New Shock Suggestions

[Tom Trujillo]

I have been leaning towards Rancho RSK's for my 97 2500 as the first set of replacement shocks. The truck has 59K miles on it. Yesterday at a speed shop the guy behind the counter suggested Bilsteins because I do no offroading, because of the weight of the truck, and, something to do with the valving as compared to the Ranchos.



Do you folks have any suggestions for me? It is not a work truck.



Tom

 

[y-knot]

I am not a big fan of Rancho shocks. I have used them before on several trucks, and was never impressed. I replaced my OEM shocks with Rancho, and they quit working after 8K miles, and developed a rather large oil leak. I replaced them with Bilstein Oem replacements, and they worked much better, but did have a firmer ride. Only real problem is they seem to wear thru the upper rubber bushing pretty quick. This results in a "thump" type sound when a bump is hit.

 

[bmoeller]

I replaced mine with the Bilstein OEM shocks also. Firmer ride, but not to bad. So far I am very happy with them. Have no experience with Rancho.

 

[Tom Trujillo]

Y-Knot



That thumping sound, wasn't that repaired with the replacement bushings etc from Bilstein? Seems I saw a whole thread on that issue.

 

[Tom Trujillo]

Thanks bmoeller.

 

[Diesel Gunner]

Yes, if the shock is not installed properly the front upper bushings will be dust in short order. The upper mount must be tightened down all the way to the internal sleeve on the stud. I did it the wrong way and the bushings were gone in one year.



I have had Ranchos on other trucks and they wore out very quickly. I do drive off road quite a bit and tow a heavy TT. Pop just put a set of Rancho's on his Jeep last year and they are throw aways now. He wishes that he had spent the extra dollar back then and got the Bilstien's. Yous gets what yous pays for.

 

[Hammer]

Thomas. .

I run the Edelbrock Performer IAS shocks on mine. They are about the nicest riding shock I have driven in a long time. I have about 25,000 miles on them with no problems at all. They have urethane bushings in them from the factory and will change their rebounding depending on how hard you hit them... ... . Andy