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Coilovers or Air Shocks?

44K views 44 replies 12 participants last post by  deucestudios 
#1 ·
Its a ways off before I will have the $$ to convert my front over to either but I need opinions. I know Im lookin at going with a 14" travel unit but I have a few questions. I have looked around a good bit and its obvious air shocks are cheaper than coilovers, why is that? Is it the reservoir or something? Anyway, I like the look of both but I think air shocks are just a little cleaner. Is there are negative effects to them? How do they ride on the road if they are properly valved? How hard is it to valve them myself? Would the extra cost for coilovers be justified? Basically, give me any info you have on either, especially if you run one or the other. Im really leaning towards air shocks right now nut let me know what you all think. Oh, and its the Balistic air shocks I was lookin at or the King coilovers as well as the Fox coilovers (2" versions).
 
#3 · (Edited)
I'll share some of my webwheeling "knowledge". If I have a choice and could afford it I'd go with coilovers over the airshocks especially if it sees the road. Airshocks are meant to trail use only. The airshocks adjusted for the trail will be way too slow to react on the freeway or as a daily driver. Likewise, airshocks adjusted for the street will be way too stiff to use on the trails and would still be uncomfortable on the street. Thats my laymans understanding of it anyways. There are a bunch of jeeps in our local club that use the airshock but they are trail only rigs and are trailered and not driven on the hwy.

I asked Joe Daro of Absolute Offroad in Phx about coilovers for my tj stretch he's installing. After talking it over I'm going to use regular 7" coil springs in the front and 3" coil springs in the rear. I may later upgrade to coilovers but to get real benefit of maximum droop and up travel I will want to have long 12-14" coilover/shocks and have the tops of the shocks mount to hoop/tubes that extend into the engine bay and into the rear of the tub. Otherwise I'd run shorter 10" coilovers. Theres ALOT of thought and tweaking involved to get the suspension worked out other than just deciding on coilover,airshock, or plain ol coils.

But if I were choosing airshock or coilover I'd choose the coilovers
 
#5 ·
I completely agree with ygohome about functionality.

Air Shocks are for light rigs. Anything over a couple thousand pounds and you want the added features of the coils. I looked long and hard before I bought my coilovers. I don't regret the cost at all. The air shocks just don't have the ability to control the rig as well. Especially in the front of your rig. Pick coil overs and don't look back. I went with poly performance for their spring exchange policy. But since you have a stock motor and stock mounting locations they will be dead nuts on with the proper valving and spring rates you need.
 
#8 ·
Thanks for the input, thats kinda what I expected to hear. I realize its not just deciding one day I want one or the other, I have read up on whats involved and how to ake them work. Im gonna buy my brackets from ballistic fab:
These for the frame end so I can run the longer 14" travel
Coilover / Shock tower
And Im gonna burn these in at the axle end (pretty fair price for a pair I think)
Coilover mount self jigging assembly (2 mounts)
If Ive gotta cut the inside of the fender a little to clear those frame brackets Im not real worried since I figure I would have to anyway.
I guess Im sold on the coilover too. It is a dd so I want it to be comfortable on the road and perform great off road. Thinking about it I havent ever seen air shocks on a dd rig myself. So now comes the choice of which coilovers to get? Like I said I was looking at the Fox and King coilovers.
A little pricy compared to what I wanted to drop on them but I really like them:
eBay Motors: King Coilover Shocks 14" Travel 2.0 with springs (pair (item 270149354634 end time Sep-19-08 12:47:30 PDT)
I really like the piggyback reservoir. Opinions?
 
#9 ·
Also like to know what you guys think about these:
RS9000X™ Pro Series Remote Reservoir Coil-Over Shock Absorber Compressed Length 21.36 in. Extended Length 36 in. Coil Spring Combination 12 in/80 lbs. + 12 in./250 in.
Especially since thins is a lot closer in cost to what I was thinking. Rancho has always made good shocks but I have never heard anything about their coilovers. They look pretty solid to me. The fact that the color matches my rig doesnt hurt either:DYea i said it, color coordination is where its at:rofl:
 
#10 ·
I run more along the coilover lines also. I haven't seen those Rancho's in person yet because they are too new. So I can't comment.

