Rancho 9000 shocks!!!???

[bajaman]

Hey, a while ago I ordered a set of Rancho 9000 shocks, had them on for a couple of days, and took the truck out for a good run, down a rough road. Probably a 20min. - to 30min. drive to test them out and see if these things are all they are cracked up to be on a rough road at 60 to 70 mph. Well I got out and noticed the Rancho sticker was missing off the drivers side...I touched the shock and burned my F%@#ing hand, the sticker had melted off...and on the passenger side, the shock boot was melted in half!!!!
Now I didnt even have these things adjusted to the firm setting, had it right in the middle of the range on the dial. And in the end both shocks were toast, had to get new ones (OEM).
Anyone else have this problem??? Or am I just REALLY unlucky and ended up with two duds???

 

[Happy Trails]

Yes, same thing happened to me on a heep wrangler. I have since sworn
off anything from Rancho. I have been very happy with Bilstein 5100 series
on my Tacoma.

 

[bajaman]

Kinda what I thought, I could see MAYBE one bad shock out of the two, but both...
Anyway, I'm in the process of gathering parts for a SOA and Roncho will not be included.

 

[Dynosoar]

Just because the shock gets hot dosen't mean it has gone bad. In fact, it is the shocks job to get hot! It converts motion to heat. Now I am not saying that the Rancho 9000 is an awsome shock. In reality, it is a good mid-price shock but not a true high performance unit. Bilstein / Fox / King are a few companies that make good rebuildable shocks that will run circles around a typical off the shelf shock. If your truck is a typical 95% street - 5% dirt truck the Rancho will serv you fine. If you are more hardcore and demand serious perfomance then go with a good rebuildable shock. However, be prepared to spend some money as good shocks are expensive.

Dynosoar

 

[crawlin60]

yeah, what he said. I've been to baja in my rancho 9ks, but I don't go 50 or even close if the road is tore up. I take it easy and try not to lay the truck down, more than anything else. If you're SOA and think you'll slide around corners and keep a good clip in the desert, man... yous gonna have a truck on its door fast. The ranchos are good for what they are, longer travel adjustable, non-rebuildable go slow shocks. Oh, and all shocks get piping hot with a run on a rutted road, better shocks foam the oil less and heat up later than others.

 

[Mace]

WTF???

So you guys think it is alright for a shock to MELT the boot??

I have played baja driver out in the desert surrounding southern Nevada for years. And for many of them had Rancho shocks on my rig (5000's, 6000's, 7000's and 9000's) I have never had the sticker melt off or the boot. That is wrong.

I would suspect that you got two shocks out of a bad batch.. if they heat up that much, they won't last long. Go get them replaced.

As for what the shock is designed for. It is not the greatest shock in the world. However, that being said, there is no reason you can't baja with the other leaf sprung rigs with Rancho's. Like I said, I have for years. They just do not afford the ride that some other shocks do. So you deal with a little more jarring ride and call it good.

My 60 is getting a set of 9k's on the rear (ome up front cause they were free) and you betcha that I will be pounding them in the sand and in the washes....

Oil foaming is more a correlation of gas pressures and if you have a remote res shock or not. Yes, shocks get hot and you will see shock fade is lesser shocks. That does not mean that you need to have a $250 shock. I have never actually had my rancho's fade. The old Gabriel silver E's I killed once (cooled off and were fine). But never the rancho's..

Go show the place you bought them what the shock is doing. You will get a replacement set.

 

[bajaman]

With my rig sprung over I'll be forced to slow down a bit, but still, I totally understand how and why shocks get hot when they are put to the test but the heat that was generated off those two shocks was not normal at all, when I said it melted the boot in half, a better description would be the bottom half had turned into a glob running down the shock body!!! when I took them off, there was no fluid left in the shocks at all, completely buggered. I should have taken them back, but at the time, the guy at the parts counter would have ended up with them stuffed up his ass (and really, athough it would have felt great to do, it wasnt his fault)...soo I decided to just let it be and get the OEM ones for the time being, as the SOA was in the planning anyway.
All in all, I definately learned a lesson in all this. If you want full proof reliability in the worst possible conditions, its gonna cost ya for a quality product. Otherwise you might end up in the situation I did if a bad batch gets through the factorys QAQC.
Also I'm still curious how many more people have had this same trouble with Rancho's, or other mid-priced shocks???

 

[Mace]

Never heard of a shock failing that quickly..

 

[2badfjs]

never had a problem

but if your gonna run washboard roads for a half hour at full speed....WHY?
just to see how they do........i guess you found out ;p

i run 9k's on my SOA 60 with no problems.

the 40 will get the bilstiens when ready