I'm sorry to bring up this eternal question again... What Shocks Should I get?

I know I asked this same question when I first joined, and I thought I had made up my mind, but then I got a good deal on a set of Rancho 9000s, so I went with those... That was a bad move on my part, I went to do a little offroading yesterday (very minor offroading, it's pretty much just a slightly rough fire road with a lot of washboard. Last time I went on this road with the Ranchos it handled fairly well (not great, but I didn't bounce around like I used to ) but yesterday it was different. When I was driving up the road I hit the first patch of washboard and my truck started handling like there were no shocks up front at all. So I drove home and took off my front shocks and was compressing them and they would compress with very little effort, where before when I tried before I put them on they were kind of difficult to compress. These shocks are the adjustable ones, so naturally I though that someone was playing a trick on me and turned my shock settings down, so I messed with the settings, and they didn't make any difference, no matter how stiff I set them.

So I'm giving up on them and I'm going to invest in a good set of shocks (I would go back to Ranchos, but I wasn't very happy with how my truck handled with them) So my dilema is....

Edelbrock or Bilstein? :confused:

I'm leaning towards getting the Edelbrocks (Another question on those after this ) mainly because Corey has them and has nothing but great things to say about them. But I also like the Bilsteins because my friend has those on his truck and they handle great. I really want a shock that will absorb washboard roads well (it gets annoying rattling around constantly while going up these roads ) My friend's Bilsteins absorb the washboard like it was nothing, but I don't know how the Edelbrocks handle that kind of stuff (Corey, or anyone else who has them for that matter... how well do the Edelbrocks absorb washboard type roads/trails?)

Also on the Edelbrocks, I was reading on their website, and they have two different shocks, a Mono-Tube and a Twin-Tube... Which one should I get? They both look the same :confused:

I am completely stumped as to which one I should get.

I'm hoping to possibly go out today or tommorow to get my new shocks. So any help would be greatly appreciated, otherwise I'm going to probably wind up doing eeny-meeny-miney-moe

-Braden

 

Yup that's what elripster found on ODW. Here's his thread . The dial doesn't do anything for compression, but for rebound, whoa, they are tough to pull apart. The new 9000sx (I think that's their name) is supposed to adjust compression.

Edelbrock or bilsteins are fine, either one will work equally well. Corey and a few others like the edelbrocks, and others like the bilsteins.

Personally, I like my 9000s. Of course I paid less that $100 for all 4 since they were used.

Steve

 

I know that there is alot of division on this important issue. I am in the Bilstein camp. I've had them on my 4Runner for at least 4 years (maybe more - don't remember). I replaced the stock units with the Bils and immediately enjoyed better ride. II don't how long they should last, but I've had mine on for probably over 70K miles.

 

I have had the Edelbrock's since October of '99 I think, and I like them.

You are going to still feel the washboard effects with any shock.
You will get a little wheel hop, that is normal under power and torquing up a steep hill.

It's your call.
Edels or Bils.

I don't know what mine are as far as mono verses twin tube.
They are the original IAS shock that they first came out with.
Call up Central 4WD.
They carry them, and they can guide you as to which one you need if you go with the Edelbrock.
www.central4wd.com

 

I think the real question here is do you like red or blue better?

 

hehee yeah Steve that's what I was afraid it would come down to I like red and blue Well i'm going to drive down to Offroad Warehouse and 4Wheel Parts right now and I'm going to actually look at the shocks before I make my decision... Hopefully I'll be able to decide which I should get

Thanks for the help again

-Braden

 

Mine are yellow with a blue boot. The yellow matches my rear springs. I've decided to use yellow as my accent for undercarriage and under hood accents. I like the contrast with my dark blue Runner.

 

I just got my performance products catalog and noticed the same thing. Guess I got that confused.

Steve

 

Well I did it... I bought my new shocks this morning

I was very impatient and couldn't stand how my truck is handling, so I drove down to Offroad Warehouse (THE Best Offroad/Truck shop in San Diego... well it's either ORW or 4Wheel Parts, and I like ORW a whole lot more, and they're always helpful) And I bought me a set of Bilsteins I could of ordered them online and gotten them next week and saved $40, but I decided that it would be worth the extra money to have them today and be able to return them if there is a problem (come to think about it, it wouldn't of been a problem to return them, because if they were duds I Could drive 20 miles down to Poway and return them directly to Bilstein Oh well, it would of cost me about $30 in shipping to get them next week anyway)

I decided on getting the Bilsteins because of the color Blue and Yellow were actually my High School's colors, and I think that they'll go well with my silver truck. hehehe Actually the main reason was that I'm boycotting the 4Wheel Parts store near me (I'll still order online from them, I just won't go into their shop) Because I went in there yesterday to ask them about Edelbrocks, and one of the guys (I wasn't even talking to him) heard me mention Edelbrocks and he said "What are you an idiot? Get Ranchos or Procomps" I was just about steaming at that point, so I walked out to my truck, got one of my busted shocks (Rancho 9000) took it into him, and said here this is why I won't get Ranchos and explained to him that I bought that shock from them 4 months before and it died the other day. All he could say to that was "Well you get what you pay for". So I took my shock, told him to go $#&@ Himself, and told him that their store lost a lot of business. hehee then the funniest thing happened, the manager walked in right as I was telling that guy off and came out of the store after I walked out trying to find out what happened, so I explained it to him (The manager is really cool and very nice) showed him the shock and he refunded me the money for the 2 shocks that went out, and yelled at the employees for treating me like that. But even though the manager helped me, I still decided that I didn't want to shop there again, and I definitely wasn't going to give them $300 for a new set of shocks. By the time this whole thing was over, I drove to ORW just in time to see them locking up for the day; So I went back there this morning and bought my new Bilsteins

I haven't had a chance to install them because I'm in class right now (hehe supposed to be working on a CAD Drawing, but instead i'm posting about my new shocks ) But I'll definitely post what I think about them tonight after I get them installed

Thanks everyone for your advice!!!

-Braden

 

Ha! and you even changed your sig line before you installed them!

let us know what you think.

Steve

 

hehehe yeah i'm being very optimistic that they'll work I'm heading out right now to install them, and the hopefully if everything goes smoothly, I'll be test driving them within a few hours

-Braden

 

AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! I've been outside for almost 3 hours trying to install my new shocks, and I can't get any of them on I was trying to figure out why I was having so much trouble installing these, and why I didn't have any trouble with my Ranchos, then I remembered that Bilsteins are gas charged :pat: After a few deep gashes on my hands from trying to compress the shocks, and then get them on, I gave up and I'm going to take it down to ORW tommorow and hopefully they'll have an opening, and then I can get them installed tommorow.

The problem I'm having installing them is that the bushings on the bottom of the shock are too wide it seems, and don't fit into the metal "brackets" on my truck :mad: So I decided to stop, because it wasn't going anywhere, and I didn't want to ruin the shocks.

Anyone have any tips as far as getting the bottom bushings into the brackets?

-Braden