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Need help understanding what lift and shocks my TJ needs

853 views 4 replies 5 participants last post by  CzerOne 
#1 ·
I have an 03' manual TJ and I've had her for about a year now, and have become more comfortable with working on it, but now I'm starting to look into a newer lift kit and shocks. The ride is rough, I've rid in numerous jeeps, my friends dad has one, and my uncles have had several so I understand, generally how jeeps ride pretty rough, but man is mine bad. So I have done some research on potentially how to soften the ride, but before I drop serious money I could use some advice or website help.

I have an old pair of Pro Comp shocks, which I have seen are essentially no better than stock. So I think they need to be upgrading and have looked into the doetsch tech dt3000, or maybe some rancho or OME's. (Any recommendation would be appreciated). But another issue I'm having is determining what my lift kit is. I have seen how short arms are cheap but lack in ride quality because of the straight up angle, and how long arm lifts might improve my ride. But again, the issue is I cant find out how to identify what my lift is __" and whether it is short arm or long arm. I would hate to buy a new long arm lift only to realize I already had one and the ride quality is the exact same.
Can I get any help???
 
#2 ·
Take some pics and post them here.

Measure between the spring perches. Stock front is 12", rear is 8".
Anything above that is lift.

Nothing wrong with short arms.

How big are your tires and what pressure are you running?
Decent budget friendly shocks that ride good are rancho 5000x or 7000mt.
 
#3 ·
https://www.4wd.com/jeep-lift-kits/long-vs-short-arm.aspx

Real cool article explaining a bit about both. If you read the long arm lift section, it mentions having to cut the stock brackets to weld new ones because they need to be relocated further back. So if you're trying to determine what you have lift wise already then look up where stock brackets are and check to see if yours have been cut and re welded.
 
#5 ·
Good quality shocks (OME, Bilstein, Fox, to name a few) will be the best way to improve your ride quality. As well as making sure you have the proper tire pressures; what size tires are on the Jeep?
 
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