lots of shock ?'s

[Jonny-K5]

lots of shock ?\'s

ok, just got a set of new rancho 9000x shocks for my truck causs they had that buy 3 get one free deal. just got em today, i went to put my front shocks on, and they are way shorter than the ones im pulling off. the truck has a 3" lift and tuff country 3" shocks. the shocks are at least two inches shorter than the TC's. is it because rancho's are triple tube and TC's are mono? ( cant remember if TC are mono or not).
im wondering if they sent me the wrong set. i dont want to put these on and limit my droop. my truck already maxes out the TC's i got on the front.

second question: is there a listing on the web of all rancho 9000 shock applications? i want to find out if these are the shocks i should have. i know TC has a listing on thier website. does rancho have something similar?

third question: my steering stabilizer has a big dent in it. can i replace it with a regular shock the same length? is there anything different about the stabilizer? i think it would work as long as the shock i use is hard to pull in and out and doesnt spring out to full extention when unloaded(gas charged?) any help would be very appreciated.

 

[bigyellowjimmy]

Re: lots of shock ?\'s

Ive never owned any 9000's but Im sure they should be as long as your present shocks, longer if you need more travel.

wwww.gorancho.com has all the specs for eveything they make.

I just put a regular shock in place of my steer stabilizer last week, havent tried it out yet except for around the block. Its worth a try I say /forums/images/graemlins/thumb.gif

 

[84_Chevy_K10]

Re: lots of shock ?\'s

If you're going to spend the big bucks on shocks, get yourself some ford towers up front to maximize wheel travel.

 

[Jonny-K5]

Re: lots of shock ?\'s

i just looked at thier application chart. they only offer three different sizes. stock lift, 0-2" lift and 2 1/2 -4" lift. so i guess they sent me their longest shocks.

just doesnt make sense to me tho. when i tried to install them on the front. i hooked the upper mount up, pulled the shock down to full extention, and it only went about 2" below the mount. this doesnt seem like it would be enough, especially if i had a 4" lift.

i've thought about going with ford towers, but the tuff country shocks gave it plenty of flex. i dont think i would get any more wheel travel with a longer shcok

 

[84_Chevy_K10]

Re: lots of shock ?\'s

You absolutely would get more wheel travel with a longer shock. There is not enough room between the stock mounts to put a shock with enough down travel to allow your springs to flex even close to their full potential.

If you don't have that much down travel or more, your shocks are certainly limiting you. When your shock bottoms out, it doesn't matter how good your suspension is, you're not going to flex any more.

I just took off my so-called 4" lift rancho front shocks and they were not allowing any more than the 2" down travel you mentioned up front. Absolutely worthless to even have shocks if they're going to limit suspension travel like that.

Trust me, if you're going to spend the big bucks on shocks, go with the Ford towers. You might as well just do this project once and be done with it.

Don't look at the application chart to get shocks anyway. Look at the specification guide.

If all else fails, get the longest shocks that it shows for our trucks for rears. Rears for a 4" lift will probably work just fine up front with the Ford towers. /forums/images/graemlins/thumb.gif

 

[Jonny-K5]

Re: lots of shock ?\'s

i understand that longer shocks will gain you more wheel travel if your shocks are maxed out. however, my tuff country shocks still had some travel left when fully flexed. thats why i dont want to put these new ranchos on.

[ QUOTE ]
Trust me, if you're going to spend the big bucks on shocks, go with the Ford towers. You might as well just do this project once and be done with it.


[/ QUOTE ]

too late i already have the shocks. i guess i could go thru the hassle of shipping them back, pay a restocking fee and shipping twice. i think i'll just keep the fronts and use them on another vehicle. the rears are a good length so they went on.

i guess i could always take the rears and put them on the front if i ever get ford towers. BTW they made a world of difference on handling compared the the pep girls shocks i took off.

 

[84_Chevy_K10]

Re: lots of shock ?\'s

What kind of springs do you have? I've never had a set of springs that couldn't max the shocks out.

With a swaybar I'm sure it's a possibility, but as you can see, my superlift springs flex enough to max my 12" travel gabrials.

 

[Jonny-K5]

Re: lots of shock ?\'s

i've got 3" TC ez rides. the 3" shocks have around 10" of travel if i remember. when i did a flex test, the front end pulled the shocks to about 3/4 of an inch of thier max with one wheel off the ground. thats with the swaybar off. i guess its possible i measured wrong and they were maxing out.

what lift are your springs?

 

[bigyellowjimmy]

Re: lots of shock ?\'s

Rancho makes many different sized shocks, the longest I believe in the 9000's is the 99036 (36" extended, 21" collapsed, 15" travel) I put 5012's (32.5" ext, 19" coll, 13.5" travel) along with the Ford towers on mine, I run 4" TC springs /forums/images/graemlins/thumb.gif

 

[84_Chevy_K10]

Re: lots of shock ?\'s

My springs are 6" superlifts that are, um, well broken in. /forums/images/graemlins/rotfl.gif In the pic the front passenger side shock is maxed, and it is a 12.53" travel Gabrial in a Ford tower. The left front has a couple inches to go, and the rear is flexed, but not quite all the way.