Rough Country Vertex shocks

Green Goblin

New member
I wanted to share a rather interesting event that happened today with me........

After some careful research and looking over my budget for my Jeep, I recently decided to pull the trigger and purchase the entire set of RC Vertex shocks for my 4" lifted '18 Jeep JL Sahara. For the record, I ordered the reservoir shock (SKU #699007 & 689007 - shown below) that fits my JL. I received the set at my house and was excited to see then close up. After the videos and write ups, I liked the looks and all the capabilities the box and their website says these shocks have. In my excitement, I opened up one of the 4 boxes and went through the entire contents and noticed that there were no instructions placed inside of it. So, I opened another box and found the same result, no written instructions. I went ahead and opened the other 2 boxes and did not find any instructions at all in any of them.

Now I know these are just shocks, one bolt on top and one bolt at the bottom, got it. However, I wanted to make sure that at least for the front set, that I followed the proper way to secure the front shock reservoir hardware correctly to my jeep. So as a back up, I went back to their website and tried locating the installation instructions there, no luck. There was a online live chat that was available and clicked on that link to text with a live agent about this. I posed the issue that I had and asked if there was any set of manual or link that I could be given to download so at least I'd have something to go by as I get ready to install these on my rig. The agent asked me to hold on a few minutes while they went to look for an answer. After a several minutes, they came back to the chat room and told me that there was not any instructions and that they apologized for not having them for their product. I then asked if there was ANY kind of information anywhere that I could use to help me with my future install. After another few minutes, they came back with a comment that said that I should try YouTube as RC has a channel there and that I might be able to locate something there. After reading their replies, I am now kinda concerned about how this is going to work. My logic is......this is one of their high end products and would think that if all or most of their other products have installation manuals, then why wouldn't they take the time to make a installation manual for its customers? I do have their dual steering stabilizer and a couple of other components on my Jeep and they work just fine, and each came with their own instructions. I just find this strange. Most companies have install sheets either inside their packaging or a link to it on their website. To say that they have nothing for their high end performance shock system just surprises me. How many other companies do you know that dont have any instructions for their product when customers purchase them?

I'm not trying to bash RC, so please dont take this the wrong way. I just think that for the amount of money that I have spent on their shocks, they could make some sort of effort to at least shoot a video showing how to install their product correctly or do a through write up and put it on their website. These have been out for awhile now.

Does anyone else have any other related install experience with these new shocks on their JL????

JL Vertex rear.jpgJL Vertex front.jpg
 

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JTCO

Meme King
Sounds like they just wanted to get some reservoir shocks out on the market as quick as possible to compete with other companies.
 

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
Honestly, I've installed and tested a myriad of shocks over the last 20+ years including old school hydro shocks to triple bypass remote reservoir shocks and coilovers and honestly, I can't say that I have EVER seen a single one come with instructions.

Can't say that I've ever heard of these shocks or know anyone who's running them. Sorry, wish I could be of more help.
 

Green Goblin

New member
Honestly, I've installed and tested a myriad of shocks over the last 20+ years including old school hydro shocks to triple bypass remote reservoir shocks and coilovers and honestly, I can't say that I have EVER seen a single one come with instructions.

Can't say that I've ever heard of these shocks or know anyone who's running them. Sorry, wish I could be of more help.

Thanks Eddie,

Like I posted, I just thought it was a bit strange that they didn't feel that any instructions are warranted for this high end shock system. I agree that its pretty straight forward but to the new novices, i'm sure that they'd appreciate having something to go by. Heck, everything else that I've bought from them came with a set of instructions.
 

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
Thanks Eddie,

Like I posted, I just thought it was a bit strange that they didn't feel that any instructions are warranted for this high end shock system. I agree that its pretty straight forward but to the new novices, i'm sure that they'd appreciate having something to go by. Heck, everything else that I've bought from them came with a set of instructions.

I hope you don't take this the wrong way but nothing RC makes is something most would consider to be, "high end". This isn't a me trying to talk smack about them, it's just who they are as they've made their name in the industry by being a "value" option.
 

Green Goblin

New member
I hope you don't take this the wrong way but nothing RC makes is something most would consider to be, "high end". This isn't a me trying to talk smack about them, it's just who they are as they've made their name in the industry by being a "value" option.

True, I was just hoping that maybe they finally decided to "up their game" a bit. If these shocks dont work out for me, I'll go elsewhere. I wanted to give them a try.
 

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
True, I was just hoping that maybe they finally decided to "up their game" a bit. If these shocks dont work out for me, I'll go elsewhere. I wanted to give them a try.

I totally get it and hope they work out for you.
 

Green Goblin

New member
got them installed...........

UPDATE: Well, we got them installed on my '18 JL. ...........

The install gave us a few curve balls but we were able to figure it out. One of the issues that we saw right off the bat was the reservoir holder (the red bracket) must be mounted over the springs. To do this make sure you have a set of compression spring tools to put on the springs. Also, we lowered the axle (droop) as for as we could safely get it without compromising any of the brake lines or sensor wires then compressed the spring. We lowered one side at a time and started with the front shocks first, the rears looked a bit easier so we decided to do those last. Got the springs out and grabbed the red bracket. That red bracket has a custom fit that you will see as you put in on over the top of the spring. Once the red reservoir holder (bracket) was installed, we got to do the rest of the pieces (attaching the red and black brackets together using the 2 screws supplied in the kit.. We did note that there was a screw for that red bracket but didn't quite know what that was for or where it went. Once we started on the other front shock, we discovered that the screws purpose was to help keep the bracket from moving horizontally up in the spring well. After we got the spring back in, it was time to mount the shock.

While installing the shock, we noticed that the small sleeves that go to the bolt holes on both ends of the shock had a little bit of tight tolerances to them. We couldn't just pinch them on, we had to use a small mallet to bump them into the holes. Finally got those installed and reconnected the sway bar and checked the brake lines and sensor wiring. Then went onto the the rear shocks.

The rear shocks were much easier as the reservoir was attached to the shock itself. So, we removed the old shocks and simply used the same shock bolts to install the new Vertex shocks. Once all the shocks were installed and everything else reconnected, it was time to torque everything down to their correct specs. Not having any instructions from RC on how tight they recommended, we defaulted to factory Jeep JL specs. (we referenced the spec info directly from this site for the numbers.)

Finally, got everything on and walked around the Jeep one last time to make sure we didn't forget anything then lowered it off of the lift. By the time we completely finished, it was dusk and I didn't get the opportunity to snap a few pics of the completed project, but I know that there are already pics of these already on the web and we used most of those photos as a guide. I plan to take a few short trips around town and off road just to see the differences in the dampening settings and see what ones I like more. I can post this up if anyone is interested later.

***I found some instructions for the Vertex shocks but they were with the RC 2 1/2" lift kit that uses the same Vertex shocks but I cant upload it because the file (instruction manual) is too large.***
 

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