Ok, time for lets argue about your favorite shocks

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That's the springs' fault. The "female" spring is on the left, making all sorts of noise and never shutting up. The male spring (on the right ) is simply being quiet, tolerating her, until he finds a less noisy, better riding version with much less miles on her.....uh.. it. Sorry honey, if you hacked my account here. ;)
 
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Perfect, thank you, so I’ve been beginning to think we were talking past each other…in an ideal dampener (none exist), bias does not impact dampening, even in older shocks, I think over a certain range , the bias had little impact. In newer, more advanced designs, the shocks are designed to respond differently at different biases along with several other parameters and can be tuned extensively.

I’ve only ever bought cheap basic shocks with no tuning or even advanced features, and currently am not looking for anything too fancy, just what will give me the best ride given my current 3in dual rate jks springs.

Also misread your statement, I often confuse my words…so I read springs when you said shocks…my apologies.

I do still suspect that if you did a drastic change to your springs without changing shocks that it would have impact on ride quality, but I am enquiring on that with others.

Also, tires as a first order approximation can be modeled as springs, though there are a lot of non-linearities.

Edited to add in shocks after changing in 3rd para.
Edit again, should have said shock tune.
 
So sorry, but have another question and please understand I’m trying to fill in my gap of physics knowledge with how things currently operate. I understand the first order models of systems and a bit beyond, but think I said earlier I am not familiar at all with what the state of the art in shocks can do…

So, jjvw mentioned that on my Grand Cherokee that the since the ride height changed and the bias on the shock changed (if I’m understanding correctly), that is why the ride was worse. Since bias impacts dampening, did jeep do a poor job planning the air suspension and tuning it to work at all ride heights or is it just not possible to tune it that way?
 
Shocks are not as tunable as springs, you generally have to replace the shocks. You tune the springs to match the shocks and give you the best overall system. And yes, I agree understanding how things work is what matters.
Crap, my apologies, I said that completely backwards…which might have caused a lot of confusion of what I meant. Shocks are tunable, springs not so much! I’m often word dyslexic, not sure if that is a thing but I get my words mixed up.
 
I've had my tuned foxes on the rear for several years now and thought they were pretty great. I was able to drive another jeep with better tuned shocks on a twisty mountain road. Very well planted with almost 0 roll. A turn of the LSC adjuster and immediately felt the difference, more roll, and felt I had to take corners much slower.

I now have a very similar tune, but no adjuster. I still have body roll (though less), but a lot of the smaller harsher events are no longer felt with the new tune. Bigger events are absorbed nicely and the rebound is fast enough that I dont feel like I am in a boat
 
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Crap, my apologies, I said that completely backwards…which might have caused a lot of confusion of what I meant. Shocks are tunable, springs not so much! I’m often word dyslexic, not sure if that is a thing but I get my words mixed up.
If you take a shock with a 50/50 bias for the shaft on a stockish vehicle with roughly 7" of travel, that gives you 3.5" up and 3.5" down. If you do not change the shock and do change the ride height, you are changing the bias. Once that has changed, then the impression of ride quality has to change over the same events due to the shock either bottoming out sooner with a harsh impact or trying to yank the axle off the ground with the same harshness. Both scenarios impact ride quality.

It is fairly impossible, not wholly but almost to create a large change in ride height without impacting ride quality that was not compromised to start with. The almost part comes in with position sensitive tuning that would mitigate that some but not enough to be really worthwhile since you would have to tighten up the tune so much that it in and of itself would present as harshness.

Not sure how your air suspension is set up but I have designed many with air bags and air sleeves. They get exceptionally stiff at full extension since you can drive the effective spring rate through the stratosphere without a change in height. It also helps to know what they are using to limit the full extension. If there is an internal restraint, it is going to ride like dog shit at full height since it is bouncing off the restraint on rebound, any rebound. Best would be an electronic sensor that stops at max suspension height before the air spring gets to full extension. Regardless though, the change in spring rate to get that much height change is far more than we'll ever be able to do amongst the TJ spring offerings.

Combine any of that with compromised shock travel and it has no choice but to ride poorly at full height and I'll also bet there is a section in the owner's manual to that effect.
 
