1989 Jeep Wrangler YJ Shock Upgrade - Ride Redial - Four Wheeler Magazine
Just because your YJ Wrangler is anywhere from 13 to 26 years old doesn’t mean it has to ride like it. Take our ’89 Wrangler “Project Why-J” for example. It’s set up with a nice Rubicon Express 2. 5-inch Standard Duty suspension and upgraded monotube shocks that (when we got the suspension four years ago) were private-labeled for Rubicon Express by Edelbrock. But this past Easter Jeep Safari we were standing next to it when our buddy Shane Casad from Bilstein sauntered up. Shane: “You know, Bilstein has a set of 5100s that’ll make this thing ride like a TJ. ”. Us: “Really. It’s got the Edelbrock monotubes under it and rides pretty good already. What’s so special about the 5100s. ”. Shane: “One of our shock tuners owned a lifted YJ back in the day, so he really dialed them in. ”. At this point we should mention that Edelbrock is no longer in the shock business. Because the new rear shocks were just a tad longer than the ones that came with our suspension, we ordered some Daystar 1-inch-dropped polyurethane bumpstops to prevent the shocks from bottoming upon full compression. So does it ride like a TJ. Well, not really. Compared with our old monotubes, the Bilstein 5100s seem to offer similar compression characteristics, but the 5100s employ more rebound valving. Source: www.fourwheeler.com
