I finally got fed up enough with the squeaking red plastic boots on my FX4 Rancho shocks to find a more permanent cure than the “just rotate the boots every once in a while” method recommended by most dealers. For those of you that didn’t see the previous posts on this subject, the hard plastic boots that come on the factory Rancho shocks (part of the FX4 package) tend to rub on the shock body over time and end up making all sorts of noise – particularly when any dirt gets trapped inside the boot. (Imagine dirt finding its’ way any where near your shocks!)

Well, I crawled under my truck the other night after jacking it up and placing jack stands under the frame. This left my rear suspension at full droop and my shocks pretty much fully extended. It was very clear where the boots had been rubbing on the lower shock bodies - all the paint was gone. This also left a beautiful rusty mess on my formerly white shocks. OK, time for action.

I took some .500” wide ultra high molecular weight plastic tape with adhesive on one side and cut myself a couple of 6” long strips. I then cleaned the shocks and placed one strip on each shock – running up and down the shock – so it covered the spot where the paint had been removed. I also made sure it ran up and down the shock far enough so as not to get caught at either end of the shock travel. I then tested the truck on the bumpiest section of road I could find. Presto – no squeaking!

Now I realize that the ultimate cure is probably a set of RS9000 Rancho’s, but for those of you with new trucks that would rather spend your hard earned bucks on something better, this was hard to beat. I’m also fairly sure that any low friction tape would work equally well in this application.

 

Glad you found a cure. FYI, Ranchos still on sale for buy three get one free until the end of this month. Or, wait until next spring.

 

I asked one dealer to look at shocks due to squeaking and they recommended turning the boot....not a satisfactory fix in my opinion. So...I took it to another dealer and they said they would order new shocks. I haven't received the new shocks yet but wondered if Ford has finally decided that the original "Ranchos" are crap and is willing to replace with better shocks. Or will I just end up with a new set of squeaky Ranchos?

Anyone have a similar experience? I will let you know how the new shocks are as soon as they are installed.

 

My dealer also offered to replace mine due to the squeeky boots. He said that as far as he knew, they would be the same as what I had so I told him not to bother.