Problem with new Rancho RS5000X shocks

Not sure how true this is. I have these exact shocks with my rear being lifted 2.75” and I don’t have have 4”/4” up/down travel. I’m more like 5.75”/2.25”

That shock is too short for whatever setup you have. This is why shocks should not be selected based on lift height.
 
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You should quit trying to make what we are saying translate into what you believe. It is very clear you are not trying, you have a preconceived notion of how shocks work and it is entirely backwards from reality.

Let's start with the basics.

What is the compressed length of a shock?

13.51".

That shock is too short for whatever setup you have. This is why shocks should not be selected based on lift height.

That's what I'm saying! I think you and I ventured down this rabbit hole in the other thread.
Pretty standard setup actually, but really threw a curve ball on the shock selection.
 
Not "the" shock, a shock, any shock. The compressed length is the number represented by the mounting point to mounting point measurement when the shock shaft is pushed all the way into the body of the shock and it can get no shorter.

But, since you posted up a dimension, we'll work with that.

Theoretical numbers for the sake of illustration only.
Let's assume that your ride height dimension between shock mounting points is 18.51". If you install that shock, you will have to extend the shaft out of the body exactly 5". That gives you 5" of uptravel and the remainder as down travel.

If you grab a shock that has a compressed length of 16.51" and install it in the same 18.51" ride height mounting distance, you only have to extend the shock shaft 2" to install it. That also means that the shock only has to move the shaft in 2" to fully bottom out and deliver a jar or harsh event to the chassis when you are driving. That is what we call a shock that is too long.
 
Ok so I wasn’t able to get back on this forum until now. I was unable to get the shaft length because the boots are extremely stiff to move out of the way.
But I was able to measure where it is sitting at right now. From mid-loop to mid-loop, it is sitting at 20.5 inches. According to the rancho website the extended length should be 24.67. And when the shocks are totally compressed are 15.01 or at least should be.

I took it to my mechanic and he was nice enough to help me out with measurements and told me everything looked good and to just add weight to the back of the Jeep however I wanted to know what you guys think. I measured the springs as well and it still gives a 3 inch difference compared to stock

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Let me rephrase what my mechanic told me, he told me to add weight and go up and down curves and hopefully that would loosen the shocks up a bit but advised to contact rancho and 4 wheel drive about it and ask either way. The shocks just feel like have a lot of pressure and don’t compress.
 
Ok so I wasn’t able to get back on this forum until now. I was unable to get the shaft length because the boots are extremely stiff to move out of the way.
But I was able to measure where it is sitting at right now. From mid-loop to mid-loop, it is sitting at 20.5 inches. According to the rancho website the extended length should be 24.67. And when the shocks are totally compressed are 15.01 or at least should be.

I took it to my mechanic and he was nice enough to help me out with measurements and told me everything looked good and to just add weight to the back of the Jeep however I wanted to know what you guys think. I measured the springs as well and it still gives a 3 inch difference compared to sto

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Cut those useless boots off with a box knife.
 
Some say it traps debris and junk and leads to corrosion. I think it all depends on how and where you drive your Jeep.

As far as the rear Ranchos, they aren’t even connected at the bottom, just like the factory shocks.

This is my front Rancho shocks after 1 -1/2 years with boots on. I was not in any mud pits or huge water holes, but I did have lots of dusty/sandy/dirt roads and about 3 weeks of daily driving on the beach with them.

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Guys I will cut off the boots once I am sure nothing is wrong with the shocks. I came here for a second opinion since y’all are more familiar with the rancho shocks but I had my mechanic help me with the measurements and I was there and he showed me when he did it. I’m just looking for second opinions to try to understand if there is something wrong with my Jeep or the shocks or if anyone has experienced this before
 
My Rancho shocks caused a lot of noise after installing them with the boots on. Removing the boots got rid of that noise entirely.
 
...But he said "when he drove off" which inclines me to believe "pulling out of a parking lot", and he's in Houston so the only altitude/ terrain changes are parking garages, potholes, and dead crackheads.
I’m a woman haha! But yeah so when I drive on not very smooth roads going maybe frim 10-45 Mph it bounces. I also had 2 guys get on the rear bumper and they tried to jump up and down to see if it would compress and it just will not. It feels, bumpy/jumps a lot on the road when I know it shouldn’t. At least that’s not how the front shocks felt when they were first installed and they’re the same height and same model.
 
