I replaced my ranchos with 800 miles on the truck. I put the Bilstein 5100 on have have not regretted it. I have have air system on the truck too. I tow a 44' Cyclone 3950, with no issues.

 

I swapped out the OEM Ranchos at 50,000 miles and out the Rancho 9000 on. I set them at the middle setting and have never changed them. They have 90,000 miles on them now. Seem to be working just fine.

When I bought them, There was good rebate that made them considerable cheaper than the Bilstiens

 

I replaced the oem shocks within the first week of ownership. Installed Bilstein HD's and I am very happy with them.

 

Try them. Why do you think so many SD owners are happy with them?

There is nothing magical about them, except that they work.

We also work with Chevy, Nissan and so on.

Try qualifying Rancho products* for 90 days. We guarantee you’ll experience the Rancho performance difference! If, for any reason, the qualifying products* don’t live up to your expectations within the first 90 days, return the products and we will refund your original product’s purchase price (which shall not exceed the manufacturer’s suggested retail price), plus labor (not to exceed $50 per pair). We’re that confident you will be satisfied with Rancho® RS9000™XL, RS7000®MT or Rancho® RS5000™X Shock Absorbers!

 

Great timing as I've been researching brands to replace my OEM shocks. Anyone have any comments on KYB Monomax?

 

I am not the smartest guy but my conclusion is that the money they make putting their sticker on the horrible oem shocks outweighs the negative backlash from people who realize how bad the FX4 shocks really are.


After a week of being on the truck I could compress them with ease and it would take what seemed like 10 minutes for them to fully extend. While it takes a lot of pressure to compress the Bilstein HDs and they spring back immediately.

 

Have any of you had success changing shocks and getting rid of the the rear wheel hop? Also how can you tell if the shocks are bad? I only know of the bounce test but the back end of these things don't bounce. Also what is a 2" or 2 1/2" shock? A guy on another forum said he used 2 1/2" shocks to get rid of his bounce.

I have the fx4 on my 250 cclb.

Thanks for any help.

 

Look for oil seepage around the piston rod.

As for wheel hop that is more of a challenge. I would say Ford has not done a good job on mitigating that. When you are putting out 800 + lbs of torque its hard to control. Things that will help: Heavy duty and or adjustable shocks, a traction device in the axle such as limited slip or lockers and or a traction bar. In addition if you have a older high mileage vehicle the bushings could be worn allowing movement.

Or you can rid yourself of it completely by wearing a smaller size shoe and adding a brick behind the go pedal.

A note of caution here: Excessive wheel hop can and often does lead to catastrophic damage to your axle, gears and suspension components.

On a leaf spring auto its the application of power which causes the axle to begin to wrap which twists the leaf spring set allowing the tire to lift, losing traction and then the sudden violent action of the leaf pack now overcoming the weight of the axle as it unwraps.

My '11 F 350 was prone to hop, especially coming up the road to the barn, it got steep and it truly took a feather approach on the go pedal. My '15 with limited slip axle does not give me wheel hop so in this cause I attribute it to the limited slip. That said in my race car I suddenly started having wheel hop which got worse real quick. What I finally discovered was a bushing on the right side had worn to the point it allowed the axle to move back and forth thus inducing wheel hop.

 

You are comparing a non gas charged shock to a high gas charge, that explains the "rebound".

 

I think he was referring to the 45mph wheel hop.

 

Look for oil seepage around the piston rod.

 

Interesting. Would one of the Rancho high gas charged shocks, as opposed to the the non gas charged factory FX4 shocks, help with the wheel hop that has plagued the Fords for many years?

Yes I was referring to the 45 and 65ish mph wheel hop issues.

 

If you are exp wheel hop at 45/65 mph or at any speed, then unless you have a bad shock you have other issues:

Tire out of round

Tire out of balance

Tire with internal separation, look for bulge on sidewalls or on the tread of the tire itself

Tire with separating or peeling tread, look for the tread layer splitting or chunked away

Depending upon the what your wheel was built it maybe possible that it has some weight from and external source lodged in it (mud is common)

 

It is a well documented problem that has plagued a lot of Fords for many years. Suffice it to say that 99.999% of the time the tires aren't the issue. It is well documented in a 40+ page thread on powerstroke.org as well as many other places - here included.

Lucky for you duallys don't seem to ever have the problem.

 

Gwcon,


I just bought a '15 350 dually pickup not chassis not yet reflected on my signature.

What part numbers did you use to order your Bilstein's for the 2015? Were yours the 4600 or the 5100's?

Like my 2011's that I tossed, the Bilstein catalogue is still 2-3 years behind current. I don"t off road, but do tow heavy. Need to dump them Rancho's.