Edelbrock Shocks- Better than Bilstein's or Rancho's?????

[D. Showan]

My local performance shop tells me that in their opinion Edelbrock IAS shocks are better than Bilstein's or Rancho's. He has sold a half dozen sets for various HD applications and the customers all say they work great. The new IAS technology is supposed to help give you a soft ride over smother surfaces and automatically stiffen up when needed. They have sold Bilstein's and Rancho's in the past but are now recomending these.



Anyone out there have these shocks or know someone that does?



They are about $80 each so they are more than the Bilsteins but less than the new Rancho9000X.

 

[Pit Bull]

Do they stock and sell the Bilsteins at the present time? If they don't I would not believe a word they say. You can not go wrong with the Bilsteins. They are great. I bought them off the net for a great price and had a local shop install them for $20 each.

 

[TURBOs4LIFE]

I don't know about being better but the Edelbrock are really good shocks!! One thing I do know is that anything is better than the factory junker shocks!

 

[D. Showan]

turbos4life, I see by your signature that you have these shocks. Do you think there is anything to the claim that they self adjust according to road conditions, or do you think it is just a bunch of huie? I brought a truck camper home the other day and my truck acted like I was riding a rocking chair sideways. My stock shocks must be worse than I thought. I'm trying to decide between three shocks

1. Bilstein- Excellent quality and value, but are they stiff enough for use with a truck camper?

2. Rancho- Adjustable, when the adjusters work, so they can definitely be adjusted stiff enough, but seem to have some quality problems. I would rather not deal with that. Maybe the 9000X shocks will be less trouble prone.

3. Edelbrock?????

 

[ToolManTimTaylor]

IAS's SUCK!!!! I bought a set and returned them after 3,000 miles. They porpose on the highway so bad with the weight of the cummins it ain't funny. On the twisties there great! Fire roads forget it the front end bounces violently. Potholes and speedbumps SWEET ... ... . at 70



BILSTEINS A+, Pro Comp A+, Ranchos A , Trail masters A- , IMHO

 

[SlyBones]

D. Showan,



There was a recent post somewhere around here about rancho's versus bilsteins. My interpretation of the post is that both are better than stock. Both provide nice compression dampening. The bilsteins provide better rebound dampening ( less springy return in the upwards direction ).



EDIT - I see the toolman posted while I typed this. It would appear from his post that Edelbrocks dont have much rebound dampening either.



Why did I mention this? Well I have had the rancho's for over a year now. I recently added AirLift air bags. I believe that when you go over bumps and those bags compress, the compressed air in there tends to want to push things back up much faster. So things get a little bouncy, at least for my liking. Even at low air pressure. So I set the ranchos so I get the rebound dampening I like, but now are a little stiff on the compression side. Make the compression side nice, and the rebound side does not compensate enough for the airbags. Now that I have the airbags I wish I have shocks that gave better rebound dampening.



So how often do you haul around that camper? How much money are you willing to spend?



My current thinking now that I have Rancho's and air bags is:

-- Bilsteins or Edelbrocks if you dont tow or haul a camper, for the best empty ride

-- Ranchos of you tow or haul a camper and cant afford airbags. Better than stock ride, gives up a tiny bit for the nice adjustabilty.

-- Bilsteins if you tow/haul and can afford airbags too. Use the airbags to gain the extra support while towing and hauling and buy shocks for the best empty ride, especially with airbags.



Of course I have not got to try this theory yet. This assumes that the airbags can compensate for the added weight and you dont need the shock adjustment anymore. I plan on a test the next time I tow over a large distance. I will go for a distance with the ranchos set on level 2 as empty, and a distance on level 4 where generally tow. Maybe I can figure out if the adjustability of the shocks is needed now that I can adjust the air too.

 

[Slow Six]

IAS Shocks

I have been using the Edelbrocks for about 3 or 4 years now. I really like them for towing my fiver. I have about 6000 lbs. plus or minus a 150 lbs. on the rear axle when loaded. The truck handles very well even in strong winds. The truck seems to scoot a little sideways on washboard when empty but is not a real problem. The IAS shocks have stood up well. I don't know if I would buy them again as they cost me approximately $180 each.

 

[Dane]

I've had both Edelbrock IAS and Bilstein on my Ram. The Bilsteins have a far better ride and control imo...

 

[D. Showan]

Thanks for the input gentleman, these real world opinions and experiences are great.



It just so happens that I have a set of air bags that I kept when I sold my last Ford F-250. The bags and install kits are the same as for my dodge. (sure glad I kept them). I'm just about convinced that the Bilsteins are the way to go for me.



Every make shock out there seems to have people that think they are great. But it seems like one shock seems to stand apart in that there are very few people that dislike them or had problems with them. (Bilstein) I'm sure there are people out there that have had a bad experience with Bilsteins, but overall they must be very high quality, they work very well, and are reasonably priced. Plus my camper empty is about 2400lbs. so loaded I guesstimate it will be around 3400lbs. . Not a real heavy load so I think the Bilstein's should be up to the task.



I trust the opinions expressed here much more than any salesman. Thank you

 

[dresslered]

The best thing about Bilstein is that after 150k miles, just call them up and say they are no longer performing as they use to. They will replace them without question. The only reason I got the Ranchos is I wanted the in cab adjustment feature for my slide-in.

 

[M Barnett]

I believe I will never recommend Rancho 9000 again. Mine are a couple months old and already non adjustable like a lot of others here. It never rains here in the desert, so it can't be corrosion. I have even tried oiling them to no avail. I really liked the way they worked, but why have them if you can't adjust them? Must definitely be a design flaw. I bought them off the net so wonder if I can take them to a Rancho dealer and turn them in? Guess its time to try Bilsteins.

Michael