rancho rsx

[rusmannx]

a friend of mine is planning to change the shocks and struts on his 98 nissan pathfinder, and wants to know if he should get the generic stuff off the NAPA shelf, or buy something a little more name brand.

i found that rancho rsx's are made for his vehicle, and are cheaper then the shocks
and struts (as a combo) then the NAPA parts.

any thoughts on the ranchos?
any thoughts on how a rancho shock can go where a strut is supposed to be?
(i don't konw the difference from a shock and a strut)

 

[skyshark186]

A shock has two "eyes" or holes where as a strut normally has the pointed ends.

 

[e rock]

A shock absorber (or more correctly a dampener) has the sole purpose of slowing down the suspension cycling and limiting repeated harmonic cycling. There are plenty of 'shocks' that have studs, eyes, or combinations of both.

This is my understanding of struts:
A strut is pressurized internally to (in addition to dampening duties) suspend the vehicle.

Are you sure the Pathfinder has struts? Rancho does have an application listing for the RSX - interestingly, the fronts are side-specific, but I didn't look up the specs to see what's different. I know not everyone likes Rancho products, but I tend to believe that their shocks will fit since the RSX17501 and RSX17502 only have one application - the front of 96-5/99 Pathfinders.

I'd buy the Ranchos - I don't have any experience with the RSXs, but the lifetime warranty is tough to beat and they're supposed to be progressively valved, aren't they?

Eric

 

[rusmannx]

yes they are progressivly valved. from what i've read, they act like the old rs9000 only they have 10 settings, and the shock adjusts itself on the fly. sounds nice i think.

i think he IS going to go with the rancho's (this is a friends project i'm researching).

thanks for the input.