shocks

[Adam]

I have the rancho rs5000 shocks on my truck. The front two I bought brand new last fall, but the rear ones are off of my old rig, bought in 2010, they probably have about 50k on them. I've just noticed that you can bounce the back of the truck, and it feels incredibly loose the first couple times you push on it. It seems to only bounce once, but if you push on it 3 or 4 times it stiffens up. The only reason I mention this is that whenever I'm going around corners and hit a bump it doesn't feel very controlled.

Anyone else have this problem? I am running the rs5112 shock that is 26" long.

I'm thinking of getting 4wheelparts to send me a new set anyways, but I was also thinking of switching to the bilstein 5100s. My friend just put a set on his X and they are nice and stiff.

[Scotto]

You said, "Nice and stiff"....


Heehee

[Nd4SpdSe]

My 9000's in the rear have been a severe disappointment. I heard the 5000's are suppose to be much better but I didn't take a chance. I went with 5150's and they've held up great so far, but it doesn't take much to surpass the week (x3) with my 9000s

[the x kid]

I vote for the Bil's. Also try and slow down going around corners.

[Jayman]

I went to the Bilstein's after blowing one of my rear shocks on Concession Lake right after I got my Bender Built rear bumper, and have had no issues with them since installing.

A couple of things to consider though: I'm sure you've removed the rear sway bar, so that is inherently going to loosen up the rear end a bit, just from the lack of bracing that it provides when installed. You're also now running 33's all around, which is going to give you more sidewall flex when going around corners.

I'm not saying that there's nothing wrong with your shocks, but there are a couple of compounding factors that could be contributing to some of the issues you have described, and could also be leading to premature failure of the shocks in the back, because they are being asked to do a bit more then they were designed to do.

I have never had the 5000's on my truck, so I can't really comment about their long term performance, but I know several, including myself, have had issues with the 9000's. My issues were due to a considerable amount of weight being placed over the back axle (and therefore shocks), whereas others have had issues because they've set the shocks to their stiffest setting, and then gone wheeling on them, which has cause the shock to fail.

Anyways, I would (and did) go for the Bils as an upgrade to the Ranchos. Of course, if you can get 4x4Parts to send you a brand new set of Ranchos, then that is obviously going to be the cheapest option for you.

[Morpheus]

I've been running 9000's for.... crap, when did I buy the x... was it 4 years or 5 years ago... can't recall.

Never had a real issue with them. I broke one this summer, but I beat the living snot out of it before it did.

I always run them on their softest setting all the time, unless I'm towing, then I click it up a few notches.

[Adam]

The 5000's have lifetime warranty, supposedly. So I guess I could just get them exchanged anyways, since it won't cost me anything really. Then I could just sell them later.

Jay, I've thought about the swaybar and might end up getting disconnects for it. I don't drive real fast but hitting some of the bumps on the highway ramps have you wonder wtf is going on.

I just find it strange that you can bounce the rear end a few times until the shocks firm up. I don't remember if they were always like this or not.

[Miner]

I vote for the warranty replacements. If you don't like the performance of the new ones upgrade to Bils, or go up to external reservoirs. My rear SAWS have been stellar for 5 years and counting, and my truck sees towing, hauling and the odd trial; none of which I like to do slowly.

[Adam]

New replacements are on the way! Probably have them next week.

I did notice another thing while looking at the front end tonight. The sway bar holes in the control arm are pretty wallowed out, the links look like they were replaced at some point, but the hole is probably a good 1/2" bigger than it should be, looks like a big oval. I'm guessing this would probably help a lot. I'll post up a pic later.