
 
#7 ·
I'm in the process of pricing out a True Trac for mine.
From what I can see for your purposes which are similar to mine it's the perfect choice.
A full locker has very limited benefits on snowy roads when you travel longer distances.
Full lockers are not meant for or even safe while engaged at highway speeds. When not engaged they provide no benefit over open diffs.
 
#10 ·
I have run Toyo AT2 in 285/75-17 in E load and loved them. I know run the same in 285/75-17 and love them more. They are smooth and quiet and handle well off road and on. I just put on some Cooper AT3's in 275/70-17 C load and get the same mpg as I did with the Toyos and the Toyos handle and ride just as well. Being the Coopers are smaller ie actual 31" compared to actual 33" for the toyos they do feel more peppy. I have a 14 rubicon with 4.10's. 285/70-17 are not actually 33 but 32's when on the jeep.

as far as lockers go they work great off road. I think lsd is better for on road. I have had both and that is my experience as I can not think of any road situation I have been in since 1972 that lockers would be needed on road and I live in Montana lol. LSD on the other hand is used often on the road and I miss it in my rubicon. My sport had it. I run Rancho 7000 and no experience with the 9000 but my next set of shocks will be OME.

you don't need lockers for hells revenge but lsd works well on the slick rock.
 
#11 ·
Thx!

Sounds like truetrac lsd will be the right call, with no negatives on road, and some positives, and will help off road.

on your toyo sizing, looks like you said you now run the same size? did you go from 70 to 75, is that the change?

with a stock sahara on hells revenge, no need for even truetrac based on your comment?

Any one know if truetrac lsd beats up on gas milage? seems it shoudn't if it's just free most of the time, but wondering if there is any extra drag.

Thx!
Holiday
 
#15 ·
I have ran oversized Fox remote reservoir shox and have had to replace all of them within 18 months. Bad news is that they warranty them for only one year. The road grime destroys the nylon bushings inside and the entire shock leaks. Then you are without a shock for a few weeks while trying to get it fixed under warranty. There are better shocks. such as King that was mentioned earlier. I like the Bilsteins personally. You will want to find a company that will be able to adjust the valve setup that will compliment your springs.
 
#16 ·
OK,
Shocks are great after 1 day. More follow up later, but so much more solid on rebound damping then rancho, and more solidly planted. sorry you had a bad experience, I hope mine is better. All I know after first impression, is that they are WAAAAAY better then the rancho 9000. would expect that w/ price/quality difference, but I just hoped for a bit better, as a bit better for 2 years is 50k of more enjoyable miles...

New tires are great. ran em for a week before doing other upgrades, and very minor change in power and milage. Not anything like when I put E rated duratracs in this size where the jeep felt slow and lost 4-5mpg. With these p rated toyos, lost .25mpg and power feels same. handling still great, and should be more off road capable then the revo 2 in smaller size.


can't feel truetrack yet, but I am glad I did it for moab.

I also did 3/4 in wheel spacers, as it felt like the larger tires were stuffed in wheel wells, and w/ the 3/4, looks balanced to me.

pics on share site,

https://holidayjeeptour.shutterfly.com/


thx!
Holiday
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top