Installed RS9000XL Rancho shocks yesterday with piston rod end up on both front & rear, as this was the way the original shocks came out. I'm not sure if this is the correct way but I looked at other newer truck shocks and they had the piston rod pointing up also. Then I looked at some older fords and they had the piston rod pointing down. Do I have my shocks installed correctly? The 9 way adjustable shocks out of the box were impressive looking. But the new rancho rear shocks had hardly any return. In other words when I compressed the rear shocks they should spring out to full extension and should be hard to push in or compress when set to their highest setting, 9, but they were a very slow response to to fully reach there fully extended position after being fully compressed. The original rear shocks were very hard to compress and returned to full extension very fast. Did I receive a bad pair of rear RS9000XL Rancho shocks. I kept my original rear shocks and tossed the front shocks. One of the front shocks would not even extend back out after being compressed. So they were thrown in the garbage. The original shocks from my 2008 F350 Crew Cab 4x4 long box had 87000 miles on them. So I was glad I changed them. I will put the rancho RS9000XL shocks on setting of one, for highway driving & see if that eliminates or reduces the road hop on I-5 Puget Sound Corridor Everett to tacoma area's. Where the concrete expansion joints are. Thats when the road hop is the worst. Ordered Rancho steering stabilizer which should be here by thursday. Please advise if I put shocks on correct or incorrect. Upside down or what. Thank you everyone for your help I enjoy and learn alot from reading all the posts. Thank You.

 

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I put mine on with rod/boot upward. That's what seems to be correct for the newer trucks. On the pre '05 trucks, some were putting them on with the rod/boot down, and they said the Bilstein instructions said that. But it doesn't on the newer ones. I'm sure you've got it right. A shock will work the same either way, so it's not a big deal. Keeping the rod upward helps keep it clean.

A shock should extend very slowly. That's the dampening effect, limiting the gas expansion. Sounds like you were over due for shocks. On the Rancho you will have to try them at different settings to see what works for you.

I don't think you have anything to worry about.

 

Update: Rancho RS9000XL shocks are doing pretty good. I adjust to lowest dampening setting of one, which reduces road hop on puget sound I-5 corridor where concrete highway expansion joints are. I tried all settings and am getting tired of crawling under truck to change settings. Mostly one on freeway driving and then highest setting of nine on rural and stop n go city driving. Seattle area, Fremont district, and magnolia district. also replaced steering stabilizer. It's all good, but bought used wireless MyRide system on craigs list, includes air compressor, hoses & fittings. Da word is this system has a habit of leaking air at the fittings. I'll research more before installing and create new thread. MyRide is less than a month old from owner on craigs list. Said it leaked while his 14000 lb camper was on the back of his dually dodge. So I took it at face value and purchased a one month old MyRide system.