Suspension issues, need some input

What setup did you have that caused them to mess up? I'm thinking fj springs and daystar budget boost for the front for around 2.5" lift up front.
 
I have ~2.5" of leveling lift on the front of my Z71 but rancho only makes shocks for 0" and 4" lift for that model truck and I drove it hard off road so I kept overextending the 0" lift ones and smashing the 4" ones. Bilstein is the only company that makes shocks for 2.5" lift (on that truck).

Did you see the quicklift shocks? They have 2" front lift RS9000XLs that come as a full coilover so you don't need the FJ coils or daystar. Since the coils are built for the FJ you might get a tad more out of it.

FJC QuickLift
 
i had to the the procomp mx6 on my last vec. & loved em. a few years before that, after having many problems with the rancho's air controller leaking all the time on my blazers , it was such a pita i had to go back to the knob adjustment on them. maybe they changed the controller now, either way, the Rancho r 3 way adjustable the PC r 6 & will give more ride options. also, unless they changed, the rancho have a plastic knob that can break off, the mx6 have a metal knob. imo, both are good offroad, but neither are known for a great street ride if ur not use to a firm shock,so if u dont like the billies, u most likely wont the rancho or mx6.
 
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chaz said:
i had to the the procomp mx6 on my last vec. & loved em. a few years before that, after having many problems with the rancho's air controller leaking all the time on my blazers , it was such a pita i had to go back to the knob adjustment on them. maybe they changed the controller now, either way, the Rancho r 3 way adjustable the PC r 6 & will give more ride options. also, unless they changed, the rancho have a plastic knob that can break off, the mx6 have a metal knob. imo, both are good offroad, but neither are known for a great street ride if ur not use to a firm shock,so if u dont like the billies, u most likely wont the rancho or mx6.
Click to expand...

The new Rancho's are nine way adjustable. You think they'd be stiff even on one of the lower settings? I saw those Pro-Comps as well, but liked the wider range of adjust-ability on the Rancho shocks. Right now I'm thinking about giving the OEM FJ's a shot, simply because of price and the fact that I can swap those out. I don't have time or a place right now to do a swap myself, so I'd be paying labor a second time to swap over to the Rancho's. I wouldn't do the Rancho's unless I did a full set.

I've looked at those quick lift kits, but unless I'm looking at the wrong thing those are sky high.
 
i can only speak on the older 3 settings rancho that i had on 3 different year blazers, i liked them, then again i prefer a firm ride, but some people i had ride with me said they thought they were too firm on the street, im not saying anything bad about them, the new ones or the mx6, just that if a person doesnt like/prefer a firmer than stock riding shock, they may not like them. its just different strokes for different folks. u may not like the tokico's either but at least u might have some comfort in the fact that they do come on the stock sr5 & are oem firmness. & like u said , im sure u could pickup a slightly used pair for real cheap, resently there was another thread about some thinking the 5100s gave a bumpy ride. like someone said earlier, the icons maybe a good solution also.
 
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I really like the firm ride the front provides. On the rear, it's simply like there's no shocks there. Added firmness to me is good, but the current setup is far too extreme. It comes down to money, and I can swap to the Rancho's for less than $100 extra all said and done. Doesn't make sense to go any other route since I can dial them in.

Are the Icon's OEM length? That's the main concern, and one thing pushing me towards the Rancho shocks is because I know they won't lead to any issues.
 
please dont think im trying to steer u off the ranchos, they may well be perfect for u, & i hope they are, just curious why u think there wont/cant be any issues with them simply because of the dial in settings. i think the dial is still made of plastic & can break easily, also, the controllor still uses air, right? something that may still leak like the old version, & requires a mounted compressor. one thing to give thought to is, if they are so good, why dont more 4th gen 4runner owners use them over the other , more popular brands, i dont know so, im curious myself. ether way, i hope they work for u & goodluck with them
 
Chaz, they have completely changed the remote kit since the old rs9000s. They have larger diameter hose, more powerful compressor, and higher quality one piece quick connectors instead of the thin cheap threaded-on connectors.

I had the old 5 setting kit with my rs9000s and it leaked a bit so when I got 9000xls I upgraded to the 9 setting kit and never had anymore trouble.
I think he likes the rancho's dial because of the fact that you can adjust to what stiffness you want instead of him being stuck with the stock valving. Have you broken one of the knobs? I only ask because they're pretty thick and I wouldn't think they would break, they aren't hard to turn.

