I am wanting to give my 98 F-150 a smoother ride. It seems that with the stock shocks, anytime I hit a bump in the road it almost puts me through the roof. I want a performance shock with a great feeling ride. I tow occasionally, but mainly travel around town and on the highway. Anyone have any suggestions?

 

i say stay away from a gas charged shock. i just went form stock ford fx4 rancho shock's. that are gas charged. to a rancho 5000 and what a world of differance. i really like the ride. just my thought. but the rancho 5000 is not gas charged. and is a bigger shock all around. i had them side by side. but it ride's ton's better. good luck on your choice.

 

Check the tire pressure first, my dealer actually put 55?? pounds of air in my tires when I took it in for svc. once. It took me a few days to figure it out. As for shocks, my truck was doing exactly what you described, and this was on the second set of shocks since new. I just put on a set of four Monroe "Reflex" shocks, and the ride difference is night and day. Even better than the first set of replacement shocks, or the originals even! Handling is great, and even RR tracks don't upset the ride now. I'm one happy camper, and the price was just over half the cost of the Edelbrocks or Bilsteins. Can't beat that?,,,,98

Price was about $160 for all four shocks.

 

Wino,

I've got a 2002 Regular Cab, Short Box, FX4 with the 4.6, Automatic, Limited Slip and the Trailer Package. It's my third virtually identical truck. (The others were '97 & '99.) The other trucks had the ORP, but did not have the Rancho shocks and seemed to ride a TON better. This new one rides like a floor jack. Did your chaging to the Rancho 5000's really take the harshness out of the ride? I'm not thrilled with the prospect of pulling out shocks with only 6,000 miles on them, but the ride is really starting to bother me.

 

I am curious about this too, since I have the FX4 package also. The stock shocks were really stiff when new but have loosened up a bit since. I would like a better shock for on-road but don't want to give up off-road either.

 

I switched the the Edelbrock IAS Shocks 20K ago and I love them. They improved the handling and the ride. No to sports car status but just made the truck a little easier to handle and more comfortable to ride in. After having the Edelbrocks on for 20K they are still working fine. I think they were a good investment.

 

I can highly recommend Edlebrock IAS shocks! I have them on my SD! They are sweet on road and off road!