Rancho 9000XL adjustable shocks

[Winchested]

I actually just put 9000 series on my 1995 yesterday. The little I drove it, so far pretty happy with settings on 5. I think it will be too soft, but need to get more miles on it before I start adjusting.

Out of the box they are firmer than the monroes, softer than the bilsteins. I think for this truck I will end up with two settings, round town settings and road trip settings.

I looked into Fox and actually a few other adjustable shocks. Even called a couple of them. Was either told no they don't have anything to fit my truck, or I need to come up with dimensions. That made me nervous. Because if they don't know what fits my truck then they have no idea if it works or how well.

So I went with the ranchos again.

Most of the higher end aftermarket don't pander to OEM sizes. They sell there shocks based of collapsed, and extended lengths. They don't give 2 shits what its going on. Just want you desired comp/rebound rates and lengths and eye designs.

All these companies have catalogs you can pick and choose from via lengths etc.

Pretty easy to do the work yourself!

 

[arse_sidewards]

Most of the higher end aftermarket don't pander to OEM sizes. They sell there shocks based of collapsed, and extended lengths. They don't give 2 shits what its going on. Just want you desired comp/rebound rates and lengths and eye designs.

All these companies have catalogs you can pick and choose from via lengths etc.

Pretty easy to do the work yourself!

You can slap new shims in bottom dolllar shocks all day. Half the reason people spend $$$ on Fox or whatever is that you can call them up, tell them what you have and they have enough experience to get you pretty darn close on the first try.

 

['84 Bronco II]

You can slap new shims in bottom dolllar shocks all day. Half the reason people spend $$$ on Fox or whatever is that you can call them up, tell them what you have and they have enough experience to get you pretty darn close on the first try.

What "bottom dollar" shocks are owner re-valvable? Or are you suggesting people cut open cheap shocks and weld them back together

From what I've seen, you are looking at a minimum $200/shock to get into shocks you can re-valve.

 

[Tiha]

Most of the higher end aftermarket don't pander to OEM sizes. They sell there shocks based of collapsed, and extended lengths. They don't give 2 shits what its going on. Just want you desired comp/rebound rates and lengths and eye designs.

All these companies have catalogs you can pick and choose from via lengths etc.

Pretty easy to do the work yourself!

Very true if I had a clue what compression and rebound rates I wanted. Or even a place to start. They couldn't tell me. They supposedly had no comparisons or suggestions.
But then it wasn't engineers answering the phones either, rather a salesperson.

Since I cannot get those specs on the shocks I have already tried I have no idea where to start. So I just buy 4 of everything?

They don't give 2 shits is exactly the feeling I got.

It got frustrating really fast. I wanted to learn and share that information but the shock companies certainly were not going to help me.
Just typical customer service now a days I guess.

 

[WaterH]

Very true if I had a clue what compression and rebound rates I wanted. Or even a place to start. They couldn't tell me. They supposedly had no comparisons or suggestions.
But then it wasn't engineers answering the phones either, rather a salesperson.

Since I cannot get those specs on the shocks I have already tried I have no idea where to start. So I just buy 4 of everything?

They don't give 2 shits is exactly the feeling I got.

It got frustrating really fast. I wanted to learn and share that information but the shock companies certainly were not going to help me.
Just typical customer service now a days I guess.

This is me. I have to believe the shocks that you disassemble to change valves are better than the knob style, but it would be a lot of work, trail and error when you don’t know what you are doing.

Do any of the manufacturers have a shop you can drive to and they set up the shock? Maybe let you take it for a short test drive on some man-made bumps in the back yard? I might be up for a road trip for something like that.

 

[arse_sidewards]

What "bottom dollar" shocks are owner re-valvable? Or are you suggesting people cut open cheap shocks and weld them back together

From what I've seen, you are looking at a minimum $200/shock to get into shocks you can re-valve.

I'm talking about Profender, SAW, etc. Basically the whole class of manufacturers that are below Fox, King, etc. They'll sell you a re-valveable shock but most of them can't tell you what valving you need just based on vehicle specs.

 

[Slander]

This is me. I have to believe the shocks that you disassemble to change valves are better than the knob style, but it would be a lot of work, trail and error when you don’t know what you are doing.

Do any of the manufacturers have a shop you can drive to and they set up the shock? Maybe let you take it for a short test drive on some man-made bumps in the back yard? I might be up for a road trip for something like that.

You need to find a place that does shock tuning. Kind of hard on our part of the country as there aren't too many places to wind out an offroad truck over whoops and shit like that.

 

['84 Bronco II]

Very true if I had a clue what compression and rebound rates I wanted. Or even a place to start. They couldn't tell me. They supposedly had no comparisons or suggestions.
But then it wasn't engineers answering the phones either, rather a salesperson.

Since I cannot get those specs on the shocks I have already tried I have no idea where to start. So I just buy 4 of everything?

They don't give 2 shits is exactly the feeling I got.

It got frustrating really fast. I wanted to learn and share that information but the shock companies certainly were not going to help me.
Just typical customer service now a days I guess.

Call up Filthy Motorsports. Ben is a great guy and will spend the best part of an hour on the phone with you talking about your application and needs. Custom valving is included in their price, but you still need to figure out the length you need on your own.

 

[SHARPMACHINE]

Been thinking about this subject and reading till my eyes bleed for years. My junk is set up with 3 link, xj +2 coils and some bilsteins. Back is 4 link, wj coils and some random lift shocks.

 

[HYDRODYNAMIC]

Fun fact while I jumped out to adjust my RS9000's somewhere around the late 90's, I thought my buddy was also adjusting the shocks....
When I got to the corners that he was adjusting, I noticed that he pissed all over the shocks, instead of dialing them in. That's what friends are for, I guess. I cant remember how I paid him back, or maybe he was paying me back, oh well.
That was back in the day when I would go through the Rancho catalogue at 4WheelParts and try to find shocks by length and eye configuration and vehicle weight as there was no instant information like we have access today. My children will never understand the struggle.

 

[subybaja]

try to find shocks by length and eye configuration and vehicle weight

The existance of this thread says some of us are still there.

 

[arse_sidewards]

When I would go through the Rancho catalogue at 4WheelParts and try to find shocks by length and eye configuration and vehicle weight as there was no instant information like we have access today. My children will never understand the struggle.

Cheapskates today have the extra step of looking up all the applications in rock-auto until we find one that happens to be a closeout for pennies on the dollar.