Woody's rig works and works extremely well. He has it limit strapped within an inch of his life. However he has broken 3 air shocks in misc. spots and in reality we don't think he'd have broken them had he went with coilovers and now that he's replaced 3 of them it's not running well in the cost dept. either. :D But like I said his rig works like a mofo. He wheels the hardest trails in the southwest and with along with us some of the craziest bastards in AZ, UT and CA also. :D
 
#12 ·
I have read a few reviews of people who ran the Ranchos (one guy has had them for over 8 months now) and there was not a single bad thing said about them. Matter a fact, one of Ranchos race buggys uses them and has one busted a single shock in 2 years of competition with em. I dont think I drive like that so Im pretty confident they will be plenty strong for me. Another review was of a guy who actually installed them on his TJ to so I saw what they looked like when installed. Must say I like them a lot and I cant wait to eventually have some money again to get them. ($849 bill this week to have my entire rear end rebuilt after a major catastrophe a few weeks ago:mad:).
 
#14 ·
just wondering how this turned out?

I've since rolled the jeep and just got it back from he frame shop. the entire front clip is gone and now is the perfect opportunity to get some big ole hoops welded for some coilovers.

looking at 14" 2.0" dual rate coilovers. any recomendations on getting a good deal (price) from a vender and on a good brand... poly, king etc?

Thanks,

Ben
 
#15 ·
I still havent gotten around to this myself due to lack of funds but your deff. on the right trac with the 14" travel. Id suggest running saw (sway a way) coil overs. But for price Id suggest the Rancho's which are what I was gonna run since they are a bit cheaper, come with coils already, and from what I read are actually some very decent coil overs. I found no instances of them breaking and no one that was unhappy with running them. Those would be my 2 suggestions if you step up to this set up.
 
#16 ·
Thanks, thats good info. A local wheeler, Pierre, is using those sway-a-way tri rate coilovers (2.5 16" I think) on his tube buggy and he loves them.

I didn't want to experiment with new products from Rancho, Ballistic, etc so I'm going with a shock thats been around awhile. Not that they aren't great but I don't want to take that chance. I don't know much about Sway-a-way other than the ones I saw on Pierre's buggy. I think King is a good quality product and I've seen them on alot of rigs so thats what I might end up with.

So I'm about to pull the trigger on some dual rate 14" 2.0 KING coilovers without resevoir (since its just for crawling) and some King hydroulic bumpstops with mounting cans. Total is about $1350 for the front, which is all I'm doing at the moment. Trying to see if I can find a better price but I think this is fair. I might be able to find better price for preowned-notused/new shocks on Pirate4x4 but I hate searching/weeding through the forums, lol.
 
#17 ·
Yea, that sounds pretty good to me. I was gonna suggest Kings but I wasnt sure about a budget. They are certainly a tryed and true coil over. If you got the $$ then go with those by all means but sway-a-ways are very good shocks as well.
 
#18 ·
i ended up buying fox instead of the king. got a great price onthem. probably be a few weeks before they get installed. i ordered them without coils so that Joe and Ryan at Absolute Offroad can experiment with the best spring rates for my jeep when they stretch it. that way i dont haveto worry about buying the wrong springs and returning them... that will be left to Joe and I'll just pay him.
 
#24 ·
Trip knows that, he's asking what the spring rate is of a stock Jeep coil spring from the factory. I think its around 185lbs. trip but I could be wrong. For some reason that number is sticking in my head.
 
#25 ·
Ok so my brother and i have a custom build that we are doing. Its a trail only rig.. but might see pavement to show off at work once or twice.
But other then that its trail only.
Airshocks from what i have read will work just fine for that?

 
#33 ·
lol think mine has a .29 motor on it now. Wheelies even with the long ratios are easy to do.

I dont know what the top speed of it is but stock its rated at like 58 mph. I have the long ratios with a pipe so i would assume 75-80mph in just couple seconds where keeping the nose down is the main problem.
 
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