With a 4" lift, which Rancho RS5000X shocks do you run?

freedom_in_4low

freedom_in_4low

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I was thinking I'd run the rs55255, which they advertise for a 3.5" lift. I'd need 3" of bump stop which didn't seem completely out there, but I measured and found that I'm drooping out at about 25.5" on the driver side and about an inch less on the passenger side, so I would be actually losing travel for the extra bump stop and leaving 2" of shaft in the shock body. Seems like that longest shock would need at least midarms to work right.

Am I right or does my extended length not sound right? The limit on the driver side is contact between the lca and the lower shock mount. Passenger just seems to be binding.
 
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IMO, the 55239/55241 combo would work better for up travel. How much down travel can you achieve until your arms bind?
 
I run the 55255/55256 combo for 4” SL, 1.25” BL, and 35” tires. The shocks seem to be relatively close for the travel required.

I could use probably about a half inch more uptravel in the front and an inch in the rear. However, in the rear I am using shock relocation brackets, which extend the effective shock length beyond what I would normally have. I could also work with a bit more downtravel in the rear. But to get there I would need to outboard.
 
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I have the 55255/256 combo with a 3.5" lift and would have went one step down if I could purchase again. I went off advertised and not measured. Mistake.
 
Here is a picture.

55CDCF72-1E17-4F3A-ADA4-02AAB366FCD4.jpeg
 
Seems to be a lot of confusion with these shocks. I ordered RS55255 and RS55256 for the Savvy lift that's en route based off a few others with the same lift, while others say they will be too long.
 
AndrewLJR said:
Seems to be a lot of confusion with these shocks. I ordered RS55255 and RS55256 for the Savvy lift that's en route based off a few others with the same lift, while others say they will be too long.
Click to expand...

That's why you really need to measure everything with the springs off. Every Jeep is slightly different.
 
CodaMan said:
That's why you really need to measure everything with the springs off. Every Jeep is slightly different.
Click to expand...

Thats not really my issue here. Well aware of proper protocol. There's confusion by different vendors marking their recorded lift height. Amazon has the ones I ordered for 4-5" but they're actually 3.5" lifts per rancho, so they are most likely going to be the right ones.
 
AndrewLJR said:
Thats not really my issue here. Well aware of proper protocol. There's confusion by different vendors marking their recorded lift height. Amazon has the ones I ordered for 4-5" but they're actually 3.5" lifts per rancho, so they are most likely going to be the right ones.
Click to expand...

Gotcha. I thought you were referring to the discrepancies on shock lengths brought up here my users.
 
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Are you more likely to need more than 2" up travel or 25" of droop? Seems like an easy choice to me. Get a shock that gives you the most realistic range for your needs. How much up travel can you get without the shock acting as a bump itself?
 
bobthetj03 said:
IMO, the 55239/55241 combo would work better for up travel. How much down travel can you achieve until your arms bind?
Click to expand...

Here are my numbers. The upper shock bushing thickness is a guess (hence the question mark) since I've only put them in place without torquing the upper nut. the "range measurements" are measured metal-to-metal between the shock mounts, so they include the advertised shock length plus the bushing thickness.

The max droop number is where the back edge of the shock bracket makes contact with the lower control arm. The driver side actually hits at 25.5", but once that happens, the track bar won't let the passenger go past 24.5". I suppose clearancing the lower shock mount might be an option, and maybe my choice of rough country LCAs (retrofitted with Johnny joints at the frame end) is hurting me as well, though the tube is offset down on the bushing body to help this exact issue so I don't know what would be better, other than maybe some of those that are bent like Core 4x4.

1587487474342.png


The 239 definitely gives more uptravel, but since what started this was rear shocks that were too short and had inadequate downtravel (2.5"), the downtravel number near 3 makes me nervous, but with the 255 I hate the idea of having this much money in my suspension (all adjustable arms with JJ plus Currie and JKS track bars) only to gain half an inch of travel from stock.

If I ditch the spacers and go back to the 3" lift height, the 239 is the clear winner. It's like the 4" lift puts me in this no man's land of good shock selection because the shortarm won't droop enough. Which is unfortunate because I want to run 4" when I go for new tires, which will be 33's.
 
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I'm thinking of sticking with the 255's since I have them anyway and my stupid ass painted them before trying them on so they're not returnable. They still have great uptravel, and I'll start looking into what I can do with the lower control arms to get better downtravel. Just another inch would be great.

