Hi folks - as I slowly turn my attention to the few remaining big ticket items on the evolving "to do" list, I'm looking for suspension advice. My '94 KZJ78 has stock TEMS shocks, one of which has a small leak, along with the original coils. There's currently about a 1-1.5" gap between the axle and bump stops, so as you can imagine speed bumps and washouts are spine jarring.
A couple of questions:
- it looks like OEM shocks are really expensive (like over $300 on a recent search), but are also rebuildable. Should I go the rebuild route, if I can find someone with the expertise, or just have my shop be careful with the removal and try to resell the ones that are still workable?
- on replacements, there seems to be general consensus that OME, Dobinsons, Ironman and Bilsteins are all decent options, dependent on preferences for stiffness of ride, availability, past history, etc. Ironman America has kits specific to the J78, is HQed pretty close to Portland and they've been great to engage with so far, so I'm leaning that way. Does anyone have horror story that would change my mind?
- finally, the choices come down to picking between standard and constant load coils and foam v. nitro shocks. I don't carry a ton of weight other than family and about 200+ pounds of camping supplies over the summer, so the standard coil seems better for everyday driving. On the shocks, I don't plan to put the beast through anything intense, but there is some anecdotal evidence for foam being a smoother ride and potentially longer lasting. Realizing this has been debated before, but does anyone have first-hand experience with the differences?
Thanks in advance, you all have been huge helps so far!
A couple of questions:
- it looks like OEM shocks are really expensive (like over $300 on a recent search), but are also rebuildable. Should I go the rebuild route, if I can find someone with the expertise, or just have my shop be careful with the removal and try to resell the ones that are still workable?
- on replacements, there seems to be general consensus that OME, Dobinsons, Ironman and Bilsteins are all decent options, dependent on preferences for stiffness of ride, availability, past history, etc. Ironman America has kits specific to the J78, is HQed pretty close to Portland and they've been great to engage with so far, so I'm leaning that way. Does anyone have horror story that would change my mind?
- finally, the choices come down to picking between standard and constant load coils and foam v. nitro shocks. I don't carry a ton of weight other than family and about 200+ pounds of camping supplies over the summer, so the standard coil seems better for everyday driving. On the shocks, I don't plan to put the beast through anything intense, but there is some anecdotal evidence for foam being a smoother ride and potentially longer lasting. Realizing this has been debated before, but does anyone have first-hand experience with the differences?
Thanks in advance, you all have been huge helps so far!
