Striking out with Rancho RS9000 shocks!

[84FLH]

The Vehicle: 2000 Mountaineer. 396,x.. miles. Original motor and trans (lost reverse last year, all forward gears work well).

Current Ride Quality: Rear leafs (Dayton) are one year old but have no real spring to them. They lost most of their arch when vehicle came off lift afte rinstall. 50 lbs of car camping gear in the back makes vehicle squat. Up front, I think torsion bars reached end of useful life. Seem to have lost "springy-ness". Mounty rides hard, even with one year old Monroe shocks (their newest replacement for Sensa-Tracs).

The Plan: Thought Rancho's adjustable RS9000 series front and rear might compensate for weak leaf springs and torsion bars. Ordered 4 from Rock Auto. Arrived in a few days. Made visual inspection of rear shocks. All looked good. Not so for front shocks.

First Surprise: One front shock looked good. Other shock had huge, glompy, cold looking weld where lower rod connects to shock body. I accidently unlocked the top rod while inspecting this shock. The top rod sprang into place very fast, almost like a switchblade. Caught me by surprise. I compressed it and locked it back down, so I could return it because of the weld.

Return, Replacement: I returned the front shock with bad weld. Kept other front shock and both rears. Replacement front shock arrived this week.

Todays Trouble: Today I setup for front install. Started by unlocking the top rods of both front shocks. I figured they'd spring out fast, like the returned shock but they didn't. Not at all. On both shocks I had to keep unscrewing and unscrewing the top rods to get them fully extended. I then put the bottom of shock against my work bench and pressed by hand on top of top rods. Both rods immediately collapsed about 1" back into the shock body, without any resistance for that 1". Pulled the rod back out and pressed on it again. No collapse but I didn't trust it.

I stopped the install because I have questions.

Questions

1) Should those top rods spring out very fast, as on the shock I returned?
2) Or is it normal to have to keep turning the buggers to get them fully extended?
3) Should those top rods collapse 1" into shock body without resistance, by hand pressure; does that indicate something's wrong in the shock?

Summary: With my oil change mess-up, and now the front shock issue, I'm 0 for 2 today.

Thanks, everyone.

 

[410Fortune]

The 9000 do not spring out when you release them
You do not have to screw them to get them to extend, just pull
To collapse just push

This is normal for the 9000s
They will do nothing to help with springy ness as shocks only control the rebound
What you want in the back are shocks that have a helper soring, more
Like a strut, they are called “load handlers” or you can try airbags, or air shocks.
the 9000s are good shocks, but they are not spring assisted

 

[84FLH]

The 9000 do not spring out when you release them
You do not have to screw them to get them to extend, just pull
To collapse just push

This is normal for the 9000s
They will do nothing to help with springy ness as shocks only control the rebound
What you want in the back are shocks that have a helper soring, more
Like a strut, they are called “load handlers” or you can try airbags, or air shocks.
the 9000s are good shocks, but they are not spring assisted

Thanks, 410. Yes, my rear leafs have very little compression. Will a rear helper spring shock give me that compression, above and over my existing leafs?

My torsion bars, still set as from the factory 24 years ago, seem to have little compression, also. What if any, front shock will compensate for that lack of compression?

Thanks again.

PS: is that a Bronco with solid front axle?

 

[410Fortune]

You can introduce a helper spring in the back to help get some lift (taller ride height) from those rear leafs

There are 4-5 types of rear helper “springs”
You can use a helper spring which will stiffen the ride greatly. These mount above the rear leaf spring with a bunch of brackets m. They sell these at places like u haul and camping world

You can use an Ad a leaf, also stiff ride
Add a leaf is just like it sounds. You take your leaf springs apart and add a new leaf

Or you can get some “load helper shocks” that have a coil spring included. The load helpers are a great way to go in the back of an explorer I know lots of forum members have used them in the past, they simply bolt on just like shocks

A set of air shocks would allow you to dial in how much assist you give the rear springs

Air shocks can be used front and back

There are also other ways to handle the load, airbags, rubber bump stops, custom leaf packs, the sky is the limit

For the front suspension, basically we look for some lower mile torsion bars and install them, there were 3 different spring rates from the factory. The same torsion bars were used in rangers until 2011. I am not sure if new torsion bars can be purchased? I have never tried.