Is clearancing the shock bracket for the LCA a common thing? I've never come across it here. I never imagined 8-9" was the limit with a shortarm suspension with what some of you guys are doing with them, so what are your tricks? :unsure:
 
I have a 4" SL, 1.25" BL, 2" bump stops front and rear.
I have a set of 55239/55241 and a set of 55255/55256, so I have test fitted both combinations. I ended up going with 55239 and 55256

I use the 55239 up front; This gives me 5.5" of up, and 4" of down.
If I went with the 55255, I would have 4.25" of up and 6.25" of down.
I am considering adding a .75" spacer, I'm thinking I could get 5" of up, and 5.5" of down with the 55255 (I would have to check clearances and bump to get actual travel).

In the rear, I have the 55256. This gives me 5" of up and 4" of down.
If I went with the 55241, I would get 5.5" up and 2" of down.

All travel listed is usable with no interferences.
 
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DuncLJ said:
I have a 4" SL, 1.25" BL, 2" bump stops front and rear.
I have a set of 55239/55241 and a set of 55255/55256, so I have test fitted both combinations. I ended up going with 55239 and 55256

I use the 55239 up front; This gives me 5.5" of up, and 4" of down.
If I went with the 55255, I would have 4.25" of up and 6.25" of down.
I am considering adding a .75" spacer, I'm thinking I could get 5" of up, and 5.5" of down with the 55255 (I would have to check clearances and bump to get actual travel).

In the rear, I have the 55256. This gives me 5" of up and 4" of down.
If I went with the 55241, I would get 5.5" up and 2" of down.

All travel listed is usable with no interferences.
Click to expand...

I need to revisit this for my rears.
 
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bobthetj03 said:
I need to revisit this for my rears.
Click to expand...
I must have switched the shocks around on the rear 4 or 5 times with different configurations (Shock extension brackets on/off, zip tie tests, bump/droop tests). It wasn't as clear cut as the numbers suggest. I had to do a lot of experimenting.
 
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DuncLJ said:
I have a 4" SL, 1.25" BL, 2" bump stops front and rear.
I have a set of 55239/55241 and a set of 55255/55256, so I have test fitted both combinations. I ended up going with 55239 and 55256

I use the 55239 up front; This gives me 5.5" of up, and 4" of down.
If I went with the 55255, I would have 4.25" of up and 6.25" of down.
I am considering adding a .75" spacer, I'm thinking I could get 5" of up, and 5.5" of down with the 55255 (I would have to check clearances and bump to get actual travel).

In the rear, I have the 55256. This gives me 5" of up and 4" of down.
If I went with the 55241, I would get 5.5" up and 2" of down.

All travel listed is usable with no interferences.
Click to expand...

great info. Does your 4" lift sit closer to 3.5"? I have unidentified springs from previous owner that sat at 15-1/8" from the lower spring perch to the bottom of the rubber isolator, so I'm calling that 3-1/8" of lift based on the oft-quoted 12" stock spring length at ride height and I'm putting on 3/4" spacers to bump it to 3-7/8".

I had 241's in the rear but after I did my SYE and rotated the axle, I only had 2.4" of downtravel, so I'm now running 256's with the 3/4" spring spacer and appear to be pretty well situated at 5.1 up, 4 down. I say "running" because that's what's installed but I haven't driven it since installing them on Saturday.
 
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freedom_in_4low said:
great info. Does your 4" lift sit closer to 3.5"? I have unidentified springs from previous owner that sat at 15-1/8" from the lower spring perch to the bottom of the rubber isolator, so I'm calling that 3-1/8" of lift based on the oft-quoted 12" stock spring length at ride height and I'm putting on 3/4" spacers to bump it to 3-7/8".

I had 241's in the rear but after I did my SYE and rotated the axle, I only had 2.4" of downtravel, so I'm now running 256's with the 3/4" spring spacer and appear to be pretty well situated at 5.1 up, 4 down. I say "running" because that's what's installed but I haven't driven it since installing them on Saturday.
Click to expand...
My suspension is sitting right at 4" front and rear. Like you, I rotated my pinion after a SYE, it threw all my clearances off. I tried shock relo brackets, but that just caused me to lose uptravel. I ended up trimming my spring perches, and that allowed me to go back to the longer shock.
 
DuncLJ said:
My suspension is sitting right at 4" front and rear. Like you, I rotated my pinion after a SYE, it threw all my clearances off. I tried shock relo brackets, but that just caused me to lose uptravel. I ended up trimming my spring perches, and that allowed me to go back to the longer shock.
Click to expand...

ok, so when you measure for lift height, do you measure the spring length (blue) or the distance between perches (orange - which would include the stock isolator on the upper perch)?

20200419_214534_LI.jpg
 
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