Outer Limits 4x4 Board

Just wondering what peoples opinions are on the rancho 9000 shocks. Primarily want to use them in soft mode offroad ands then hard mode on drive home. Do they really work and are they worth the cost.

Set-up on a 94 WT Suzuki sierra 1.6efi, 2inch body lift, spring over. Currently 31's going to 32's or 33's with a jpeater yj leaf spring converion (from rocky road).

Not directly related, but I have the 5000s and they have SFA travel (1/2 an inch more than the monroes I replaced them with) and are stiff as a 14 year old with a lingerie catalogue.
I wouldn't recomend them to anyone.

Shockies an be a very tricky thing to select I have 9 way 9000's but don't really move them off the lowest setting. really would be useful for on road to stiffen them up but can'y be bothered, I just adjust my driving.

In OldGold's case it's a case of the shockie design not matching the vehicle, nothing to do with the shockies themselves.

I was pretty lucky the lengths that I selected happened to be a design that was for a dual shock application so in a single shock they work really well for a light zook. Although to get things just right I had to move my rear shock mounts.

There are quite a few adjustables around now, shop around and select a travel and valving combination that's right for your vehicle.

I have found the Jimny is just way too light to get any real use from them (have 9000's), they've never left the lowest setting.
It improved somewhat when the bar was put on the front as far as ride went, and the only time the rear end improved was when I was carrying about 300kg of TT posters in the back.

I have run thhe 9000s on the rear of my Zuk for quite a few years now. I bought them as they were the longest readily available shock at the time. They are set on 1 and pretty much stay at that setting unless I am carrying a heavy load.

The adjustability doesn't play a huge factor on a Suzuki. They aren't intended as a cure for a badly setup suspension system. You should get quality springs sorted first and then match with shocks that suit your needs. you need to consider length and valving etc.

Ranchos seem to be everyones initial pick because they sound cool with the adjusters. But in many cases they are just an expensive shock that really aren't suited for what most people want them to do.

forgot to mention that for my setup which is lots of flex an primarily offroad only those comnined with the Old Man Emu racing buggy shocks in the front have proved to be a great combo. But for something that sees more road time with the occasional offroad jaunt maybe not such a good choice.

Although from your setup/plans probably not a bad choice. But if you use setting 1 for offroad and then crank it to 9 for on road you'll find they will be way too stiff and give a horrible ride.

Is there a nice, long soft shock that just bolts in to the sierra? That isn't too pricey?
I only got the ranchos because they were the cheapest things availible to me.

Hilux ones arn't bad. I have these in mine. Cofap name. cheap too. Celica ones also, not sure which one as Moose ran these on his.

cheers

i was told that the 9000 adjusters only affect the rebound rate or something. the compression or bound rate always stays the same.

thats why the ride quality isnt that great on road for a light zook.

true or not? i was looking at getting a couple of ranchos for the rear of my vit. (only beacause the extended length was about 700-750mm)

hahahaha gotta love oldgolds terminology in the way he relates stuff

OldGold wrote:Is there a nice, long soft shock that just bolts in to the sierra? That isn't too pricey?
I only got the ranchos because they were the cheapest things availible to me.

are you at stock ride hight? you really need to measure your flex to spec the right lengths, then you need to consider the valving on the likely candidates from there.
I have a selection guide in MSexcel format which is probably a little out of date that I can email to ya if ya like has hundreds of shocks and their extended and compressed lengths.

OldGold wrote:Not directly related, but I have the 5000s and they have SFA travel (1/2 an inch more than the monroes I replaced them with) and are stiff as a 14 year old with a lingerie catalogue.
I wouldn't recomend them to anyone.

The shock being too short has nothing at all to do with the brand of shock so that is a useless comment to make.
Rancho make 14" travel shocks and have hundreds of different ones to suit different suspension setups.

Selecting the right shock is easy to do if you have some time.
Just flex your rig up and take some eye to eye measurements of the shock mounts. You are most interested in selecting the shocks which are able to compress enough when you have hit the bumpstops. Over compressing the shocks will kill them very quickly.

You can also trust in someone off the internet or a shop, but it really is easy to measure your particular setup and then shop around for the exact shocks that will provide the best travel and performance.

This is a great starting point: http://www.gorancho.com/products/literature.stm
And plenty of other manufacturers have spec sheets as well

cheers

z

when i put the 2" springs under my junk i went looking at rancho's cos i had them on a rocky before and loved them.... but i couldn't find any that were long enuf without limiting compression. woulda been all good if i was moving shock mounts, but i didn't wanna at the time... just went with some cheapy monroe's outta the back of a commodore (vp wagon i think) that were longer and compressed better. they don't work as well, but they were cheap and it's all good

zzzz wrote:

OldGold wrote:Not directly related, but I have the 5000s and they have SFA travel (1/2 an inch more than the monroes I replaced them with) and are stiff as a 14 year old with a lingerie catalogue.
I wouldn't recomend them to anyone.

The shock being too short has nothing at all to do with the brand of shock so that is a useless comment to make.
Rancho make 14" travel shocks and have hundreds of different ones to suit different suspension setups.

That's very true - they are the shocks coded to the Sierra in the rancho parts books, I forget the part number, if that's any help. I knew a lot less when I bought the shocks than I do now, I simply presumed being Ranchos they would be longer travel than stock and would be more suited to offroad application - yet they are very very stiff. And on the box it claims "Extended travel" (also what I was told by the guy who sold them to me ) but extended as measured against what I have no idea.

