Verne Simons
Senior Editor, Jp
Whether you realize it or not, shocks play a huge roll in your everyday comfort…that is unless you ride a camel, donkey, or horse to the local "Stab-n-Grab" for $50 worth of '87 octane, corn bread-coated meat on a stick, and a soda pop. That's because every time your Jeep hits a bump on- or off-road, your shocks help to soften the blow. And with the degradation of roads across the country, we are bet you hit your fair share of bumps along the way whether you are headed to the mall or the trailhead. A nice set of shocks is gonna make your Jeep that much more comfortable for both commuting and playing in the dirt. Also, since your Jeep's shocks are constantly being used, chances are they are worn out and you could use a new set. That means shocks make a great gift for just about any Jeeper.
After replacing our standard YJ lift-springs on our "Ground Up" '56 CJ-5 project ("Zoot Scoot Suspension," Oct '13) we quickly realized that in order to get the most out of our high-end leaf springs, we should probably upgrade the fairly standard shocks we were running. So we ended up treating ourselves to a set of 12-inch-travel Fox 2.0 Performance series IFP shocks ($127.99 each). These shocks feature an aluminum body that dissipates heat better than steel and a 5⁄8-inch hard chrome-plated, heat-treated alloy steel shaft. The body also conceals an internal floating piston (IFP) that separates shock oil from a high-pressure nitrogen gas chamber. This allows a superior and predictable ride.
Installation of the Fox Shocks was fairly straightforward, but we had to use a floor jack and a pry bar to get the mounting holes aligned with the mounts, scuffing the black anodized aluminum ends. The ride off-road with tires aired down to around 12 psi is great, with the Foxes soaking up bumps as our four-cylinder powered CJ rattled down Arizona washes with as much speed as we could muster. On-road the ride is a bit firm for our taste, but our 12-inch universal shocks are universally valved, while Fox shocks for a CJ, YJ, TJ and JK as well as other common Jeep applications will be valved for those specific vehicle parameters. Luckily for us, the compression and rebound valving are adjustable, as is the nitrogen pressure on the Performance 2.0 series shocks.
