another suspension question

[scott1482]

i am currently looking at RANCHO RS9000 adjustable shocks and would like to know if anyone used these or know of someone that has and if so what do they think??
i have bought only 2 sets of 4x4 shock absorbers in the past for 2 different 4x4s and have not been happy with what i had so i would like to know what you guys recomend and use to help me in making my mind up with what i go for.
also whats the better choise out of gas or foam cell.

[burnse]

I haven't tried RANCHO shocks before. But I have tried EFS (stuffed in no time), Monroe Gas Magnum (too soft), Pedders, Bilstein (good on road/soft off road, but faded badly with heavy off road use) and Koni Heavy Track Adjustables (All on SWB Gen 2 Pajeros). The pick of them are definately the Konis and I even found the Pedders to be alright for the cost.

Not sure what the RANCHOS are worth but Koni Heavy Tracks are around $360-$400 for a pair and are well worth it.

[scott1482]

the shocks i have used in the past have been ultimas first time i had them in my sierra and found them very firm and they blew out in no time, second time were ultimas again with a sticker over the ultima stamp which i was not happy about becouse i bought them from a online suspension shop where i called to order so i could talk to the salesman and tell them what i wanted and these were fitted into my old ng turbo diesle lwb and i just didnt like the way they felt.
friends of mine have got lovells on there pajeros and they have only got just over 12months out of theres and neither are very happy with that i was looking at the ranchos becouse my brother has them in hes hilux and love them but hes arnt the adjustable ones so back to my question is adjustable shockes worththe extra $$$ as i want to try and get the best i can for a resonable price i think i saw the rancho adjustable for around the $390 price range...

[burnse]

Personally if the RANCHOS are similar price to the Konis I would definately get the Konis. For me I set the adjustment to the hardest settings ( I have tried the other settings), after that I don't readjust them. But in saying that it does make a difference between the settings so you can always select what suits you the best with adjustables. Rather than changing to a different type of shock if the non-adjustable shock doesn't ride how you want it to.

[fondente]

Hi.. on my 2.8 I fitted different shocks... bilstein, koni ht, ome...
Bilstein aren't made for offroad use.... Ome so so...
I think kony is the right choice for quality and price...

[nik.maxwell]

Hi scott,

I have just recently put RANCHO RS9000 Adjustable's on my NJ LWB, I haven't done a huge of offroading with them but they feel great, much better handling than the OME's which were in there, though they were getting on a bit. They corner great onroad. Still experimenting with the adjustable settings on them. I haven't heard too many good reports about how well they last, we have to wait and see I guess. Funny though, they get awesome praise in the States, but not so much in Aussie/NZ.

Nik.

[Guy]

Hi.. on my 2.8 I fitted different shocks... bilstein, koni ht, ome...
Bilstein aren't made for offroad use.... Ome so so...
I think kony is the right choice for quality and price...

Bilstein .. not made for off-road ..are you kidding ?

[sprintman]

My shop says the Koni's are the go. Maybe they know something?

[oldmate]

Funny though, they get awesome praise in the States, but not so much in Aussie/NZ.

Nik.

Roads in the US are way ahead of Australian roads. Super smooth and flat. That way you can get away with a stiffer shock becaue ride quality is less of an issue.

Different people have different ideas of how their truck should ride. Some don't mind owning a coil sprung truck that rides like a leaf sprung truck.
Handling is very subjective. Body roll is interesting. Although my 80 rolls like a trophy truck on corners, it still holds the road very well considering it's got skinny mud tires on splitrims at the moment. It freaks some people out and takes some getting used to but the truck never feels unstable.
If body roll is a concern i'd look at a good sway bar setup with disconnects, opposed to running a firm shock.

I've used procomp es9000s, toughdog adjustables, the firm old man emus and now i'm using koni heavy tracks.

Konis win hands down as far as vehicle stability and onroad comfort go. They go over the bumps well, and doesn't make the ride all jittery

the toughdogs were absolute rubbish for the price. They were harsh over bumps, regardless of the setting. Worked well enough off road.

the procomps were harsh on the bumps and bouncy all round. They felt like they reacted too late to the impact of the bumps. THey held the body still off road though.

the ome's were ok on the bumps, but were a little firm all over causing a jittery ride. I got rid of them when i put some firm maxiss muds on which caused the bump absorbion to go to shit.

[fondente]

Hi.. on my 2.8 I fitted different shocks... bilstein, koni ht, ome...
Bilstein aren't made for offroad use.... Ome so so...
I think kony is the right choice for quality and price...

Bilstein .. not made for off-road ..are you kidding ?

I'm not kidding... in my experience Bilstein were very good on road with standard springs...
When I started to use my pajo for offroad bilsteins (the rear ones) explosed... Maybe my ones were defectives but that's my experience. Others pajo owners had the same bad experience. Bilstein in Italy is not one of the favorite brands for use in off-road...
As I wrote before Koni are the best if we consider price and global performance (for me of course).
After 70.000km of good job I replaced konis with 4 handmade shocks... they are quite better but they are quite expensive (1 shock costs like 2 kony ht).

[DUDELUX]

Personally, I would give EFS another look.
I ran EFS shockies on my 4runner, and was very happy with how it handled on and off road.
Good price too.
The OP can get them from Dom at Selby Suspension at Tuggerah for a good price.
Hes a nice bloke and knows his stuff, if you arent too keen on EFS, then have a chat to him, hed know something that will work for you.
Avoid Tough Dogs, I havent used them, but know alot of people that have and arent real happy with them.
Ranchos and Pro-comps would be the pick for me.
Have you thought about Raw?? Ive heard good things about them.
Good luck with it mate.