I have just about 50k miles on my truck but my OEM Ranchos are still holding up. I don't tow though..just daily drive now.

 

I had worn out bilstein’s on my 2000 4x4 that is stock height.

replaced the fronts with a set of specific to the truck Koni shocks. Then added a set of Gabriel’s to the rear.

much tighter valving. Lightly loaded empty truck normally.

305 size new series T/A’s.

the best thing I put in at the same time was a full set of Akebono ceramic brake pads and new coated rotors.

much improved braking friction especially cold.

not fully broken in yet but less brake dust so far.

 

I have 2016 F250 I put on the blietien shocks for about 2 days I hated them road like a cement truck tried to factory shop replacement ended up with Rancho 9000 x cells I don't care what anybody says they're everything you could ever need my truck rides so soft but can handle if I want to just buy a turn of the dial I spray painted mine black clear coated grease the ***** and never look back I don't know why you would want any other shock

P Scott

 

I was very happy with my Rancho RS9000XL shocks.

Ran them around the middle setting unloaded, dialed up the rear when loaded, and dialed them all the way down when off-roading. They were the best of all worlds for what I did.

 

Rancho RS9000

I have a dually truck and occasionally haul about 4500 lbs slide in camper.

Front shocks set to: 4 - 5 empty, 7 with the camper on.
Rear shocks set to: 3 empty, 5 with the camper on.

The truck has Torklift Stable Loads and Hellwig Add-On Overload leaf's in the rear (only one each side).

Works pretty good for a 20 year old truck.

 

I went with KYB Monomax shocks on my F350 Dually. I tow heavy, they handle the load great and provides a smooth ride when the back is empty. KYB has their roots in Japan’s heavy industry.

 

Have a 2001 CCSB 4X4 with the V10. Has a 2.5" Rough country lift springs on front and 33" tires.
I just took out the air bags and old shocks, KYB on the rear, Rough Country on front. Installed Bilstien 5100s all around. Truck seems to have a smoother ride when hitting the bumps.

 

My 2008 has over 250K miles. I tow an aluminum car handler that's roughly 5000lbs GW most of the time which puts the tongue weight between 500 and 650lbs depending on the actual load. I wanted really good shocks and since I'm new to the F250 SD, so at the advice of experienced friends I had a set of Rancho RS9000XL's installed last week.

The factory steering dampener didn't appeared to be original so it's now a Rancho unit as well. The truck was wandering unpredictably over fairly high speed wavy pavement and unseen bumps.

It's made a huge difference and I'm happy with the choice.

 

Thanks for this comment, I just ordered new steering dampener for mine.

I have replaced worn pitman arm, front wheel bearings, had wheel alignment done, tightened the steering gearbox a little and these helped some, but I have never really liked how my E99 F350 C.C. 4x4 dually 7.3L steering "feels" on the paved highway. (as for comparison, my 1984 F250 4x4 S.C. 6.9L with "Twin I-Beam" has clearly better steering!)

We will see if a new dampener will improve the 99?

 

Yeah, I forgot to mention that when I first test-drove the truck at the dealership in May this year, the steering wheel would turn 90 degrees before there was any response from the front end, so fixing it was a requirement before I would buy the truck. They replaced the gearbox and a few more steering and suspension parts to tighten up the front end and that's how I knew that worn steering parts weren't the problem... made the shock decision pretty easy to diagnose.

About the settings on the Ranchos. I'm running the shocks on "3" when not towing and could even dial down to 1 or 2. Rancho literature states that 1 or 2 will act like OEM shocks so I started with 3. When I tow again I suspect I'll dial it up to 5 then 7, maybe higher, and see which works best assuming I can tell the difference. I'm guessing here of course but the accelerometer in my butt should lead me to the right settings eventually.

Note: Since I had all of them replaced at the same time I don't really know how the truck would have handled differently if I'd replaced the shocks first and the dampener later. It wasn't a scientific approach but I don't have to go at it twice this way. Lazy I am.

 

Keep an eye on the gearbox. Not all remans are equal.


They are easy to adjust so it won't be difficult to dial them in to your liking. 3 is a good place to start and feel them out. I ran 4-5 in front and 3-4 in the rear for normal driving (it was my commuter vehicle). I dialed front and rear up when hauling towing and dialed them all the way down to 1 when off-roading.

 

I would definitely recommend shocks.

 

I put KYB MonoMax on my 16 dually last week, so far so good, haven't towed our 5th wheel yet.

 

KYB MonoMax

 

I'll definitely inspect the steering system "slop" every year. I didn't think about it then but it makes sense that the dealer wouldn't have used a new gearbox.

On the settings I wondered if they should be set to the same number assuming that the shock-bore difference between the front and rear would, by design, automatically take into account the weight difference between the two ends. But, apart from the road conditions, there's no way for a manufacturer to know what loads each of us will put in the bed.

Thanks