Take advantage of the sale prices and rebates. It really is a good deal. Just be sure to stay on top of the delivered products

 

Nice wright up, reps sent.

 

Thanks

I appreciate all the help from so many. I'm still waiting to get everything installed and then add my info to the suspension thread to help the next guy who hopefully isn't flailing as badly as I

 

Lol. Flailing or not I seriously doubt that the next guy or next three guys combined will provide the level of detailed research, installation and performance feedback that you have so far! Keep it up, it is all top notch good reading!

 

I hate spell check auto correct.... WRITE

 

Glad you fixed it. Two wrongs don't make a wok. LOL.

Was getting ready to go ice fishing this past winter. Texting my buddies that due to the wind, we should add sides to our shelter, so we will need to take "Tarps and Bungees"

Google, in all its smarter-than-you glory, changed it to read:

"We need to take Tattoos and Bunnies"

I got a phone call. They "figured" it was auto-correct, but then they weren't quite sure what I had in mind and wanted to be fully prepared

So glad to have all this technology to make us look like we can't complete a proper sentence. Haha!

 

A few more things that may help:
You can purchase different boots, but that Rancho Red pops.
Also a lot of people in the "Rust Belt" will hit the shock body with a clear coat or Fluid Film. It just helps for added protection. Road salt is just nasty on all undercarriage parts.
Also, you didn't mention it, but slop on the anti-seize. Wear gloves

And again glad to hear Customer Service took care of you.
Thanks!

 

Thanks for the tips!

I'm planning on Fluid Film for most of the undercarriage before the snow flies- which means really soon

Forgot the anti-seize.

Didn't know you guys were a sponsor on here, good to know

We just finished installing the fronts as well and a short ride. I'll update everyone on how it rides after we get some time on it.

For now, here is a picture of one of the fronts, complete with Black "racing stripes" LOL.




And a few others along the way...

Out of the box. These were much easier to install the boot.



A nice ridge at the top end to work the boot onto. I skipped the ziptie here as it would really stand out in a poor fashion. If the boot pops off, I'll have to figure something else out.



Zipties on the bottom

If the bottom of the boot wasn't split, you might be able to ziptie about 3/4" from the bottom and fold the boot over the ziptie, allowing the elasticity of the boot to keep it rolled and hiding the ziptie

 

Yep, I went with black boots on my previous Ex with rancho...

 

We used a farmer's jack for the front, too.

I put a piece of rubber roofing over the (very dirty and bug infested ) chrome brush guard to keep the jack from rubbing and put the hook in the towing eye on one side.

It's important to keep the jack as vertical and as close to the lift point as possible. Better to lean than fall





Go ahead and laugh at my camo Crocks They have a great deal of cushion and have really helped with my knees and back. Harder to find the real ones. Thanks, Bass Pro



Just REALLY have to be CAREFUL when lowering the jack. Anyone who has used a farmers jack knows when you get the weight off the hook it drops quickly.

The hook is above the lower chrome bar on my brush guard, so gotta be careful

Here are the old shocks.



The lower BOLT is 15mm. The nut has a lip on it to keep it from spinning. This driver side had the bolt from the front and was REALLY TIGHT.

The passenger side bolt was from the rear and not as bad. I did use a longer extension instead of a bunch of smaller ones, so the impact was more effective.

Couldn't find my 3/4" to 1/2" adapter and my sets of 3/4" sockets don't go down to 15mm.

This is what I grabbed but couldn't use:




It's from Harbor Freight and necking it down restricts the air supply, but it builds up to 1400ft-lbs (!) Just not enough air to hold it constant. Usually only takes 1-3 secs to remove even the stuck tractor lugs/bolts


Notice the Eyes on these front shocks are at 90* to each other. Remember that when fastening your boots so you don't have to twist your boot later

The top nut (18mm) is up inside this fender well area. I had to push the plastic up and back a bit to remove the nut, especially on the passenger side.




Here's a big TIP:

Set your shocks on setting "1" before installing them. This allows you to put the bottom bolt in place with the nut started first, then push down on the top to gradually move it inward, towards the top bolt.

It's easier to do on "1"


I put the **** to the rear to protect them from road debris and still access them after installation.

I set the fronts to "6"

We took a short drive and the ride is dramatically improved over the ReFlex shocks that were on it

We have some pretty rough roads around here ("The Pothole State"), so I'm not sure if a lower setting will provide enough help with the big defects and ditches, or if it could soften the overall ride?

I still have to find and install replacement bump stops, so maybe that will let me go softer on the front and still have hard-hit-protection?

We'll have to play with them a bit. But that is why we went with the adjustable shocks from Rancho- So we could "Dial them in"

Overall, pretty happy so far. Only a few miles on them, but took a back road, unpaved with some VERY rough pavement- except by the Township Supervisor's house. He was the first to get pavement on the road and only just past his families' houses. You guys know how THAT works

We didn't have any really rough hits, and it was noticeably tamer, but we still felt most of the bumps, just not as hard.

That's why I'm wondering about a softer setting- to smooth it out. My 4Runner goes over that stuff and it feels like your driving on grass. Of course it is a little over half the weight

Tips and suggestions are definitely welcomed! As I said earlier, I am not an expert on suspension I'm just really pleased to have the chance to try out different configurations without buying a boat load of different shocks

 

NOW you guys tell me

 

Okay, since you guys are looking at my disgracefully dirty front end and barely visible chrome brush guard, Here are a couple of bonus pics.

Hit a big deer just over a week ago. 45MPH, no warning, grossing about 12k with gear and trailer (no trailer brakes).

This is the mount on the driver side, where it should be.



This is the passenger side, the ONLY sign of impact. NO DAMAGE to the Excursion Killed the deer dead. It was a hard hit rounding the corner and him bolting across before I got there.



The mounting holes in the brush guard are slotted to allow for a bit of adjustment, I guess. It slid a bit

When I get the impact gun back out, I'll loosen them and reposition my FAVORITE BRUSHGUARD OF ALL TIMES!!!

Westin Open Country

 

Here's an example of our local Pennsylvania STATE ROAD.



Railroad tunnel. State Road. Ice falls as trains cross or it melts or the wind blows.

Potholes over 18" across and 6" deep. Pavement missing, old brick road showing through. It's been this way for YEARS.

Occasionally they spray tar and throw gravel on it, which doesn't help and is mostly gone after 2-3 weeks.

Something about the RR won't allow PennDOT to add any pavement onto it because the clearance is only 11'

Fortunately, just this fall, they started to actually put a thin layer of blacktop over it. Much improved, but we'll still have the ice.

The rest of this road (MILES of it) are unfit for human travel. Forget motorcycles, it isn't safe for cars...

Some diddly-do decided to play with a paving machine in sections. My goodness, he should be flogged!

I'll have to snap a few pics of what they call "paving" around here and actually PAY people to do

You can rest assured that NO CONGRESSMAN drives this state road

So the Ranchos will have quite the challenge around here

 

Another tip that I thought of.
And this is up to you.
On my Jeep JK I don't run the zip tie, now that I think of it.
The boot stays fairly "scrunched" up but I clean it quiet often.

 

I wondered about that, but again the boot is split at the bottom or it might stay put better?

I might try it on one of the fronts after a bit. They are pretty easy to access.

Heck, might even be able to add a few little hooks/tabs to the outside of the shock body and poke a small hole in the boot to hold it in place. Especially if it "wants" to stay in place without much pulling or strain on it.

Certainly can NOT TRY IT <--In case future readers come across this post-- on an assembled shock. A welder for even a moment could cause the shock to "catastrophically fail"

Just some ideas.