Well I am almost finished with my truck and I decided to buy shocks after I spent a few hours looking at them when I was fixing my 3rd member lol.

I just need some advice on picking a good set of shocks up for my truck, front and rear. It's a stock 4wd 3rd gen pickup. I would like a set that I can do a little light prerunning and 4x4 but still have a smooth ride on road. This is my daily driver but since I like the out doors its going to see a lot of dirt.

I would like to keep the budget around $400-500 total but anything close would work. I would rather not spend money on $30 shocks, the way I drive I would be putting new ones in every week.
Anyways Thanks.

 

Look into a self adjusting shock or a manual one you can dial in.

Lotta guys go with the Bilstiens...

 

bilstiens are the way to go!

 

are bilstiens hard to install? Im thinking about getting new shocks, my factory shocks are too stiff

 

Yeah I was interested in those and the rancho 9000xl's I happened to get on a forum and a bunch of guys were bashing the Bilsteins but I wont listen to them(Ford truck forums lol) My dad also said they were good.

So what kind of Bilstiens are the best for what I'm looking at?
And how do they compare to the Rancho 9000xl's?

 

5100 series

 

So does anybody know if fox or king makes a shock that will fit oem on the pickup?
or how hard it would be to fab a fox 2.0 non-coil over to work with front and back?

 

I'm bias towards the 9000's myself. My dad has them on his '89 Pathfinder and he has never had problems with them. He has abused them pretty well too. I've had both 9000's and 9000x's on my rig and have no complaints. I like the adjustability. I can run the rears on the max setting and its like having a rear sway bar. The 9000's are only worth it, IMO, as long as you have the incab adjuster.

 

Ya I think I might just go for the 9000x's. there Right in my budget with the in cab adjuster.

What would the limits be with them on a stock truck? I want to be able to do a little light prerunning. I live about 15-20 miles away from the coral pink sand dunes. It would be the perfect place to cruse during the raining season.

 

Should be fine