12' Gecko Build

Alight reaching out for some advise here.
Now that the new axles wheels and tires are bought and my old axles are sold i still have a healthy budget to address some suspension work while everything is out.

I'm currently running 6 out of 8 adjustable control arms (front lowers are still stock) 2" evo plush rides +1" spacer front coils 2.25" OME med duty coils +1" spacer in the rear and rancho 9000s all around that have been on for about 4 years now. And some hockey puck bump stops. It's about as basic as it gets with no frills.

I'm moving up to 38s which shouldn't throw off too much but I was toying with the option of going up to evo 3" plush rides and some nicer shocks or i do have the money left do evo bolt on coilovers. Just not sure what all is worth it for the money as some of those 2.0/2.5 bypass shocks can get pretty expensive, bolt on coilovers are great but for the price are they a significant step up from a coil and shock?
I am actively avoiding major weld on projects for now to reduce some work later when I stretch it.

From everything out there people have tried wheres the best bang for the buck that flexes decent and can handle a little bit of faster driving to enjoy the v8 without going full weld on DTD type set ups? I can essentially start from scratch at this point and have about 7k to work with
 
How far out are you from doing your stretch project? Might be worth saving that 7k towards that, rather than another stepping stone.
 
benatc1 said:
How far out are you from doing your stretch project? Might be worth saving that 7k towards that, rather than another stepping stone.
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Thats a good 10 years out. Im planning on it being my retirement project. Wanting to do the full triangulated 4 link move the gas tank 16" coilovers etc....
So kinda looking for a 10 year solution that will still be fun with the V8 and 1 tons without being a big fab job to be cut off later
 
desertrunner said:
Thats a good 10 years out. Im planning on it being my retirement project. Wanting to do the full triangulated 4 link move the gas tank 16" coilovers etc....
So kinda looking for a 10 year solution that will still be fun with the V8 and 1 tons without being a big fab job to be cut off later
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I gotcha, yea no need to wait that long lol. Based on people’s general opinion for bolt on coilovers for the JK, it’s seems like it’s not that much better than a good coil/2.5 shock combo, and maybe could save some cash for other parts of the suspension.
 
benatc1 said:
I gotcha, yea no need to wait that long lol. Based on people’s general opinion for bolt on coilovers for the JK, it’s seems like it’s not that much better than a good coil/2.5 shock combo, and maybe could save some cash for other parts of the suspension.
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Thats kinda where I'm at. I got no problems running a coil and shock. The 3" coils and some nice shocks seems like a good option.

Tons of options on shocks out there, would love to hear if something like a king 2.5 is worth the money or not.

Coilovers sounds dope but only if the performance is worth the extra few grand and tuning and maintenance.

Waiting to drop the big money on fab and Coilovers for the stretch but 10 years is still a good amount of time i wanna run a decent suspension to wheel with the 38s and V8
 
desertrunner said:
Thats kinda where I'm at. I got no problems running a coil and shock. The 3" coils and some nice shocks seems like a good option.

Tons of options on shocks out there, would love to hear if something like a king 2.5 is worth the money or not.

Coilovers sounds dope but only if the performance is worth the extra few grand and tuning and maintenance.

Waiting to drop the big money on fab and Coilovers for the stretch but 10 years is still a good amount of time i wanna run a decent suspension to wheel with the 38s and V8
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Yea absolutely, king 2.5s definitely worth it if you want to go fast off road, I loved the set I had on a JK, but if you just crawling, a solid 2.0 will do the job. Curious what others have to say
 
benatc1 said:
Yea absolutely, king 2.5s definitely worth it if you want to go fast off road, I loved the set I had on a JK, but if you just crawling, a solid 2.0 will do the job. Curious what others have to say
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I think the only argument I've heard against something like the king 2.5s is that they need to be rebuilt from time to time and if you cant do it yourself then shipping them off to king is a long wait and quite expensive where you could just buy a brand new set of ranchos every year and never even come close to spending what it cost to run and maintain the kings. I have owned in the past a set of Fox 2.0 bypass shocks that I did notice a decent amount of added comfort while carrying speed over the set of bilsteins they replaced
 
Yea that’s true, but you’re going to get better performance with kings, all depends on what you’re using your jeep for l guess and how many miles your putting on will determine when to rebuild. Could always keep a pair of ranchos or similar on the shelf for when you send the kings off, I personally found a local shop to do them, took a day, so no real down time. Certainly can be a challenge but then it feels like you have new kings, when you get em back..Likely any res shock will feel better for longer, hence the cost. I love the way ranchos and alike ride, but you can kill a set with a good day in the desert without much trouble, but you are right, you can buy like 8 sets of ranchos for the cost of 2.5 kings lol.
 
benatc1 said:
Yea that’s true, but you’re going to get better performance with kings, all depends on what you’re using your jeep for l guess and how many miles your putting on will determine when to rebuild. Could always keep a pair of ranchos or similar on the shelf for when you send the kings off, I personally found a local shop to do them, took a day, so no real down time. Certainly can be a challenge but then it feels like you have new kings, when you get em back..Likely any res shock will feel better for longer, hence the cost. I love the way ranchos and alike ride, but you can kill a set with a good day in the desert without much trouble, but you are right, you can buy like 8 sets of ranchos for the cost of 2.5 kings lol.
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At this point I'm going after the performance. Jeep is not a DD I hardly drive it to work like once or twice a month. Shoot I think my jeep has seen maybe 5k miles in the last 5 years. But V8 and 1 tons I need something better than the ranchos under there for sure.

