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Performance Upgrades - Maintenance - Modifications - Problem Solving - Off-Road - Street Trucks. Covering the Explorer, ST, Sport, Lincoln Aviator, Sport Trac, Mercury Mountaineer, Mazda Navajo, Ford Ranger, Mazda Pickups, and the Aerostar. Featuring H.I. - Human Intelligence.
What are the best riding shocks for a 2nd Generation Explorer? (I stay on the pavement 99.9% of the time.) Also, is there a combo of what is needed to re-establish proper bumper height and better the ride quality?
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I can only speak for the experience I've had with my shocks on my 98 explorer 2WD. The stock oil filled ones rode pretty decent until they got old (98K miles). Then I went through about 3 sets of monroe sensacraps in 20K miles.... they were a bumpy ride (which supposedly makes you feel the road more, thus feeling more in control). The monroes were constantly bending and I don't off road. I hit an occasional pot hole but thats it.
I finally installed a set of oil filled (I think they're oil filled) Rancho 5000 shocks. The ride was truly a day and night difference of improvement. For me it's the perfect combination of stiffness, road feel, and smooth feeling over large bumps. In other words the truck doesn't bounce over big bumps, there's no rebound feeling. I've put about 30K miles on them and they seem fine.
In my opinion the high pressure gas filled shocks are too stiff and bouncy of a match for the soft stock springs. I like the oil filled original style shocks.
I think your probably better off with the ranchos but the OEM shocks are good too. For the money I think the Ranchos are better, plus they are a little stronger. I think the dealer will charge more than they're worth.
Second on the sensa tracs, I bought them from sears with a 30 day satisfaction guarantee and a rebate with a great price (a bit over 100 for all 4 installed!). I kept the originals around thinking I would want something else. Well 4 years later and I'm still very satisfied!
They guy talked me out of reflex, he said they are too stiff and someone there said they they changed their reflex to sensatrac and are very happy. I would like to try reflex though when the sensatracs go out... The sears man said reflex is similar to one of the rancho units with a different name for marketing.
I know those shocks have a satisfaction warranty, so its worth a shot to give them a try!
Don't know if its true, but sears also told me the OEMs are made by Tenneco (Monroe) for the explorer. They are the grade under sensatrac (gasmatic?). When the dealer is out of stock on OEM that is exactly what they install if you want shocks and don't specify a brand. I used to see it all the time when my dealer had $15 oil changes and I had to wait.
I'm wondering if the monroes are only better depending on your current mileage. It seemed to me that they were way too stiff for my soft worn out springs, and as you should know the springs and shocks are supposed to be a matched combination. They're supposed to work together and cancel out vibrations and bumps, rebounds etc. Slapping on a stiff shock is not an automatic ride improvement in all cases. I know they were designed for the explorer after R&D ( I hope) but I don't think they were designed with the intentions of curing an old soft worn out spring/suspension like I have. Possibly this was the cause of all the bent monroe front shocks. Honestly the truck is driven like a true grocery getter, no offroading period, no reason for bent shocks.