I guess therin lies the message that a little research goes a long way.

The OME Vitara rears are a similar story - not much longer either. I had the same with the aftermarket shocks in the maverick too - you buy an "extra long" option or shocks from a 4" liftkit instead of a 2" lift kit if you want extension.

In the end if you're paying big bucks to get 14" travel just start looking at car fitments - especially since nearly every offorad shock seems to be ridiculously frickin hard regardless of brand. I know VN-VP commodore shocks are extended to 750mm or something like that and antt and I did well out of our cressida ones for a fair while.

I own, have fitted and recommended Rancho's but I don't think that they are the ducks guts for a number of reasons.

a) They are generally sold as a universal fix all type of thing and this is complete rubbish. In many cases, Ranchos are selected based purely on fit alone and not by valving. This is justified by the adjustability of the shock, but Rancho do not release valving information for their shocks and not all 9000's work in all applications. I know this because I went through all of this pain getting ranchos for my G wagen. Including buying and dynoing shocks and finding out that they were useless for my application. as a result the recommended shocks for the rear I have to run on setting 5 ( mine are the old 5 speed ones) and these are still about 20% too soft. These were recommended for the front also, but would have killed me, so I went with 9012's and have to run them around setting 2.

b) they are expensive and are far from the best quality shock available.

c)If you can use the adjustability, then IMHO they tend to be a bit of a gadget in that you play with them heaps to start with and convince yourself that they a making all sorts of difference, undrivable tracks are now easy, you have gained 100hp etcetcetc and them a couple of years down the track you find that really, you were turning them down too soft and making the car handle like a bucket of poopyshiesen and all of the wobbling and cool bounce thing you had going on was just making the car harder to drive.

d) They are typically too stiff for sierras.

Due to this it becomes a very expensive game of trial and error buying these shocks if you find that they then don'y really work for your application and you don't adjust them anyway.

I set up sierras on OME N76 buggy shocks now and they are longer and cheaper than the nearest fitment rancho (99112) and softer too.
They are far less bling though.

I will add to this by saying that anyone who spends $220 a shock for something with 5 inches of travel really has too much spare cash 'cos youre going to be looking for a longer shock pretty soon and building some sort of modified mount so why not buy something with enough travel to last out a bit of development.

Sorry for the rant

Steve.

ive got a set in the front of my RUF sierra that i got 2nd hand off big steve and i love them. i too tend to leave them on soft just coz im lazy. the difference between soft and hard is huge. On hard it like driving a gocart/mini cooper on soft your CD player will actually play the cd's on dirt roads.

sorry to hijack, but i am doing a 2.5" ome lift soon, and will be fitting drop shackels as well. I was planning on going the rancho 9000's but am unsure now. What do you reckon would be a good shock that doesnt bottom out, but fits in with out putting in shock hoops??

Cheers
Michael Tonks

Most people here love the cheapie soft shocks for suzukis, old man emu especially.

tonks, can you weld? are you willing to fit bumpstop spacers? suzuki fitted rpetty much the longest shocks that will go in the hole. If you want much more than an inch or two more droop, you will have to raise the top mount, or space the bumpstop down, or both (I do both)

There is no "magic shock" than can be much longer extended but not longer compressed. The maximum you will get will be two inches, tops, if you're lucky.

The N76 OME's I am using ATM have about 10.5" on travel (stock front, 5" ) so I raise the top mount about 3" and drop the bumpstop 2". that way, you get to run bigger tyres, and get lots of droop.

Gwagensteve wrote:tonks, can you weld? are you willing to fit bumpstop spacers? suzuki fitted rpetty much the longest shocks that will go in the hole. If you want much more than an inch or two more droop, you will have to raise the top mount, or space the bumpstop down, or both (I do both)

There is no "magic shock" than can be much longer extended but not longer compressed. The maximum you will get will be two inches, tops, if you're lucky.

The N76 OME's I am using ATM have about 10.5" on travel (stock front, 5" ) so I raise the top mount about 3" and drop the bumpstop 2". that way, you get to run bigger tyres, and get lots of droop.

Sorry to hijack thread somewhat.

I have seen this bumpstop thing mentioned a bit lately. With the below specs (see my signature) what should I be doing to the bumpstops?

Are they limiting flex or am I in danger of axel wrap because I haven't compensated for the lift??

Nah, you don't NEED to drop your bumpstops, bear in mind I am one of the mistaken few who are trying to run big tyres on SPUA sierras, and don't really rate compression travel as much good to aid off raod ability, fo me it's all about droop and tyre clearance, but each to their own.

I'm guessing with your set up you will have trouble reaching the bumpstop in the front and very little chance of ever getting the bumpstop near the axle in the rear.

What you might find is that your shocks ( if they fit in a stock application) are pretty close to being fully extended at normal ride height. this will lead to poor wheel travel as you now have to fully compress one side to make the car travel, which causes a poor ride and awkward off road behiaviour, especially in a light car like a sierra. you could try spacing the bumpstops 1.5" down or so, this will mean the the compressed wheel is much more likely to reach the stop, and when it does, it starts to force the drooped wheel further down.


The extra 1.5" of compressed shock length you will have to play with will allow you to fit longer shocks in the stock position that won't bottom out before the suspension but will allow around 3" more droop.

Steve.