ARK someone on the FJcruiserforums claims they got 2.75" out of the quicklift if you're thinking about that instead of daystar & fj springs. That was before they included the coils & top hats though.
 
yea, i saw the new improved design, its cool, & i completly understand ark not wanting to be stuck with stock valving since he needs to be able to dial in what works best with the RAS for him. im more or less just relating my experience with the older design, & yes, when offroading i did, on more than a couple occasions, have the air lines snagged by a branch, luckily they could be removed easily, & replaced with the knob. they sent me a new kit (dont know if it was an upgraded design) but i stuck with the knob & broke them on rocks, dont know how much stronger the new ones are, but the old were cheap plastic. so on my next wheeler , i went to the mx6, they were metal, stronger, & came with a key for adjustment. i still have an old but new compressor kit for them if u know anyone who needs it , unopened, for free. edit: i just looked at the controller rs9000x dual action box & it seems i did have the 9 position shocks, ha, ha, at my age, i guess theres some memory loss!
 
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Oh I see, I never used the knob so I don't have experience with them. But I had my air lines zip-tied tightly along the frame and down the shocks; they never caught on anything and I used to squeeze that truck down some pretty nasty atv trails and power lines over brush piles and fallen trees (not to mention framing it out in mud...)

I feel like you'd have to be in some nasty rocks for that knob to catch anything, then you're likely to be damaging the shock anyway.

Sorry, I just don't trust pro comp.. they're too new to the game and make too many different products without making revisions. Rancho has been making shocks, and shocks only, since the 50s.

Dang, all this talk about them is making me miss my rs9000s and want to get some now... Hmm.. If only they'd included the coils when I switched mine the first time...

edit: oops insert foot in mouth, apparently rancho makes trail armor for jeeps now...
 
95% of my driving is on road, other 5% is gravel/dirt mostly. Very, very little off road. I might hit some small stuff, but nothing major at all. I'm also 90% sure I'd never get the controller. Here is my take on it and the reasoning behind me leaning towards the Rancho's.
Stock FJ rear shocks can be had new for around $70. Used, $15-$20. Add shipping and I figure you're looking at $50.
Rancho's: $330 - $100 rebate = $230. I can sell my 5100's pretty easily for say $140 (not pricing them at that, just throwing a number out there). So, $230-$140 = $90 out of my pocket. Count the $50 I was going to spend on OEM FJ shocks, the difference is brought down to ~$40. To me, it's worth $40 to have a matching set and also the adjustability. Also, the key factor I'm considering is that if I try the Rancho's and don't like them, I can get all of my money back including the installation costs within 90 days. From a money standpoint and also less risk of me not liking the ride (since it is adjustable), the Rancho shocks seem to be a clear winner. I've read a good number of reviews on them and so far so good.

The only problem with the quick lift setup is price, $200/side from what I've seen. No way am I spending that much when a $40 spacer will yield the same result for me.
 
Well guys looks like I'll be finding out just how easy it is to get your money back on the Rancho's. I got them installed and have messed with the settings, the ride is about the same as the Bilstein's, still pretty bad. I ended up putting them on the softest setting and the ride was about equivalent to the Bilstein's. Adjusting to the other positions only made the ride even more harsh, so I'm back at where we started. I'm thinking something's got to be wrong. I've adjusted the air bags (had air added to them to lift the rear) down to normal and also less than normal to see if that made a difference (it didn't). I have no clue what to do from here. My stock XREAS was in pretty bad shape (150k miles on it), but I'm thinking about trying to put it back on (was disconnected at the disconnect points, no fluid lost that I noticed). Other option is a replacement XREAS, which I'm not looking forward to. I'm going to talk with a local shop and see if they may be able to find something else wrong. There's gotta be something somewhere causing this to happen, other than just the shocks. I'm hoping to have them look at it or at least talk to them early this week. I'll post an update once I have more info.
 
Sorry man, I feel bad for the suggestion now. I can't believe the softest setting is still as stiff as the bilsteins. On my z71 the bilsteins feel like somewhere around the 5 or 6 setting.
 
No need to feel bad, that was my best chance at getting a shock that would work right. I've not given up on them yet, I'm gonna put a few more miles before ditching them completely. If the adjustable Rancho's aren't cutting it, I doubt much will. There's something else causing this. I've spoke with 2-3 others who have the Rancho's on a 4runner and all I've gotten was positive reviews. Similar to what you said, 4-6 was perfect for the 4runner. I don't regret buying them at all, I had to know.
 
Hey thanks for all your help.. i ended up getting the bilstein hd's all around fr 300. Now just waiting for them to come in
 
I wanted to give an update on this post. I sold the Rancho's and get a new set of the OEM Tokico 4runner shocks. The ride is about the same as with the Rancho's, slightly better than the Bilstein HD's, and still not as good as the stock suspension was. I'm out of ideas on this, outside of ditching the rear air system which I'm not ready to do yet. So, for anyone out there reading this, don't put too much emphasis on my experience with the Rancho's. I think they're an excellent shock and it was my particular setup that caused the issues, not the shocks.
 
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