Have you ever wondered how adjustable the feel of the Rancho 9000 shock varies from one extreme to the other?

I have run the Rancho 9000s on my 2013 F150 crew cab FX4 with the Rancho Quick Lift set up. During which time I played with the settings a little bit until I found the ride I liked.

So a few months ago I installed the Rancho 9000 adjustable shocks on my 2013 F350 crew cab FX4. Again I played around until I found the ride I was comfortable with and enjoyed how the truck handled. So a couple of weeks ago we loaded up the 5th wheel and headed down south for a week of relaxation. Prior to hooking up I set the shocks to full on compression/rebound. They and the truck handled beautifully.

Once we got home I just left the shocks where they were, and to be honest it made for a pretty stout ride around town, but I knew we would be heading back out with the camper within a week. We just got back day before yesterday from another 9 day camping trip. So yesterday I set the dial of the front shocks to #2 and the rear to #1. WOW, talk about a soft bouncy ride, too bouncy, enough to make me very uncomfortable with the handling of the truck.

Nice thing about the adjustment of the shocks is how easy it is to adjust. We pulled into a parking lot did a quick turn of the shock ***** up a couple of notches and away we went feeling much more comfortable, under control and relaxed in the manner of the trucks handling.

Thank you to Rancho and our on site Rancho rep Matt for bringing such a great product to the aftermarket and on to my truck.

 

Nice report...


I wondered the same thing as I read some great reviews from these shocks so I decided out of curiosity to try a set. My initial experience was the same as yours until I racked up some miles on them. I started with the setting on 4 and the ride quality was impressvie, but that only lasted for a while until the bouncy/wobbly ride became too much so I adjusted them to the next setting and again that only lasted for a while until the bouncy/wobbly ride returned. I kept having to increase the stiffness setting to correct the problem until they were all maxed out and was forced to change them out.


It's my opinion based on my experience only that Rancho has or had a serious quality control problem with the 9000's as all four of them were literally shot with less than 20k miles. I have ~240k collective miles on two Super Duty trucks and I've never experienced such a poor quality shock during all those miles.


Good luck...

 

Thanks for the report. I too need to do something with mine. They are fine with the boat in tow....but with my air bags and the camper its chuck n roll. The stockers just hunt too much.

I wonder how the **** on the ranchos will hold up during the winter and making adjustments?

 

I too had 4 sets of 9000's adjustables..they would rust out fast in Ma. winters,etc. And the adjuster would freeze up.. I bought them from summit racing and they would send me new shocks each time. After I traded in for a new truck I left the OEM's on. And now with my 2011 and 2016 the truck handles so well just stock with Timbrens carrying my 4000lb plus truck camper in the bed I'm all set. Big difference over my 02 F350 that had air bags,Rancho's..Ford's come a long way since then. I just put on 7800 miles this past fall across the USA with the camper and love the ride power and comfort of this truck.

 

LOL!!!! Sometimes one just has to have a good laugh at ones on expense. As I mentioned the truck just handled like tee total hell, but I figured out a big part of the reason and it was owner screw up related.

I had crawled under the rear of the truck after adjusting the front shocks. I paid attention to how many notches I turned the adjustment ****, as well as the direction of the turn as to being clock wise or counter clock wise.

Well in the front of the truck the shock ***** face the same direction which is to the rear of the truck. However in the rear of the truck the driver side adjustment **** faces to the rear of the truck where as the passenger side faces towards the front of the truck. The results are that one **** (drivers side) would be turned the same direction as the front shocks and the other (passenger side) would need to be turned in the opposite direction to make the same adjustment.

OPPS, once I got things adjusted correctly the four corners of the truck balanced out properly and settled in where it needed to be.

As for longevity of the shocks I guess time will tell. Don't expect the weather to have too great of a bearing on either internal or external wear being in north Texas. But, if needed I will take advantage of the lifetime warranty and keep on rolling.

 

Been running 9000 series since 2002, never had any rust, any degradation in performance, never any leakage, never an issue, over 200,000 mi and 6 vehicles (3 Jeeps, 3 F350 trucks, 5500 lb camper).

 

Yea one of Texas's advantages...no salted roads or slush and snow for months..like New England has.
With only Timbrens added these later year Fords handle my 4000lb pound plus truck camper with ease...compared to my 02 F350 7.3 with Rancho 90000's Air Bags.

 

In regards to rust ANY shock will rust under winter conditions, be it mag chloride or salt. A simple solution to this it to coat with Fluid Film or a clear coat. This will help out immensely. Also turn the ***** at least once a quarter that helps a lot too.

 

Rancho's seemed to rust faster then any of my Ford OEM's. Fluid film with was right off fast down there. Never had to do this to OEM's. But the adjusters was the bigger issue as they froze up and the ones that didn't yet got hard to turn. This was the case with all sets I had for the time I had them. Sorry I won't buy them again mostly because adjusters freeze up.

 

I had communicated with Epic on the status of his 9000s and he stated that he had to replace them under warranty. I believe a few either were not performing well anymore or had started leaking. 9000s will be my next shock as my experience with Fox 2.0s wasnt that great.

 

Understood, but did you know that the ***** are replaceable on their own? Two hex screws and they are out.

 

The ***** weren't broken the adjuster wouldn't turn anymore. So I suspect 1. either rust or salt penetrated into the shock via the adjuster shaft or something inside was jamming as they wouldn't turn anymore.

 

All I can add is that Matt and Rancho have proven themselves in my book of shock needs for now and in the future.

 

Gotcha! But the WHOLE adjuster is replaceable as a stand alone unit.

 

Is the adjuster included in the lifetime warranty? Basically, if one freezes and need to be replaced, will Rancho send one out or does the whole shock need to be removed and mailed in? Is it user servicable? If it is user servicable, does the shock need to be removed from the truck or can it simply be replaced while still on?