A Story of Indecision and Frivolous Spending
- Thread starter Chris
- Start date
I tried going to your main page to find the name of your current bumpers and I couldn’t find it. What are they called again and does the rear have a hitch mount? You have quite the project going Chris! It looks sweet now. Can’t wait to see the finished product. Or wait, is it ever finished? 
Why Bilsteins? I thought you've been down that road?
derekmac
TJ Addict
Which is also very interesting considering what others say about the 5100.
Perhaps the Jeep West mid-arm kit is focused on trails rather than pavement, so the small event harshness isn’t an issue with the 5100s?
The above post was from September so unless something has drastically changed, @Chris did you decide not to outboard or are you keeping 10” rear shocks even with the outboard?
I think we need more details!
I would think the concern with small event harshness would be just as important off pavement as it is on pavement. I find myself on a lot of long gravel roads leading to the trail that I would prefer to cover quickly and comfortably.
OP
Oops... I totally forgot to ask about both sides. I have to assume yes, but I clarify that for sure next time I speak to him.
I tried going to your main page to find the name of your current bumpers and I couldn’t find it. What are they called again and does the rear have a hitch mount? You have quite the project going Chris! It looks sweet now. Can’t wait to see the finished product. Or wait, is it ever finished?
Those bumpers are the Mopar Rock Crawler bumpers. Very rare, very expensive, and no longer made. The rear doesn't have a receiver hitch, which is one of the reasons I'm getting new bumpers... I need a receiver hits for sure!
As for being finished ever... knowing me, it's unlikely!
The Bilstein 5125 shocks are required for outboarding the rears. To my knowledge, they are a bit narrower than the standard 5100 (which comes into play given how much closer the rear shock is to the tire in terms of clearance when outboarding the rear shocks), but also the 5125s are meant for lots of travel, where as the traditional 5100s don't come in all the travel lengths that the 5125s do. Dave had mentioned he may be able to find a comparable Rancho, but since he exclusively uses the Bilstein 5125s, I figured I would rather go with what he suggests, since he will know better than I will.
As for the fronts, I figured I would rather have 5100s for the front to match them, because I just feel a bit odd running Rancho fronts and Bilstein rears.
I had the 5100s on my old TJ. To be honest, I didn't think they rode all that bad.
I am indeed outboarding the rears. The rear shocks are Bilstein 5125 shocks with a 12" travel, and the fronts will be 5100s with a 10" travel.
The Bilstein 5125 shocks are required for outboarding the rears. To my knowledge, they are a bit narrower than the standard 5100 (which comes into play given how much closer the rear shock is to the tire in terms of clearance when outboarding the rear shocks), but also the 5125s are meant for lots of travel, where as the traditional 5100s don't come in all the travel lengths that the 5125s do. Dave had mentioned he may be able to find a comparable Rancho, but since he exclusively uses the Bilstein 5125s, I figured I would rather go with what he suggests, since he will know better than I will.
As for the fronts, I figured I would rather have 5100s for the front to match them, because I just feel a bit odd running Rancho fronts and Bilstein rears.
It's worth noting that I had the 5100s on my old TJ, and to be honest, I don't think they rode that bad at all. Maybe not as good as my Ranchos, but it's also been a number of years, so it would be hard to say with 100% certainty how they ride, as my memory is a big foggy, and now there are other variables at play such as my D load range tires, whereas back then I was running E load range.
OP
These are the bumpers I’ve been contemplating myself. When do you expect to receive them? Don’t want to miss the review especially with a couple people on here having a bad experience.
OP
Probably not until the middle of next month. When you order them powder coated they take extra time to do the powder coating, so it’s just a waiting game. They still say they are “awaiting fulfillment” when I check my order status.
So hopefully they are back around the same time I get my TJ back from Dave!
OP
I'm trying to hard these past few days to resist using my credit card to buy a supercharger... haha.
In other news, I got notification my JCR rear bumper shipped today. Now I'm just waiting on the front to ship. Here's to hoping the welds aren't crappy like @techster82 mentioned they were on his.
In other news, I got notification my JCR rear bumper shipped today. Now I'm just waiting on the front to ship. Here's to hoping the welds aren't crappy like @techster82 mentioned they were on his.
Will the supercharger work with the LS your buying next year :risas3: