im helping my friend put together a chevy 1500 with just a 2.5 lift and he was wondering if he should go for bilstein 5100 or rancho rs5000 shocks i personally would pick the 5100's but im wanting to know what others would suggest..........he's wanting to just use it for going fast in snow and mud nothing major though

 

I've only ever had the cheapy ranchos, but I've had the 5100 series bilstein. I didn't like either one. I've heard that going up in quality on the bilsteins will net you a better ride, but my Bilsteins rode better after I blew one out completely from an over extension.

 

im gonna try out the skyjacker 8000 series there cheap and seem to be good

 

i have been running the bilstiens for a year now and love them. i run the 5150's. and it might be a mixture of the suspension and the shocks but my runner rides like a cadillac. not joking

 

If you want a crappy ride, buy cheap shocks. If you want a good ride, good shocks help and they aren't the "cheap" ones.

 

Very well said.

Problem is, what are the good ones? I went with non cheap "good ones", and they sucked. I'm half convinced I will need to go to remote res shocks to get a decent ride out of them.

 

I've had Rancho 9000's and am running 9000x's and their adjustability from in the cab is pretty handy. I think they ride very well and perform well offroad and on highway. I'd really like to have the 9000XL Pro Series with the digital controller!!!

 

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I've only had the bilstiens on my truck but I've known guys with Rancho's on similar setups and they always complained that they had a lot of body roll and a poor ride quality, things I never had an issue with. My truck works great off road and I can still beat it through a twisty road better than my car.

 

i got the bilstein 5125s on the rear of my truck with chebbies and i llove the ride

 

Bilstein 5150 on my tacoma, not overwhelmed but noticable improvement and totally worth the money. I would go with Bilstein over Rancheros based on reputation alone...

 

Im currently running 9000's in the rear and rsx's in the front of my runner and i have a lot of dirt back roads and i am able to take the corners overs the hills great! and they perform really well offroad as well. I personally herd bad things about rancho shocks befor i got them but i work at napa so i got a discount and if somthing went wrong i wouldnt have a problem bringing them back haha but so far so good!

 

yeah, bilsteins are the first upgrade I've done for suspension and I like them; Rancheros are probably a big upgrade from factory and I also have the pickup with no weight in the back end which makes things a bit different. My 4Runner with stock shocks runs about as good as my pickup with good shocks so go figure...

I'm getting some new shocks for the 4Runner soon, will let you know what I wind up with and how they work!

happy trailing...

 

Rancho shocks are made by Tenneco the same people who make Monro shocks. Bilstein is a better shock due to the valving in them compared to the Rancho's. The RS5000 are a good shock but too stiff. If you decide to get the Rancho's get the adjustable RS9000.

James

 

yea thats common for the pickup to ride sloppy i mean with no weight and all. thats one reason i love my runner is the weight cause i can pull more people out than my bud with a pickup haha but like i said awesome luck "knock of wood" with the ranchos

 

Edlbrock IAS--they are a great shock--

 

bilsteins

 

I have used many brands of shocks over the years both on my street cars and race cars. Look at the construction, valving, adjustability, etc. of the shock and know how you want to use your vehicle. I currently run Rancho 9000's on my Toyota truck (2 shocks per wheel) and I have a great ride. When you get older you really need that!

 

Go with the quality of the bilsteins. They ride really smooth on a new road, but they are very stiff shocks and handle well but you will feel every little pebble coming your way.

 

bilsteins havent had a problem yet