I'm gonna buy new shocks here soon. The ones on there are AC/Delco (whats up with that?) The guy who owned it before me used it for work so I'm not sure whats in there now but when it has no load in the back it is brutal, and bouces rather harsh. I have used Monroe Gas Matic in the past on other cars and I like them ok. I'm looking to soften the ride a bit, whats anybody recommend, looking for a medium priced shock..

 

Phinxter,

I opted to go with the OEM shocks and got a better price from the local Ford dealer as I try to buy OEM replacement parts for my repairs, so the parts guy cut me a break. It's getting harder to do though as many of the 2000 Ranger parts are discontinued, so aftermarket when I must.

I've had the Monroe shocks to, and like you, they were 'OK'. Not great though and harsher than the OEM shocks I had. This was the main reason for me to go with OEM on this go around (all 4 shocks replaced about 5 months ago). But consider your needs: you may want stiffer shocks if you do some hauling or if you off road with the vehicle, I assume that aftermarket shocks may offer a more rugid design.

Good luck!!

Kevin

 

Update, and then some.

I went with Monroe Gas Matic, don't need heavy duty shocks. In addition to that I decided to replaced the original front coil springs cause they looked like they might be sagging a bit cause it sits like a stink bug. The radius arm bushings were shot like 10 years ago so did those as well. In the process found the front brake hoses cracked and one just ripped out of the (rusty) crimp, so 2 new hoses, new front brake lines. Might as well rebuild the calipers too (such a cheap job... about $5 for 2 kits). While I'm at it the pitman shaft leaks bad, bought a kit to fix that. Removed the shaft from the steering box to find seal area badly pitted, seals would never fix this. So that repair went from $12 to $145 real fast, but steering had some slop in it and it needed a new box anyway, and power steering pressure hose was looking a bit rough, so in the grand scheme of things whats $15 more *sigh*.
All parts in and man what a difference, I gained over 1 1/4 of ride height on the front, it doen't beat the crap out of me over a small bump, doesn't sound like the front end is going to be visible in the rear view mirror after that pot hole and it steers so good it will take some time to get used to not having play in it. I'd say it was worth it.

 

I like the Monroe Reflex that I put on my truck 2003 2wd 2.3 dohc. rides good and handles wash boards real well.

 

1997 F150 2X4
Just finished shock change. Went with the Monroe sensatrak for towing reasons. Anyway, read alot of posts about problems doing a shock change. Enough issues out there that I went into it expecting the worst. Here's how it went for me (I say that because I know everybody's circumstances can differ greatly). Fronts were no problem. Didn't remove wheels, all went smooth, took about 90 minutes. The rears also went pretty smooth. Yes, there is not alot of wrench room on the top, but certainly enough for an end-wrench. Soaked both shock tops with WD-40. The driver's side loosened without the shaft turning. Passenger side was different, but just held a wrench on the top of the shaft, and presto. The only difficult part about installing the new rears was complessing the shock to bring the bottom up to the mount. A little creativity with the floor jack, and they were in. Rears took about 2 hrs. After reading some of the horror stories, I realize that I got off easy. So if you are contemplating the shock change, here's one example showing that the job can be pretty easy.
BTW--Truck has 169,000 on it, and the old "reflexes" that were on it were completely gone. The new shocks made more of a difference than I could have imagined.
Doulie