I'm thinking of going with Rancho's quick lift struts in the front and there shocks in the rear, just wondering if anyone has an experience with these kits?

 

I don't have any experience with the rancho quick lift but I do I have the Bilstein version and it is top notch.

 

Do you have any pics of your truck and what did those run you?

 

Here's a pic right after I got it done. In this pic I had a 3" block in the rear but I recently removed them and added Firestone airbags for towing and now it sits almost level. I got them from shock warehouse: http://www.shockwarehouse.com/site/p...ock-Ford-F-150

 

I can't get any install info off the Rancho website, but thesee sure look like a great competitor to the Bilstein 5100. A quick check on the RockAuto.com website turned up a $183.16 CDN price tag plus shipping and all the usual ups garbage fees. That is a EACH price. Not a cheap option, but it appears that we may be able to ajust the shock strength on these, but NOT the height.

If anyone has any better info on these, please jump in, but the videos I watched on you-tube, (although it was installing on a chev), said nothing about any ability to choose the height like you can on the bilstein 5100. I'm not sure that it's a bad thing though, as I personally would want it set at a level stance height, and never change it anyways. And the Bilsteins are difficult to change the stance once installed.

I like the ability to choose the ride settings. I don't do alot of towing or hauling, but I think these give us the ability to effectively crank up the stiffness of the absorbers on the rear, and down the front to try and level off the ride if you load up the back end with either a load of dirt, or a camper.....

Am I wrong on my thoughts here? If I am right, I think these blow the bilsteins out of the water.

I'm not real sold on the whole "wireless adjusters" thing though. Seems like it would be an expensive option for something most of us would not use often. I'm not that lazy that I can't get out, crawl under, and turn a damn **** when I do my once in a blue moon tow, or seriously weight up the box.

I think I like em... Someone try em an let us know. I don't wanna be the ginnea pig.

 

I bought them, but I have yet to put them on...you are right they are anly one height. You can adjust the firmness with the ****. The wireless controller i hear is cool for people up north because I hear the **** can get rusted if used where there is a lot of salt usage on snowy roads....I bought these because of great reviews and I want to be able to soften up the ride on my fx4....I hear that the bilsteins are stiffer than the oems, and I hate the stiffness on my oems.

 

you're forgetting about quality too.

the ranchos are steel cased and a decent shock. they are nitrogen charged, but are twin tubed. the main difference you're going to see here is sport performance and long term performance. because the ranchos are steel cased and the bilsteins are aluminum, the ranchos have a considerably more difficult job of radiating the heat caused by the shock doing its job. plus the bilsteins are true emulsion shocks and mono tubes. now emulsion is no where near the best in the tier of awesomes, but its right below a full on remote reservoir or piggyback rezzie shock.

because of this this bilstein will outperform the rancho offroad when it is being put to an endurance test, it will fade less and wont fade till later and will cool off faster. also, the bilsteins are just a higher quality product overall. bilstein is REALLY into racing, they know how to build something that works. Rancho doesnt even build their own shock and the most they make for is OEM replacement applications.

 

What did you pay for them if you don't mind me asking? Also did you get there rear shocks?

 

Here is a quick video of the install on the front, seems pretty easy and looks like a quality setup.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fT_R30Dzpk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eN3PvAiKdQs

 

My boss at work has these on his 2004 and he likes them. Also, another co-worker has them on his 2010 and he has not complained about them at all. I think they are pricey but you are getting a full shock replacement while raising the truck at the same time. I went the cheap route and just purchased a 2 inch leveling spacer kit. I will run the stock shocks until 50-60k miles and then upgrade to the rancho shocks. This will still be cheaper than purchasing the quick lift in the long run.

 

my4by.com I got the 2 front quicklifts and 2 rear rs9000xl for 508 shipped. I also bought them last month so I qualified for the free wireless controller deal, but I had to mail off for that. It will be a few more weeks before I get that probably.

 

Coming from the Jeep world I have always considered Bilstein to be an entire step above rancho products. I personally would go with the Bilstein for the ride comfort (monotube design). Everything I have ever read about replacement shocks and lifting says a monotube is better than a twin tube set up.

 

Will either of these make the truck ride rougher when you set them up to level the front?

 

They have adjustment ***** for firmness.

 

A lot of that will depend on the spring rate with the springs used with the rancho lift. Chances are they are more firmer than the stock springs so I would say the ride would stiffen slightly, but thats just a guess.