Best shocks for the money
03-01-2013, 10:59 AM
#21
JK Enthusiast
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I understand. 
I just removed my rough-riding Bilstein 5100's and replaced them with fully-adjustable Rancho RS9000XL's. If you like the Bilstein's rough ride, you can always just set the Rancho's to setting 8 or 9 and you'll get nearly identical ride quality to the Bilsteins. But I don't like an unnecessarily rough ride; for daily driving I'm running my Rancho's on 1 front and 3 rear (with the hardtop on) but in the summer when the hardtop comes off, it'll be set to 1/1 since there'll be less weight and a lower center of gravity to control. For heavily-laden road trips and moderate-speed desert 2-tracks I run them roughly 5/5 (adjusted depending on how much weight I'm hauling) and for rockcrawling where I want maximum body motion control, I run them at 9/9 and the Jeep stays firmly planted to the rocks without any precarious bobbing and swaying on steep off-camber sections that typically comes from a shock that's set too soft.
Everyone has their opinions, but I advise you to heed the advice of someone (yours truly) who succumbed to the unanimous-at-the-time recommendation for Bilsteins - I regretted my purchase and was so dissatisfied with my Jeep's rough ride that I bought a whole new set of shocks all over again. Now I'm finally happy. Learn from my expensive mistake.
I just removed my rough-riding Bilstein 5100's and replaced them with fully-adjustable Rancho RS9000XL's. If you like the Bilstein's rough ride, you can always just set the Rancho's to setting 8 or 9 and you'll get nearly identical ride quality to the Bilsteins. But I don't like an unnecessarily rough ride; for daily driving I'm running my Rancho's on 1 front and 3 rear (with the hardtop on) but in the summer when the hardtop comes off, it'll be set to 1/1 since there'll be less weight and a lower center of gravity to control. For heavily-laden road trips and moderate-speed desert 2-tracks I run them roughly 5/5 (adjusted depending on how much weight I'm hauling) and for rockcrawling where I want maximum body motion control, I run them at 9/9 and the Jeep stays firmly planted to the rocks without any precarious bobbing and swaying on steep off-camber sections that typically comes from a shock that's set too soft.
Everyone has their opinions, but I advise you to heed the advice of someone (yours truly) who succumbed to the unanimous-at-the-time recommendation for Bilsteins - I regretted my purchase and was so dissatisfied with my Jeep's rough ride that I bought a whole new set of shocks all over again. Now I'm finally happy. Learn from my expensive mistake.
03-01-2013, 11:37 AM
#22
JK Super Freak
A lot of people get mixxed up in thinking their ruff ride is because of shocks. When in reality if you put a lift on your just put much stiffer springs and the shocks are really going to matter that much. You can put the most expensive shocks on your stiff springs and still have ruff ride.
03-01-2013, 12:22 PM
#24
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03-01-2013, 12:23 PM
#25
JK Enthusiast
A lot of people get mixxed up in thinking their ruff ride is because of shocks. When in reality if you put a lift on your just put much stiffer springs and the shocks are really going to matter that much. You can put the most expensive shocks on your stiff springs and still have ruff ride.
I chose the AEV 3.5" DualSport suspension, in part because I wanted a smooth ride. Everyone assured me, in spite of my reservations about inherently stiff-riding high-pressure nitrogen-charged shocks, that Bilsteins would be the way to go - especially the AEV-spec Bilsteins. After 8,000 miles I was finally tired of the compromised, 1-size-doesn't-fit-all-conditions ride quality and dampening, which is why I replaced them with the Rancho's.
There are obviously plenty of people out there who are pleased with their Bilsteins, and that's fine. There's nothing wrong with them; they're good shocks. But their inability to be adjusted for varying weights, varying terrain, and varying drivers' preferences means they're limited. The adjustability of the Rancho 9000's means you can tailor the damping to your own specific needs. Many people simply set 'em and forget 'em, but I appreciate the feature that allows me to quickly and easily set them for optimized performance in any particular terrain and setup. If I really wanted to get fancy I could use the optional in-cab adjusting kit (and I've had that in previous 4x4s) but it's really not necessary. It takes less than a minute to adjust all 4 shocks at the trailhead while airing up or down.
03-02-2013, 12:39 PM
#27
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Yes I have,,, 4 times,, When I put them on my 3500 silverado diesel,,, big shocker,,,NO LEAKS!!! Oh ya,, for everyone who boasts about the Rancho adjustability,,, not so much after the cheap plastic knob falls off
Last edited by big dr; 03-02-2013 at 12:42 PM.
