Ok I need a little help compensating for a bull bar.

Ok I'm looking for some type of a replacement shock suggestion for when I get my ARB bull bar. What would the best replacement be for my shocks to compensate for the added weight and still give me as good road handeling as I have now stock. Not sure if this is possible. Also I'm adding a front skid plate if that weight needs to be taken into consideration. I'm planning on slowly working my way into more off roading and don't want to life my X as or right now.

I did a searh but had touble finding an exact answer to my question.

I believe any of the reputable aftermarket shocks (rancho, bilstein, edelbrock, old man emu) would be fine for you. Just get the stiffer option to compensate for the added weight of the bumper and possibly a winch in the future.

Oh and btw, Ive had my ARB and winch on for over a year now and havent noticed much of a difference, so it wont kill you if you dont buy the shocks right away.

Thanks!

What percentage stiffer would I want to go with.

Oh ok cool deal thanks for the great info.

OK I am going to bring this one back up.

I am going to get a ShrockWorks front bumper, and I have looked at a bunch of other posts, and I am a bit confused, some say get thicker torsion bars instead of shocks, some say get stiffer shocks, others like this one say nothing is needed right away. I am not going to get a winch, so would stiffer shocks up front be enough or would I also need torsion bars???

Actually , both are correct to an extent.

Think of it this way. The torsion bars job is to suspend sprung weight at the front of the vehicle. (Sprung weight is all of the weight of the truck that’s supported by the springs and shocks) Hence the term , suspension. The job of the shocks is to dampen the rebound and compression of that sprung weight.

The OE torsion bars have been given a certain value of spring rate based on the weight of a stock vehicle ; a lighter vehicle. The factory torsion bars already have a relatively soft setting as it is so by adding the additional sprung weight , you are asking a lot of the factroy torsion bars.

By changing them to a stiffer spring rate bar like the Sway-A-Away , Calmini , or SLR 300m you are firming up the ride and supporting the additional weight.

As far as the shocks , again with the additional wieght , the OE shocks are less likely to effeciently handle the increased loads and perform properly over an extended period of time.

Changing to a stiffer (20%) shock it should prevent front end dive at braking , rear end squat on acceleration , sway when cornering , and possible bottoming out.

Before I lifted my truck , I took a brand new X out for a test drive. One thing I wanted to do was go over a bump or dip at speed and see the difference between OE and mine with the billstein shocks and no lift.

On the test drive I found some rail road tracks and went over them at speed. The brand new truck bounced up and down like a bobblehead doll in comparison to my truck equipped with aftermarket shocks. Now with aftermarket t-bars as well as the shocks , going over the same tracks is firm , but there is no dive or bouncyness.

A pogo stick! I was trying to find the right thing to compare the stock truck going over the tracks to a modified suspension. Stock was like a pogo stick.

Nice post SocalpunX.

Thanks for the information, it makes a lot more sense now, Really!

Keeping in mind that I won't be going off road more than 2-3 times a year, and I won't be putting any other after market parts on my X, other than a skid plate up front and possibly sliders, I still have a couple questions. One if I put new shocks on, like Bilsteins with 20% stiffness, can I get away with just cranking the stock torsion bars up a little? At this point, financially I would like to just do the shocks, maybe in the future torsion bars. 2nd question, in your opinion should I follow what Bilstein says to put on 20% in front and OE in back, or put 10% or 20% in the back, again keeping in mind I'll be on the road most of the time?

Thanks, Erik

Thanks for all the great help.

I think what I'm finding that mod'ing your X is just as soon as you change one thing there is an equal and opposite reaction and modding continues on in a chain reaction.

Newton's little known fifth law of Xterra modification

Oh right X=-$ is the formula I think.

i had an ARB with the 20% stiffer bilstein shocks and it felt well controlled. cranked up the torsion bars alittle since your front end will sag more. a year later i added a winch and sway aways with a 3" lift. if you do get a winch i'd recommend getting the sway away torsion bars (or another more heavy duty torsion bar) since they are 20-30% stiffer and can compensate for the additional weight.

you can then figure up the equation of lost fuel mileage, lol.