Quality Off-Roading Shock: Pro Comp or KYB?

what one should i get? the KYB is cheaper, but is it a good quality for off-roading? i dont want a shock that will wear out to fast, since i am on a fixed income, i dont mind spending a lil more for quality n reliability

 

Had Pro-Comp on my Jeep TJ back in the day and they were garbage. I don't know anything about KYB so I can't help you there...

 

I have KYB Gas-a-just on my Tacoma and Monomax on the 4Runner. Excellent quality. Made in Japan. Very satisfied... so far.

 

I f you don't mind spending the money on a quality and reliable off road shock, why don't you get Old Man Emu.

 

Don't even consider the Procomps. I ran them almost exclusively on the street and the seals and bushings were toast 50k miles later.

 

Are OME's really worth their money? $107 for a non-rebuildable shock seems pretty steep. I am also curious in this subject too, as I was looking into shocks after I add a small 2" lift.

Kinda' funny but back in high school we used to call KYBs Kill Your Backs, but we ran them on everything! I had them on baja bugs to my '83 Toyota 4x4 to most recently, my lowered street bug. I've always liked them.

 

To get rebuildable shocks, you're gonna have to drop almost triple the amount of money over a non rebuildable, and that's at the low end. If you have the cash, get the King reservoir shocks with click adjusters for just under $2k for the fronts and a little over $1k for the rears. They are extremely nice shocks and are worth the money.

 

I don't think there is any reason you'd put an adjustable 2.5 King reservoir shocks on a stock truck. You can get a smooth body 2.0 Fox for around $130, but this is not my argument. I'm just asking what makes to OME shocks over $20 each more money than any other sealed shock? Are they really worth it?

I went through this same dilemma years ago with my F-350. At this time all the cool kids in southern California where sticking dual resi Kings, Fox's or Dirt Logics on their superduty on 38's. Seemed worthless to me, I didn't need dual resi's on a lifted leaf sprung truck that all it was doing was getting my crap to the desert. I went to buy Bilstein's but ended up with Fox's valved for my truck for less than $30 a piece difference.

 

OME has proven reliability, at least to me. I've had many different brands of shocks on my vehicles over the years and installed many different brands on vehicles as well. For the money, if yoy want to lift the vehicle, OME is the way to go for sealed shocks. I've seen and had leaking problems with Bilstein early on with no reason for them to fail, I haven't had any issue with ToyTec/Eibach, Rancho is a bit stiff, Monroe is for no lift, and they're basic, then yes, Fox also makes a quality sealed shock, but have no experience with their coil over shocks.

 

That's was I was looking for! I know people like the OME stuff, just wanted a first hand experience.

We ran Fox Shox mainly because they are local, and now that's all my buddy uses on his Trophy and 6100 trucks he builds. But I've never seen a sealed Fox shock.

My 4runner will be getting a ball joint spacer & coil lift for now. But I'll probably opt for a less expensive shock for the time being. No sense in spending unnecessary money on it when it's all gonna be coming back off in less than a year.

 

The KYB's that you found, are they for stock height or lifted? Where did you find them?

 

I recommend bilstein. Very dependable and not too expensive.

 

Bilstein. Do it right the 1st time.

 

I ran bilsteins on my 91 pickup and they were a great shock for a decent price. I just got the stock height ones because of no lift, they treated me well for 35,000 miles until I sold it.

Recently built a 1995 4runner with the KYB red brand, +2 in the front to account for lift, couldn't find +2 for the rear so went the route of cutting off old mounts and welding on Trailgear shock mounts higher up with stock length shocks.

The ride is firm but responsive, unless you plan on harder wheeling off road I think these would be an awesome option, my goal for the build was budget minded. If I was going to lean harder on a more off-road rig I would have gone with the OME shocks.

+1 for KYB

 

I just pulled the trigger on Icon 2.0 VS series rears. They're REALLY not a bad price @ $310/pair for rebuildable, and revalveable rear shocks. I'm gonna be throwing them on with radflo 2.0 coilovers and some icon 2" rear springs, soon. Will let you know how I like them, but for a name like icon, and completely adjustable/repairable shocks, I don't think I could see it going wrong lol.