2nd Gen Non-Engine/Transmission Rancho 9000 Shocks

[Jack in Alaska]

I ordered and received Rancho 9000's for the rear of my Dodge 3500. They came with 3/4" hole in the bushings. Dodge has a 9/16" bolt... ... . damn. Also no spacer sleeves came. Off Road is sending them ASAP.

The Bilsteins for the front were correct.

Just some info to ask about when ordering things.

 

[cmckinney]

Where did you get them from?

What parts place did you buy them from?



-CM

 

[JR2]

I ordered his shocks for him from www.offroadwearhouse.com for him while I was getting a set for my truck too. (He is my Father) They give TDR members a discount if you ask for it (thanks goes to Bob Wagner for that one). Anyway Dad has lowered the rear of his truck to make it hook to the 5er easier so he could not use the OEM replacment shocks. We had to take some measurements of the travel (actually he had to take them, there was not we involved) of the axle and such and pick a shock that would work for his situation. That still does not fix the problem that he is having, but the new shims for the bushings should take care of it.



By the way he is going to run Rancho 9000's on the back and Blisteins on the front... I got the blisteins all the way around. Once we get them on both trucks I will report back...

 

[JPS]

SPACER USED WHEN LOWERING REAR

See where your father is or has lowered his rear of Dodge. What is he using for spacers? Looks like I'll have to make some as have not been able to find any. Dealer did say $70 for the two,other dealer said not available! jps Have friends farming at Delta Junction!

 

[clanders]

9000 ?

When you say there was no spacer sleeve, do you mean there was not a metal sleeve in the urathane bushings for the mounting bolts? The reason I ask is because I just recently installed a pair on the rear end of my 2002 2500 and they did have the metal sleeve in the bushing, but it was'nt a real precise fit with the bolt , there was just a little bit of slop. Any way now the things are making a god awful racket when I hit any bumps that I can feel all the way under my feet in the drivers seat. So far I'm not impressed and they are coming back off. If there is another spacer sleeve that should go in there please let me know. But the mean time there going back to the store I bought them from. Any info would be greatly appreciated.

 

[JR2]

clanders - I can not tell you for sure about the spacers yet because I have not seen the shocks or the problems he is having. I am out of town and just got the info via the phone. I am headded home today and will probably take a look at his truck next week for him





JPS - Dad took his truck to a local spring shop and then custom cut him some spacers. I believe they are one inch thick. He as told that this would cause all kinds of problems with the driveline and such but the only thing that has occured is that he burned up the carrrier berring after +/- 75K miles.

 

[Jack in Alaska]

The original spacers were 5". The spring shop made new ones out of some scrap iron that are 1 3/4" and used new u-bolts.

If I were to do it again I would use 2 1/2" spacers as my truck, a 4x4 3500, sets lower in the rear than the front and after hooking up the 5th whl it squats it down another 2" making it look overloaded.

 

[pcarlson]

JR2,



I put the 9000's all around. Fronts got returned under warranty and replaced with trailmasters. The rears make noice from the metal sleeves being bigger than the bolts. The factory bolts are about a 14mm and a standard size is around 9/16. I have a constant clunking from the rear I feel under my feet with these shocks that wasn't there before. The 9000's might have to come off and I'll have to find something else. Let me know how your dad's turns out.

 

[Jumbo Jet]

I had the "constant clunking under the feet" on the right side of my truck with Ranch 9000 shocks. The right shock had a bad valve on the inside that let the shock move about 1/8" without any dampening effect.



I replaced the shock and all is well. The shock had about 30k miles on it - with a lot of those from driving on ROUGH I-40 in Arkansas.

 

[Jeff Knight]

I had Bilsteins on my 95 dodge. They never made any noise and fit great. When my 02 needs new shocks they will be Bilsteins. Jeff

 

[vinconco]

Had the noise on my fronts (bilstiens) too. You got to get them

 

[Jack in Alaska]

New Shocks On

JR2 and I installed the front Bilsteins(model 2549) yesterday.

The truck felt like it had a new front end under it. Much more precise handling and elimination of front bounce.

Today I installed the rear Rancho 9000's(model 9180)shocks. Had a hell of a time(broke a socket) but got them on. They inproved the ride/handling even more set on #3.

I highly recommend those shocks for a great improvement in your truck handling.

Oil change and filters tomorrow... always something to do.

 

[greendragon]

rancho shocks

installed rancho shocks. Found the parts didn't fit. Called the people at Ranch and had the right parts within a few days, at no added cost.

 

[vinconco]

Hit the wrong key and cut my last post short.



I had the same thing, clunking noise after installing front shocks (bilstiens) and found out that you have to GET THEM TIGHT on the bottom. Crawled under the truck with a BIG wrench and end of clunk.

 

[Gonehawkn]

RANCHOS

I PUT RANCHOS ON MY 3500 ABOUT 5 WEEKS AGO. IT WAS THE START OF A LEARNING PROCESS. WHAT I LEARNED WAS THAT ALTHOUGH I WAS VERY HAPPY WITH MY SHOCKS, THEY WERE NOT TO BLAME FOR MY FRONT END WOES. IT WAS THAT DREAD'D TRACKING BAR. ONE CALL TO LUKES-LINK, AND ALL WAS SAID AND DONE. BOUGHT MY RANCHOS FROM SUMMIT RACING. THEY HAD A BUY 3 GET ONE FREE PROMO GOING ON AT THE TIME. NO PROBLEMS YET. OH, YEAH, JUST LAID TO REST MY KDP!!!



"CHICKENHAWK"

 

[KYOUNG]

raunchos

Oo. Oo. I have been through 5 or more sets of 9000's. They usually last about 30k to 40k before clunking out. Sams Offroad in Tulsa has always replaced with no baloney. I now have on set of Edelbrock shocks with 8k on them, I hate them more everyday. they are very stiff and then go real soft with no rebound damping. I am thinking about buying Bilsteinnow.....

 

[clanders]

I finally removed my cluncking rear rancho 9000's and took them back to the place of purchase, and showed them the metal sleeve in the urathane bushing was to big for the mounting bolt, and the shocks were about 1" shorter than the stock, they rechecked there book and they were suposeably the recomened shock for my stock aplication. Any way to make a long story short they gave me a different set of shocks ( sorry I don't have the part # but I can find out), and went through there selection of metal sleeves to find the right one that gave a nice snug fit for the mounting bolt, they pressed them in and I took them home and installed, no more clunking noises.

 

[Sky]

Hmm now everyone is making me nervous. I am getting 4, 9000's put on at 9 am. Is there anyone out there that is happy? I thought the 9000's were "the I TRIED TO BY-PASS THE CUSSING FILTER" ?

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

I love my RS9000's and wouldn't trade em for the world. I've had them on the truck for about 70,000 miles now and they still ride like the day I put em on. It is VERY common with all aftermarket shocks for them to come with sleeves that are not the right size for your specific application. Most shocks come with multiple sleeves and you try to match them up with what you need. In some cases you just need to take the sleeve out of your stock shock and use it. In my case when I put my Rancho steering stabilizer on there wasn't a match for one of the sleeves. I simply used one of their supplied sleeves and used it and a c-clamp to push the sleeve out of the stock stabilizer and used it. If you read through the Rancho instructions I believe it even tells you that you may have to do that.

 

[M Barnett]

I also have the 9000 shocks and no problems at all.

Michael