Review of Rancho Shocks
I called Rancho on the phone for advice on what to buy. Since my camper only adds weight to the rear axle (very little to front) they said I could put RS5000's on the front and RS9000 adjustables on the rear. he said the 5000's were like the setting 5 on the 9000's, and both front and rear shocks had the same compression:rebound ratio.
ordered parts from local online auto store (order on line, pickup in store). there was a 20% off sale going on, plus I had a bunch of $20.00 off $100 coupons from past purchases.
Front pair was like $85 after discount and 1 $20 coupon.
rear was $81 each after after discount and 1 $20 coupon each (total of $60 in coupons).
parts showed up "pre camping season" so I installed all of them.
put rear on 1 and backed out of garage, boing, boing, boing, I pulled right back into garage and turned them up to 5. still backing out I feel a clunk like something is loose, but I went for a ride. it felt better empty than the stock shocks did.
loaded camper on truck, turned back shocks up all the way and went for ride. man this thing is wallowing all over, swaying side to side, front to rear. we were going to go and pickup my Mom for dinner, but Wife said we better take Mom's care or she would get car sick.
than I hit a dip in the road at around 45mph; the rear of truck started bouncing up and down, it was an oscillation where every rebound was going higher than the first, I thought it was going to throw the camper in air. letting off the gas to slow down stopped the oscillations.
Took truck home and called Rancho.
"you must have a bad shock, so we are going to replace both rear shocks". another week goes past, new shocks get here, I install them and go for a ride. same bump and now truck does not bounce like it did before, but man does this thing sway! and all shocks seem weaker than stock shocks in both compression and rebound.
I call them back and explain it. "oh, it sounds like you are under valved in the front". I reply "but you guys told me it would be acceptable to run the 5000's on the front, and how much better than the stock shocks it was going to be"!
I asked if I can exchange the front 5000's and make up the difference, "well no, our 90 day ride guarantee don't work that way, you need to return all 4 for your money back and buy new ones".
"WHAT? if I have to pull all 4 shocks, its not going to be Rancho's going back on". so they have me ship all 4 shocks back, plus the 2 defective ones. So I present all the required paperwork, they tell me they will pay $50.00 per axle labor. "your check will arrive within 7-10 days".
15 days later I call them, "no check". "Oh, I don't know what happened, I will take care if it today".
I call next day, "its in the mail".
I get check 3 days later, it does not include the $60.00 in coupons I used (which I had to earn by other purchases at this store). or the $50 per axle labor. I guess you know how I feel about Rancho company now.
so now stock shocks are back on so I really can compare stock shocks with 12K miles on them, to rancho, and back to stock.
The stock may feel stiff empty, but they work much much better loaded than the rancho's did even when they were turned all the way up.
in fact I think maybe I will stick with my stock shocks until they need to be replaced. and it will not be rancho's when they do get replaced.
ordered parts from local online auto store (order on line, pickup in store). there was a 20% off sale going on, plus I had a bunch of $20.00 off $100 coupons from past purchases.
Front pair was like $85 after discount and 1 $20 coupon.
rear was $81 each after after discount and 1 $20 coupon each (total of $60 in coupons).
parts showed up "pre camping season" so I installed all of them.
put rear on 1 and backed out of garage, boing, boing, boing, I pulled right back into garage and turned them up to 5. still backing out I feel a clunk like something is loose, but I went for a ride. it felt better empty than the stock shocks did.
loaded camper on truck, turned back shocks up all the way and went for ride. man this thing is wallowing all over, swaying side to side, front to rear. we were going to go and pickup my Mom for dinner, but Wife said we better take Mom's care or she would get car sick.
than I hit a dip in the road at around 45mph; the rear of truck started bouncing up and down, it was an oscillation where every rebound was going higher than the first, I thought it was going to throw the camper in air. letting off the gas to slow down stopped the oscillations.
Took truck home and called Rancho.
"you must have a bad shock, so we are going to replace both rear shocks". another week goes past, new shocks get here, I install them and go for a ride. same bump and now truck does not bounce like it did before, but man does this thing sway! and all shocks seem weaker than stock shocks in both compression and rebound.
I call them back and explain it. "oh, it sounds like you are under valved in the front". I reply "but you guys told me it would be acceptable to run the 5000's on the front, and how much better than the stock shocks it was going to be"!
I asked if I can exchange the front 5000's and make up the difference, "well no, our 90 day ride guarantee don't work that way, you need to return all 4 for your money back and buy new ones".
"WHAT? if I have to pull all 4 shocks, its not going to be Rancho's going back on". so they have me ship all 4 shocks back, plus the 2 defective ones. So I present all the required paperwork, they tell me they will pay $50.00 per axle labor. "your check will arrive within 7-10 days".
15 days later I call them, "no check". "Oh, I don't know what happened, I will take care if it today".
I call next day, "its in the mail".
I get check 3 days later, it does not include the $60.00 in coupons I used (which I had to earn by other purchases at this store). or the $50 per axle labor. I guess you know how I feel about Rancho company now.
so now stock shocks are back on so I really can compare stock shocks with 12K miles on them, to rancho, and back to stock.
The stock may feel stiff empty, but they work much much better loaded than the rancho's did even when they were turned all the way up.
in fact I think maybe I will stick with my stock shocks until they need to be replaced. and it will not be rancho's when they do get replaced.
