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4x4, 8100, adjustable, Bilstein, Jeep, JLU, new, new release, off-road, overland, overlanding, performance, Rancho, review, rock crawl, RS7MT, suspension, trail, Wrangler -

Ride Review - Rancho RS7000MT - Jeep Wrangler JLU Rubicon

The Shock Surplus team decided to mix things up on the Wrangler JLU Rubicon. You might be wondering, why take off the Bilstein 8100s with External Bypass and Ride Adjustment? Lets dive in and get reacquainted with our mission. Its not always about running the best, otherwise our rigs would all have 2.5 or 3.0 shocks with kitted-out suspensions. That’s not the case though, we take the upgrade journey seriously, and know there’s a huge range of budgets and use-cases. With Rancho’s latest redesign of their 7000 series, we had to take a look. Rancho had a previous model of...

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4runner, big bear, camping, events, jeep, JLU, News, off-road, overland, overlanding, performance, Pure 4x4, rock crawl, SDI, suspension, tacoma, trail, wrangler -

Pure 4x4 Basecamp 3.0 SoCal Recap

Basecamp 3.0 arrived in Big Bear with a bang! Over 300 vehicles showed up at Holcomb Ranch to get dirty, party, run trails, and talk shop. When we saw all the rigs rolling out of Tahoe from Basecamp 2.0 a few months back, we knew we couldn’t miss this one. People from all over the country showed up to Basecamp; Washington, Florida, the midwest, Norcal - “We dont have these mountains back east!” It was great putting faces to names; Baja Designs, VTX Wheels, Yotamafia, American Adventure Lab, Long Beach Overland, CORVA and a bunch of others. Wayne from Suspension...

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adjustable, fox, install, IQS, jeep, jl, JLU, off-road, offroad, review, wrangler -

Installing the Fox iQS

Intelligent Quick Switch allows on the fly compression adjustment to all 4 corners of the vehicle simultaneously. Through the Live Valve motorized base valves, the Fox ECU immediately changes how firm or soft the compression settings are for each corner of the vehicle. This makes a noticeable and significant difference in ride quality, comfort, and most importantly vehicle control. How easy? An in-cab 3-position rocker switch; Soft / Medium / Firm. This is all on top of Fox’s class leading aluminum shock design and performance valved shocks to tackle tough terrain while providing improved handling and road manners. Installation Video...

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4x4, 8100, adjustable, bilstein, bypass, eastern sierras, jeep, jl, JLU, off-road, performance, review, suspension, trail, wrangler -

Bilstein 8100 First Impressions and Wrangler Review

Its just not fair to compare the Bilstein 8100 external bypass shocks against the previous setups on this 2019 Jeep Wrangler JLU, but we’re going to do it anyways. Suspension Timeline This JLU has previously seen the stock suspension, then the Rock Sport shocks from Metal Cloak when the 3.5” lift kit was installed. After about 10k miles with the base lift kit, Fox 2.0 IFP shocks were installed, which improved offroad performance significantly in terms of taking harder hits and bottom out resistance in the faster terrain. After Fox, we had to pit the King 2.0 head to head...

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4x4, adjustable, adventure, BP-51, camping, eastern sierras, jeep, jl, JLU, monache meadows, off-road, offroad, old man emu, overland, overlanding, review, suspension, tacoma, toyota, trail, wrangler -

Exploring Monache Meadows

New shocks call for new terrain! After a fresh suspension install, we love jamming out of town to hit the dirt and climb some mountains to evaluate the changes in the vehicle’s ride control. After visiting Los Angeles for a week, it was time to bounce up north and find somewhere to run the Old Man Emu BP-51 shocks. Somewhere mountainous and forested was preferable, crisp morning air to recharge the battery. After staying around Kennedy Meadows on night one, we accidentally happened across the Monache Meadows trail area and figured we’d head up to hunt for the next camp...

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