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If someone could tell me what the body of the shock measures, I could subtract it from where it sits at to get the shaft length. I would cut off the books but if there is something wrong with the shocks, I’m going to need them to return them so I don’t want to cut them off until I make sure everything is good to go.
 
Not "the" shock, a shock, any shock. The compressed length is the number represented by the mounting point to mounting point measurement when the shock shaft is pushed all the way into the body of the shock and it can get no shorter.

But, since you posted up a dimension, we'll work with that.

Theoretical numbers for the sake of illustration only.
Let's assume that your ride height dimension between shock mounting points is 18.51". If you install that shock, you will have to extend the shaft out of the body exactly 5". That gives you 5" of uptravel and the remainder as down travel.

If you grab a shock that has a compressed length of 16.51" and install it in the same 18.51" ride height mounting distance, you only have to extend the shock shaft 2" to install it. That also means that the shock only has to move the shaft in 2" to fully bottom out and deliver a jar or harsh event to the chassis when you are driving. That is what we call a shock that is too long.
So then in my case, ride height dimensions is currently at 20.5 in. If the shock is installed (15.01 compressed length), then that would give me 5.49 inches of up travel and down travel.
This shock has a compressed length of 15.01.

this means that this specific shock with my travel height should give me about 5.49 inches to fully bottom out.

isn’t this theoretically speaking the correct shock for this Jeep?

I’m basing it off Rancho’s website
 
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I’m a woman haha!
Sorry about that!
Do you know what size lift you have?
Stock front springs are 12", rears are 8", anything above that is your lift height. If you have a body lift don't include that for shocks. The Ranchos run a bit long, by the looks of your TJ the 0-2" would be what you want.
 
Sorry about that!
Do you know what size lift you have?
Stock front springs are 12", rears are 8", anything above that is your lift height. If you have a body lift don't include that for shocks. The Ranchos run a bit long, by the looks of your TJ the 0-2" would be what you want.
From what I have measured it has a 3 inch lift. If you look at the pics I posted, the Rear springs show 11 inches. The front ones show 15. I had already purchased the front rancho shocks in February and I knew it needed the rear but since Covid, I didn’t really move the Jeep for about 6 months or so (I’m a student so everything got canceled).

anyway the point is, I got the front one for a 3 in Lift, and same with the rear.

I did notice though that the 4wheeldrive website shows these fit a 3 inch lift in the rear but the rancho website says 3.5in for the RS5000x RS55256.

Either way... the measurements are correct if I did my math right. I just didn’t have an issue with the front ones (other than one is going bad already after only a couple of months of non-abusive use). Got to check the lifetime warranty on that. But they never felt like these.... now one thing to note is... the front of the Jeep does have more weight than the rear. I was told to add weight to the back. I added some concrete blocks and it’s a little better.

I still don’t understand why others didn’t have this issue and I do.
 
I don’t know if I mentioned this but according to the guys at the shop, when they first removed the zip tie from the shocks, they didn’t extend on its own to reach max extended length.

They had to physically pull the mid-loop on the shaft side to make it extend. In addition to that, when we did the measurements and disconnected the rear shocks, both shocks were stuck in that same ride height position. Once again they had to be pulled to extend them measure the extended length. When they were going to compress it and put them back in, they really struggled a lot to get them compressed. Both of them.
 
I don’t know if I mentioned this but according to the guys at the shop, when they first removed the zip tie from the shocks, they didn’t extend on its own to reach max extended length.

They had to physically pull the mid-loop on the shaft side to make it extend. In addition to that, when we did the measurements and disconnected the rear shocks, both shocks were stuck in that same ride height position. Once again they had to be pulled to extend them measure the extended length. When they were going to compress it and put them back in, they really struggled a lot to get them compressed. Both of them.

I had that issue with another brand of shocks. it sounds like valves are stuck inside the shock, not allowing them to compress. Call whomever you bought them from and get them replaced.
 
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I also had 2 guys get on the rear bumper and they tried to jump up and down to see if it would compress and it just will not. It feels, bumpy/jumps a lot on the road when I know it shouldn’t. At least that’s not how the front shocks felt when they were first installed and they’re the same height and same model.
Something is binding or installed incorrectly. You should easily be able to push down on the rear of a TJ and have the suspension move. The shocks are the correct length or close enough not to cause problems and the chances of both shocks being defective in the same way is very small. You have what looks like a welded raised track bar mount in the rear. I wouldn't be surprised if something is binding or making hard contact where it shouldn't be. Maybe you need another set of eyes on that thing.
 
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