How often were you getting them rebuilt?

On the topic of cost for performance the king 2.5s being about 3k for a set vs the bolt on coilovers for like 5k sounds like I'd be better off with the 2.5s on the JK over the coilovers (for now knowing coilovers are being saved for something bigger)
 
desertrunner said:
At this point I'm going after the performance. Jeep is not a DD I hardly drive it to work like once or twice a month. Shoot I think my jeep has seen maybe 5k miles in the last 5 years. But V8 and 1 tons I need something better than the ranchos under there for sure.

How often were you getting them rebuilt?

On the topic of cost for performance the king 2.5s being about 3k for a set vs the bolt on coilovers for like 5k sounds like I'd be better off with the 2.5s on the JK over the coilovers (for now knowing coilovers are being saved for something bigger)
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Depending on which 4 link system you're going with, you may be able to re-use the 2.5's down the road, just check out the length you're going to need. The great thing about Kings, or comparable CO's is that they can be rebuilt and you'll not have that expense later on. Also check on the clearances on the larger 2.5's

Mine see comparable mileage that you noted and it's been 2 years since I've installed them. When it's time I am going to rebuild them myself. There are enough tutorials out there that I'm sure I'll be able to handle it. Biggest thing is getting a Nitrogen bottle & fill valve setup so you can recharge/adjust pressures on them. I went to a welding shop and got set up with everything when I did the last axle set. It's nice being self sufficient
 
Ddays said:
Depending on which 4 link system you're going with, you may be able to re-use the 2.5's down the road, just check out the length you're going to need. The great thing about Kings, or comparable CO's is that they can be rebuilt and you'll not have that expense later on. Also check on the clearances on the larger 2.5's

Mine see comparable mileage that you noted and it's been 2 years since I've installed them. When it's time I am going to rebuild them myself. There are enough tutorials out there that I'm sure I'll be able to handle it. Biggest thing is getting a Nitrogen bottle & fill valve setup so you can recharge/adjust pressures on them. I went to a welding shop and got set up with everything when I did the last axle set. It's nice being self sufficient
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Are you running the king 2.5 res shocks on your fusion 60/14 set up?
 
Oh ben and I were talking about the king 2.5 reservoir shocks not the coilovers.

Are those weld on king coilovers? That is actually really good to see the rear of yours as the mini truss for the uppers is my plan too. Big difference on mine is the 2 door stretch and not being able to rear mount the gas tank like that.
 
The whole stretch 4 link deal is a good 10 years down the line (my retirement project plan) so looking for that 10 year solution before I go full under the knife and cut it all up.
Was talking with Ben about doing just a coul and high performance shock Vs the bolt on coilovers route. Trying to avoid too much fab to be cut off in the future. Sounds like the bolt on set ups for the JK aren't nearly as a step up than the JL ones are and that a coil and the 2.5 king res shocks would be a solid set up
 
desertrunner said:
At this point I'm going after the performance. Jeep is not a DD I hardly drive it to work like once or twice a month. Shoot I think my jeep has seen maybe 5k miles in the last 5 years. But V8 and 1 tons I need something better than the ranchos under there for sure.

How often were you getting them rebuilt?

On the topic of cost for performance the king 2.5s being about 3k for a set vs the bolt on coilovers for like 5k sounds like I'd be better off with the 2.5s on the JK over the coilovers (for now knowing coilovers are being saved for something bigger)
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I want to say I had em rebuilt around 15k miles? Maybe it was 20k. Id argue coilovers will bring better performance when set up right, but definitely a higher cost, and I think in general people haven’t been fully satisfied the way the JK bolt on coilover kits perform vs king 2.5 shock, I’d say save a little cash an EVO 3” with their valved king 2.5s will do you great. Id definitely recommend the front EVO/king air bumps too.
 
benatc1 said:
I want to say I had em rebuilt around 15k miles? Maybe it was 20k. Id argue coilovers will bring better performance when set up right, but definitely a higher cost, and I think in general people haven’t been fully satisfied the way the JK bolt on coilover kits perform vs king 2.5 shock, I’d say save a little cash an EVO 3” with their valved king 2.5s will do you great. Id definitely recommend the front EVO/king air bumps too.
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🤣🤣 bumps were on my short list too. Not that I'm too proud to be ghetto but I do have a good laugh from time to time hitting something fast off road with a 470Hp V8 only to come down on a $3 set of hockey puck bump stops
 
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