For those of you running the Rancho 9000XL shocks....

What settings do you use for on-road, daily driving?

What settings do you use for towing/offroading/etc?

 

I have found that for every day driving with an empty bed I set the front shocks at 5 and the rear at 4. When I am traveling on logging roads I bump the front to 7 or 8 depending on how level they are and the rear are set one stop lower. When towing or carrying heavy loads in the bed I tend to reverse the numbers.





They sure make a difference...

 

I like a firm (not stiff...there's a difference) controlled ride. Mine's an '02, different I know, but I run 7 front and 3 rear every day. Seems like a huge split, but with nothing in the bed it's a pretty balanced ride.

On some really rough roads, I have dropped mine down to 5 and 1 and liked it, but that's about the only thing I play with. For towing my big trailer, I leave 7 on the front and raise the back up to 5. Little stiff in the back when I do that, but it really controls the trailer, which I like.

BTW JD, I know on your truck it can mount either way, but I'm pretty sure the rear shocks are designed to be mounted with the body up/shaft down. What affect if any does it have on the shock performance??? I don't know. Having it your way makes it easy to get to the control ***, but...

Just sayin.

 

Mine are set to 7 front, 5 rear. I noticed that on my truck, if the rears are too stiff, it jumps around on the freeway on road seams. I also think that the setting will vary with whatever tire PSI you prefer.

As for shock orientation, when I installed them, I was all set to put the shaft down/body up, however there are orientation arrows on the shock body. It definitely says to put the body down. I remember back-in-the-day, manufacturers worried that shocks would leak with the shaft down. Not sure in this case, but I am tempted to flip them so I can have the dial up.

 

I had the same question when they were mounted. After a call, according to Rancho, the rear shocks are to be mounted with the body down and the shaft up on theses Fords. It would also be very difficult to adjust if it were reversed.

 

Cool...neat to know. Wonder why the difference between the two mounting styles? I don't think leaks are a concern these days. Must have something do do with fluid flow, but who knows. I personally like the looks of body up, but that's just personal preference.

 

Mine rear shocks were installed body down, shaft up, just like the photo posted by jdruzik.

I'm guessing that the higher the setting on the shock, the stiffer the ride?

Another question, do I need to keep the boot on the shock? The red just kind of sticks out too much, and I know it would be a pain to take everything apart just to change boot colors...

 

Yes, the higher the number, the stiffer the shock.
I bought black boots for my Ranchos, but I do notice that they capture a lot of water (another reason to go shaft down). I took a a small soldering iron and created more drainage holes so the trapped water could escape. So to answer your question, you can go with any aftermarket boot color, or remove the boot entirely.

 

There is absolutely ZERO risk of damage from running no boot. Matter of fact (and probably some opinion) there's probably more risk of damage from running a boot than without. You just heard a story of crap getting trapped inside the boot...especially with the body down. IMHO, the shaft down is the way to go because that's the strongest part of the shock. That shaft will hold up to much more than the body will, thus my personaly preference for having the body up under the truck where it's protected. And, as you can tell from my photo above, the shaft down just looks bad-a$$. My remote resi's would look kinda goofy if the body was down. Look around at all the baha and pre-runner trucks you see as well as any top end shocks from Fox, Kind, or SAW...they're all shaft down as far as I've ever seen.

 

I keep all 4 of mine on 1 because my truck rides rough as hell and I like the soft setting.

 

Gravel distroyed my contol setting ****... Luckily they sent me new units free of charge...

 

I run 6 in the front and 3 on the rear for highway... when towing I go up to 8 in the rear! I'd thought about running the shaft down but like jdruzik said it would be difficult to adjust... easier to dial in the way it sits.

 

Orientation of the 9000XL is definitely body down/shaft up according to manufactures specs and they do have arrows telling you to put them that way... Wish I would have just looked at that rather than scratching my head and forum searching. Just installed the rear shocks (05 FX4) in about 10 minutes a side and I didn't even have to take the tires off! Super simple and its pretty easy to adjust the **** the way it is, which I've set at 4 for now. Now I've gotta get time to put the front quickLifts on which I'm highly doubting will be as simple.

 

I have an 09' with front only and run them at 6.

Has anyone else experienced a harsh unloading from the front shocks going over speed bumps? Mine seem to unload rather harshly no matter what setting they are on.

 

I love my Ranchos. I have the wireless ride system but never installed it so it's collecting dust. Any takers???