Novak Conversions Jeep Wrangler TJ engine mounts

All in the name of science

rasband said:
I’m not sure if “they” is savvy, but if it is:

I emailed them asking about the tunes as I have a set of 12” on order. They said they have to send them out to their tuner and asked for details of my rig for when they eventually arrive. I’m not sure that if I didn’t ask if they would have reached out or not, so I’ll be curious if mine end up getting sent out.
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Are we talking about the same Fox shocks that @JMT installed, or remote resi"s? Remote resi's are a whole different ball game.
 
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JMT said:
@Fargo and @bobthetj03, I’m ready to give my shock report for the Fox Savvy TJ Valved offering on my Jeep. Right off the bat, I don’t know the weight of my Jeep for sure. I will try to get that so this is more meaningful.

These are the shocks:
Front https://savvyoffroad.com/product/fox-tjf4/
Rear

https://savvyoffroad.com/product/fox-tjr4/
Prior experience:
I’ve run stock shocks on a 2004 Sport, KYB on a 2003 Rubicon, old OME, Bilstein 5100’s, and Rancho 5000x on an 2005 X. These shocks were installed on the 2005 X along with a set of 4” Currie coils. Of all these shock setups, the ones with a good travel bias were the stock shocks, the OME, and the Rancho’s. Travel bias for the Fox’s is below

The Fox Savvy were driven on this setup:

33’s, with hardtop and without (slight improvement with), spare delete, rear seat.

Front Coils 16 3/4” (4 3/4” Lift)
Front Shock Travel 4 7/8” Up 4 5/8” Down
Rear Coils 13 1/4” (5 1/4” Lift)
Rear Shock Travel 5 3/4” Up 3 1/3 Down

Buttometer:
Stiffer than the Rancho 5000x. Possibly more control. Possibly as stiff as Bilstein 5100’s. The Rancho’s were more fun to drive IMO.

Onroad
Highways = good
poor neighborhood streets = terrible
Potholes = jarring
Washboard gravel = surprisingly pretty good

Off-road (aired down to 10 psi)
Hill climbs = good
Descents = good
Rock crawling = good
Woopdedoo’s = poor unless you really slow down

Overall one of those shocks you spent more money on so you say, “I’ll get used to it .” If they tuned it for the TJ, I’d like to know more. What weight TJ? Nothing special except they are pretty. I preferred the Rancho’s, but I would like to try them on my new setup before being certain. The Jeep feels entirely different.
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Those fox shocks sounds like they ride similar to the KYB mono max, at least around town and on the highway. Also, I've heard the foxes ride stiff, about like Bilsteins, so what you're saying confirms that.
 
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bobthetj03 said:
Still curious to see how much your jeep weighs.
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Got it! This is the weight from a recycling plant a few weeks ago. I had a trailer, but I subtracted the max loading weight from the GVWR which gives the trailer weight, and then subtracted that from my scale weight. I did NOT have the hardtop on at the time.

4,450lbs

EDIT: my sons and I weigh 442, so the dry weight of the rig (discounting gas, bc I don’t know how much was in the tank)

without hardtop
~4000lbs

with hardtop
~4115lbs
 
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bobthetj03 said:
We are talking about 2 completely different types of shocks, no?
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JMT said:
Yes, two different shocks.
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Two different shocks physically yes, but not really different types. It’s all just oil flow and shims, some have more space for oil movement than others which changes characteristics based on temperature (more oil, aka reservoir, means temps don’t typically rise as quickly, which translates to less fade) but otherwise they’re fundamentally the same.

So I’d say no, we aren’t talking about completely different types of shocks. Regardless I’m missing your points, they can both be tuned. I simply said that I reached out to savvy and expect to see some type of tune, which shock it is isn’t relevant, and assumed maybe they’re more passive on people that don’t.
 
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rasband said:
Two different shocks physically yes, but not really different types. It’s all just oil flow and shims, some have more space for oil movement than others which changes characteristics based on temperature (more oil, aka reservoir, means temps don’t typically rise as quickly, which translates to less fade) but otherwise they’re fundamentally the same.

So I’d say no, we aren’t talking about completely different types of shocks. Regardless I’m missing your points, they can both be tuned. I simply said that I reached out to savvy and expect to see some type of tune, which shock it is isn’t relevant, and assumed maybe they’re more passive on people that don’t.
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Good post. I can relate a little with our MTB shocks which we’ve rebuilt, but I’m not where you are. I think I’ll reach out to Savvy too, since I’m not really happy.
 
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From what I was told…Savvy specs the shocks and has Fox deliver them that way.


Paul from Full Stack said while they are tunable, he really doesn’t want to mess with them as the needle to charge them is expensive, small and easy to break.

I bought the Savvy shocks thinking I’d have him tune them. I should have asked before I bought.


I’m not unhappy with them, but being I’m 30 minutes from Full Stack and have known Paul for 20 years, I’d have him drive and tune my TJ for me.



I have no frame of reference like JMT who has ran the different shocks, mine were old blown out hydro junk shocks when I bought the Jeep, so it felt great to me. 😂
 
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I dont claim to know much about shock tuning but I have ran 3 different sets of fox shocks and properly tuned race series are not comparable to anything else i have tried.

Non reservoir IFP's ride like shit.

Accutune performance series reservoirs ride like shit.

Properly tuned race series transformed the jeep.
 
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Wildman said:
This is probably some good advice if you're wanting a tuned shock. Contact Full Stack and talk to Paul @pcoplin on here and verify which shocks you'll want.
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No kidding, because at this point, if you don’t want to go as far as a tuned shock, just get some Rancho’s is my advice.
 
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rasband said:
Two different shocks physically yes, but not really different types. It’s all just oil flow and shims, some have more space for oil movement than others which changes characteristics based on temperature (more oil, aka reservoir, means temps don’t typically rise as quickly, which translates to less fade) but otherwise they’re fundamentally the same.
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Just wanted to clarify, I have a general assumption of what most on here are expecting from a tuned fox shock, which may be wrong. But, if you've never gotten your shocks to the point where they are too hot to touch, shock fade isn't anything you need to worry about as far as making a difference between two shocks with varying oil capacity
 
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Novak Conversions Jeep Wrangler TJ engine mounts
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