interesting update on the rancho shocks.....

[shendren]

my rancho 9000 with the 5 way adjustable with 25k mi on it was making a slapping noise. right front. dealer (4 wheel parts.com) sent me 2 new upgrades to the 9way adjustables cause the 5ways are discontinued.



well i was pulling out the shocks and noticed that the old 5ways don't have any sleeves between the bushings and the shock bolt on the bottom ! wow ! the bushings were very rounded out and had a boat load of slop in them... . the new ones had steel sleeves in them and fix snug. the old ones fit snug at first.



lesson: no more mail order shocks. no more rancho. just what ever sears or the local parts house sells... i don't off road. just hwy miles (lots). thought i'd buy a good shock. what a p. o. s. design!!

 

[Pit Bull]

Bilsteins, buy them at AutoZone around $60 each.

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

That was an error on the part of the installer. The Rancho install instructions very clearly tell you to install a bushing in there! They include some with their shocks and tell you that if the ones provided do not fit your bolts then to reuse the ones from the shocks your replacing. I've had Rancho shocks on all my trucks for many years and every one of them came with bushings although in some cases I did need to reuse the bushing out of the stock shocks. Here's an old post I put on here on installing them - https://www.turbodieselregister.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=45338 . Note this part of the install instructions:

Now take the bottom bolt and make sure the sleeve will fit (in mine there was only one and it did fit). Then put some grease inside the bushing and on the outside of the sleeve, put the sleeve into the bushing by hand, and then use a c-clamp to drive it in the rest of the way.

 

[D. Showan]

So far,---(fingers crossed)--- mine are still working very well.

 

[mediccummin]

bushings

Obviously whoever installed the shocks forgot the bushings, just like Steve said. I myself have used and installed many Rancho shocks and there always has been a bushing. Common sense would tell you there should be a bushing in there. Take it back to who installed them and have them read the instructions again and get your money back... .

 

[Todd T]

Originally posted by Steve St. Laurent

That was an error on the part of the installer. The Rancho install instructions very clearly tell you to install a bushing in there! They include some with their shocks and tell you that if the ones provided do not fit your bolts then to reuse the ones from the shocks your replacing. I've had Rancho shocks on all my trucks for many years and every one of them came with bushings although in some cases I did need to reuse the bushing out of the stock shocks. Here's an old post I put on here on installing them - https://www.turbodieselregister.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=45338 . Note this part of the install instructions:

one of my front 6000's broke the weld on the loop and rattled around the similar to what you discribed and i did have the proper fitting bushing and bolt shoulder length installed.



good catch though Steve, but that is assuming ALL the parts are in the box. from what i have seen (two sets now) The Ranchos have a very **** poor quailty control on accesories included in the box. if you recal out of four shocks i recently bought i could only install one of them out of the box. the other three had this or that missing from them and i had to make a trip back the store i go them from. (20min one way)



as a side note i consider the stickers not being placed on them out of the box a bonus. after the troube i went through to install these there was no way i was going to advertise for them the stickers went in round file #13

 

[shendren]

a friend of mine installed the shocks. they didn't come with sleeves. only bushings.

 

[John Berger]

Definitely an installation error. I installed my first set about two years ago and the instructions definitely say to install the bushings that come with the kit or to re-use the bushings that were installed with the shocks to be replaced.



Update: My kit also came with sleeves.

 

[shendren]

post script...



the new ones that came in the box had sleeves. but no instructions. nothing on the settings as to what is soft or firm. i agree the quality control is very poor. i have to make a call to the warehouse to find out about the settings !!