.... A turn of the dsc adjuster and immediately felt the difference, more roll, and felt I had to take corners much slower.

...
LSC. DSC would be be even more dramatic than what mine can do because it can adjust both the high and low speed compression.
 
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I do still suspect that if you did a drastic change to your springs without changing shocks that it would have impact on ride quality, but I am enquiring on that with others.

On our TJs, that "drastic change" cannot happen with any spring that you can buy from anyone. The differences in spring rates across manufacturers is not large enough for you to be able to discern differences due to the springs only.

What matters is the amount shock travel, the travel bias (up vs down) and the tune on the shocks.
 
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On our TJs, that "drastic change" cannot happen with any spring that you can buy from anyone. The differences in spring rates across manufacturers is not large enough for you to be able to discern differences due to the springs only.

What matters is the amount shock travel, the travel bias (up vs down) and the tune on the shocks.
What are the rates available now…I believe many years ago, I was able to find rates from about 175lbs/in to 225lbs/in…

Can I buy a decent new set of shocks out and just go with them with my current springs and get a decent ride without having to do any tuning? My setup now is decent, but feel I have a lot more body roll than I had when I had my RE 4.5 springs (and worn shocks) vs my current jks 3in dual rates (again probably with worn shocks). I love the ride height of my current springs, but feel the roll is much greater and that is what I would like to correct.

And while a few times I messed up my springs and shocks words (sorry everyone!) I still think you tune the shock to the spring, but my missing information was that spring rates don’t vary that much, but I also wasn’t clear I was just thinking in terms of a classic dampener shock with no tuning or adjustment or other modern wonders.

In the end I’m here for more information to fill in the gaps between theory and practice, and what new is…realize my statement saying springs are tunable made me look like a complete idiot though 🤦🏻
 
What are the rates available now…I believe many years ago, I was able to find rates from about 175lbs/in to 225lbs/in…

Can I buy a decent new set of shocks out and just go with them with my current springs and get a decent ride without having to do any tuning? My setup now is decent, but feel I have a lot more body roll than I had when I had my RE 4.5 springs (and worn shocks) vs my current jks 3in dual rates (again probably with worn shocks). I love the ride height of my current springs, but feel the roll is much greater and that is what I would like to correct.

And while a few times I messed up my springs and shocks words (sorry everyone!) I still think you tune the shock to the spring, but my missing information was that spring rates don’t vary that much, but I also wasn’t clear I was just thinking in terms of a classic dampener shock with no tuning or adjustment or other modern wonders.

In the end I’m here for more information to fill in the gaps between theory and practice, and what new is…realize my statement saying springs are tunable made me look like a complete idiot though 🤦🏻
Spring rates are close to what you have posted. There may be some HD that go higher. If that 50lb difference in spring rate made a difference we would have different handling rigs every time we fill up or add a passenger or two or add an ice chest. There just is not enough difference to matter.
 
Spring rates are close to what you have posted. There may be some HD that go higher. If that 50lb difference in spring rate made a difference we would have different handling rigs every time we fill up or add a passenger or two or add an ice chest. There just is not enough difference to matter.
Yeah sadly my TJ has became bloated as well, gaining a few hundred pounds (~400-500 and fortunately most of it hasn’t been because of me!). I’ve been adding spares and tools and other stuff…oh and a big jump in tire size (although that is unsprung weight).

So if a better shock will help me reduce roll, I’m all for it, and I know it can…just want to know if I need a top dollar set or if I can get away with something maybe mid tier or lower…

Edited - apple kept autocorrecting unsprung to inspiring…I have enough issues with my words with out help from autocorrect!
 
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Anyone know what part number RS5000X fit a TJ with 1-1.5" of lift (H&R springs)? My Bilstein 5100s weren't fun over all the manhole covers today. :LOL:

I've actually never run a Rancho shock. Plenty of OME, Bilstein, and even Rough Country when I was younger and dumber.
 
I just installed the Rancho 5000x and drove it yesterday for the first time. Huge improvement in on road ride. I like them so far.
 
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