After 4 years of driving and using my F150 it's finally time to replace the shocks. I thought I would see what others are using and see what choices I have. I've been looking at Rancho's but I've also had good experience with Monroe as well. A friend installed a set of Monroe truck/SUV shocks on his '04 Ram and says it handles really well. I'm planning on doing all 4 corners just to keep the handling equal.

What do you guys recommend?

 

When it comes time for me to replace the shock, I will most likely be replacing them with the Bilstein HD yellow shocks for the OE suspension height!.....

 

So only one person has an opinion on shocks?

 

You would have had better luck in the suspension forum....

BTW, I would run the Billstien 5100s

 

I just ordered the Bilstein 5100 leveling shocks and the companion rear shocks. I should have them on within a week or two. I will write post with my opinion about them.

 

Could you also take some measurements with your 2.5" kit and again with the 5100's at 2". I am going to be in the market for new shocks in the next year and would like to do the 5100's but I don't really want to lose any height.

 

I haven't gotten to the shocks on mine yet, but when I do, that's what I'll be putting on. They sell for a great price on ebay. I put a set of bilstein hd's on my b4000 and was really impressed by the difference they made compared to the stockers.
Although, the stock shocks on that truck had well over 100,000 km on them and where completely drained of all fluid, so I guess any shock would have felt impressive compared to the worn out junk I was driving on. I could fully compress them by hand with very little effort.

 

I knew bumping this would work. So far the consensus is Bilstein, which I was also looking at. Does anybody have any experience with Rancho?

 

sure I will try to remember to do this. I was worried about the same thing, but I am just going to go for it and hopefully the 1/2 doesn't change much, but we will see. I was thinking that if it did worst case is that I would run them at stock height and still use my AS leveling kit. Or I was also thinking that maybe I could get a small spacer similar to the Autospring kit that would give only 1/2 to 1" lift to add on top of the bilstein shock it needed. But we will see.

 

I'm running the OE Bilstein yellow shocks in the rear right now, but I had to remove the front bilsteins shocks. They were just too stiff for my taste. They were actually holding my truck up and giving me a rough, bouncy ride. I don't know if I got a bad set or what, but I eventully had to replace them back with the factory shocks.

Here's some pics. You can see that with my leveling kit and these shocks, my angles and ride was messed up. It looked like I had a 6 inch lift the way my control arms were maxed out.






I'm not trying to scare you away from bilstein, just sharing my expierience with them. Many have had no issues.

jrbhc8

 

Not scaring me at all. This is why I started this thread, I wanted to hear about the experiences of other people so I can make a more informed decision.

 

I previously had the Bilstein HD's at all 4 corners. For daily driving, they were much more controlled than the OEM shocks. I will however agree with jrbhc8 that they do make the front a little on the stiff side... Now I'm running the Bilstein HD's on the front, and the Rancho RS9000XL's (adjustables) on the back. The reason I switched to the Rancho's on the rear is because they do a MUCH better job of controlling yaw/porpoising when towing my travel trailer. When towing, I set them at 7. Dramatically less yaw versus the Bilsteins. When unloaded, I run them at 1. Nice comfortable ride (for a truck)...

When the Rancho's are set at 1, they provide a smoother ride than the Bilsteins. I think 2 or 3 is equal to the Bilsteins. Ideally, I think I'd like to put the RS9000XL's on the front too. That way I can get a little more comfortable ride in front when not towing.

 

Holly smokes! Those extreeme angles placed on your CV joints are the main reason I would never put a leveling kit on my truck!

 

I have a set of Bilstein 5100's. I have yet to put them on as its to cold here right now but soon.

Go with the Bilstein 5100. It also gives you the option to lift the front of the truck if you want!

 

Keep in mind that those angles were cause mostly by the shocks holding the front end of the truck up. When I removed the shocks and replaced with the OE's the angles were much better.

jrbhc8