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 ...
Forum Discussion
I have put Rancho 9000 on the last two trucks, and my experience isn't like yours. When turned up to 9, the Ranchos were considerably stiffer than stock. This has been on Fords, not Rams.
I do not agree with Rancho about the 5000 being sufficient for camper use. It is true that the front end does not carry much of the camper weight, but the dynamics are entirely different in pitch when you put 4000 lbs in the bed with a center of gravity maybe 6 or 8 feet off the ground. With the front Ranchos set to 5 its fine unloaded, but with the camper on there is quite a lot of pitching from the extra weight high up. I turn the fronts up to 7 or 8 with the camper on and the rears to 9. Empty with the rears on 9 the ride is quite harsh. There is simply no way a shock can be properly tuned to both empty and loaded conditions, unless there is the means to change the tuning like the Rancho 9000 has.
I do not agree with Rancho about the 5000 being sufficient for camper use. It is true that the front end does not carry much of the camper weight, but the dynamics are entirely different in pitch when you put 4000 lbs in the bed with a center of gravity maybe 6 or 8 feet off the ground. With the front Ranchos set to 5 its fine unloaded, but with the camper on there is quite a lot of pitching from the extra weight high up. I turn the fronts up to 7 or 8 with the camper on and the rears to 9. Empty with the rears on 9 the ride is quite harsh. There is simply no way a shock can be properly tuned to both empty and loaded conditions, unless there is the means to change the tuning like the Rancho 9000 has.