You can use the torsion bar adjuster bolts to adjust ride height
Or you can install lift keys that will act just
Like a longer bolt

There is not enough room up front to run a helper spring shock like the rear axle
But air shocks are an option

Many Eddie Bauer and limited explorers came with air ride shocks from the factory!!

Coilover conversions have become quite popular where the torsion bars are removed and a strut is used up front in place of the factory shock

My 1988 bronco ii is still rocking a Dana 35 ttb front suspension, it is all custom. Independent suspension suites my needs better than a solid axle rig!! I have lots of travel with very little lift. My bii is v8, sits on 35” tires, is locked front and rear and has heated seats

 

[410Fortune]

So your one year old Dayton springs are too stiff or too soft?
You said they “have no spring to them” and also they “lost their arch”

This means the main leaf has a negative arch to it after only a year old!?!?

Maybe consider some better springs or have yours repaired! (Re arched)

 

[C420sailor]

I’d focus on the leafs. Unless your truck is clean/rust free, I’d be wary about putting extra load on the upper shock mounts.

50lbs in the cargo area absolutely should not cause saggy butt.

 

[84FLH]

So your one year old Dayton springs are too stiff or too soft?
You said they “have no spring to them” and also they “lost their arch”

This means the main leaf has a negative arch to it after only a year old!?!?

Maybe consider some better springs or have yours repaired! (Re arched)

The springs are flat except for slight, approximate 2" upcurve of about 15" in length, on both ends.

Had pictures showing it all but deleted them after supplier (Stengel Bros) sent me a new pair of springs. They did same thing as first pair, went basically flat with weight of vehicle on them.

Trying to not spend tons of money on the vehicle. I really should get another one. Procrastinating, though.

 

[84FLH]

I’d focus on the leafs. Unless your truck is clean/rust free, I’d be wary about putting extra load on the upper shock mounts.

50lbs in the cargo area absolutely should not cause saggy butt.

Good point! Thank you! Last time I looked, the rear upper shock mounts seemed pretty rusted. Will do a much closer inspection.

 

[J_C]

I’d focus on the leafs. Unless your truck is clean/rust free, I’d be wary about putting extra load on the upper shock mounts.

50lbs in the cargo area absolutely should not cause saggy butt.

I agree but had the (opposite?) problem. Had the Monroe load-adjust coilover shocks on the rear of my '98 for a few years now but what happened was the lower shock mount plates gave way, one soon after the other. Fortunately they are not expensive or difficult to replace along with the axle U-bolts (though I did need an angle grinder to cut the old U-bolts off).

If I had to do it over, I'd have just replaced the rusty lower shock mount plates at the same time as I put the coilover shocks on.

 

[84FLH]

I agree but had the (opposite?) problem. Had the Monroe load-adjust coilover shocks on the rear of my '98 for a few years now but what happened was the lower shock mount plates gave way, one soon after the other. Fortunately they are not expensive or difficult to replace along with the axle U-bolts (though I did need an angle grinder to cut the old U-bolts off).

If I had to do it over, I'd have just replaced the rusty lower shock mount plates at the same time as I put the coilover shocks on.

For years the rear of my Mounty seemed to drift at highway speeds. Visual inspection never saw anything that I recognized as cause. Then one day on a country drive, I heard a loud metallic crash. The drivers side lower shock mount had broke in half. I unbolted shock top and bottom and drove on to my destination on the leaf spring only. Passenger side rear shock was fine.

Replaced the broken lower shock mount and the rear end drift was gone.

 

[C420sailor]

Wow, those are pretty heavy duty steel

 

[J_C]

^ 20-something years of salted winter roads, take no prisoners! They just sit so low, that I'd only had the coilover shocks on for (3?) years and already the (new, at the time) lower bolt holding them to the then-failed mount plates, had to be sheared off with an angle grinder. It's a lot less fun trying to get that lower shock bolt off, when it is flopping around with the shock, no longer held in place by the lower shock mount plate!

If I have to take off (cut off) that lower bolt again, I'm replacing it with something stainless even if it compromises strength a bit.