Struts: OEM vs Bilstein vs OME

[07JeepXK]

I'm hearing alot of squeaking from the rear of my Jeep since I added the F-150 load levelers. Any ideas or thoughts to minimize this noise or am I just stuck with it?

Also, where are th ebest places and pricing to purchase the OME extended fron struts for the 2" lift?

The OME struts are the same exact measurements as OEM factory struts. There identical, just 10x better.

OK4wd.com or SA (talk to Knappster)

[Matt]

X2.... OME struts are not longer. I personally measured them.

As for the squeaking, did the rubber sleeves on yours slide down to the bottom of the tube? These sleeves prevent the helper spring from rubbing against the tube which makes noise. I glued mine in place.

[cprokopf]

X2.... OME struts are not longer. I personally measured them.

As for the squeaking, did the rubber sleeves on yours slide down to the bottom of the tube? These sleeves prevent the helper spring from rubbing against the tube which makes noise. I glued mine in place.

Would an extended length strut be beneficial with the lift?

[paroxysym]

Best price I've found is kolak on JF. I'd look into bilstein HDs or Monroe sensatraks or reflexes- I've seen a couple guys run those and have decent results

[cprokopf]

This just got more confusing. I've heard mixed things about the monroe front struts. I need soemthing to firm up the ride and work a little better with the lift.....if possible.

[Matt]

Would an extended length strut be beneficial with the lift?

There's really not much benefit to be had on these vehicles by an extended length strut. Our IFS geometry is pretty much maxed out with our current strut travel. If you take off your front sway bar and fully extend your suspension you'll see that your spindle will already be hitting your strut (due to your spacer lift, it would be close to hitting with a spring lift), the CV's will already be at an extreme angle and the tie rod will be close to maxed out.

As a matter of fact, your spacer lift effectively acts as an "extended length" strut. One of the benefits I found with the OME strut/spring lift is that i eliminated that "over extended" condition from my spacer lift (i used to have the RC). So now when im offroad im not as worried about blowing a CV or busting my outer tie rod.

That's my $.02 anyways.

[Matt]

This just got more confusing. I've heard mixed things about the monroe front struts. I need soemthing to firm up the ride and work a little better with the lift.....if possible.

Bilstein and OME struts will be more firm than Monroe; Monroe Reflex is an excellent shock/strut, used to install a lot of them at the shop. They'll firm up the ride over stock, but they're softer than others because they're targeted as a DD upgrade, not an offroad performance shock.

[paroxysym]

This just got more confusing. I've heard mixed things about the monroe front struts. I need soemthing to firm up the ride and work a little better with the lift.....if possible.

OME is great but ideal with the OME coils. The bilsteins are a popular and less expensive upgrade for struts. You'll hear a lot of great things about them. Id go that route if I were you or check out the Monroe's if you plan on daily driving it a hell of a lot more than wheeling it.

[07JeepXK]

OME is great but ideal with the OME coils. The bilsteins are a popular and less expensive upgrade for struts. You'll hear a lot of great things about them. Id go that route if I were you or check out the Monroe's if you plan on daily driving it a hell of a lot more than wheeling it.

I had the Bilstein stuts on my XK prior to the OME that I'm currently running and they were garbage. Both struts blew in less than 6 months!

[paroxysym]

I had the Bilstein stuts on my XK prior to the OME that I'm currently running and they were garbage. Both struts blew in less than 6 months!

thats the first ive heard of that... what the hell did you do? lol

i wouldnt call them garbage..