Or read the literature Rancho provides and don't contact them
if they recommended no boot why would they include it ?


SAT

 

Customers choice to use or not. I contacted them because when I had my Jeep we all ran w/o them. So when I got these for my truck ...hey I just asked. I am very happy w/o boots and I got the answer I was looking for when I contacted them. All I know is my shocks get rinsed off every time I wash my truck. How can boots protect the seals??? You still have s@@@ getting inside the boots.

 

I wasn't aware of that, thanks for the info. I did look in my trash can last night out of curiousity and one of the four did eventually "rebound". At least two of the four I was able to push the rod down literally with no resistance so I knew I had to see a big difference just becuase of the condition of the ones on my truck.

The one thing that does concern me is the passenger rear shock. My truck has a Magnaflow 4" exhaust and it is almost touching the shock. Does anybody think the heat from being that close to the exhaust can affect the shock? Of course what are my options? Pay several hundred dollars to have my exhaust moved around. My guess is the exhaust was done when the factory shocks were on since their diameter is quite a bit smaller.

 

The boots significantly reduce the dirt/debris that encounters the seal. The more grit the seal has to wipe off the rod, the more wear it gets and the more likely it is to fail.

 

Lookie here..Rancho Suspension: Shocks » RS9000XL™ look real hard...do you see a boot??? I see a bootless shaft.

 

I disagree... I have had boots and they get FULL of the same crap that gets all over under your truck. Look inside your boots.

 

Maybe I messed up the whole boot install but I decided to pull the boot down a bit more and then put the tie wrap on so that essentially the boot is "sealed" around the shock with no openings. It only seemed logical to me if I sealed the boot tight then I shouldn't have a problem with debris. The only thing I'm gonna check periodically is moisture build up since I have the boot sealed.

This idea seemed good to me at the time, maybe I'm wrong - time will tell.

 

then read below on the same link and see what it states about a boot

 

I did just a few weeks ago. Shafts were very clean and just a little grime had collected around the bottom of the boot, very far away from the shaft seal.

 

Does the literature state what Rancho recommends about using the boots?

 

I did. That is what i was reading when i noticed that photo...with no boots. Maybe i could mount them upside down w/o boots. That would look awesome.

 

My shocks came with no manuals, literature or sell sheets - nothing!

However, the 9000XL "sell sheet" on Rancho's website lists different features and benefits for the shock.....

Features:
Protective Boot Included
Benefit:
Added protection for the shock rod and oil seal.

Naturally there are other items listed but this is the only one referring to the boot. I would have copied and pasted the original, but Rancho has a lock or something on the document to prevent that. This was all I found in their literature.

Here's a pic of what I did with my boots...

 

Great. Now we can have the other senseless argument over rod up or rod down.

 

actually I don't think these are able to be mounted uside down
that would be a better question than the boot or no boot question lol

 

I know ,,,, I really need to un-subscribe from this