Problem with new Rancho RS5000X shocks
- Thread starter Daredevil96
- Start date
All my Rancho shocks fit with no grinding of anything and worked fine. I must be special.
p.s. I never order a shock length based on what the manufacturer says fits, I measure it for myself. Rancho makes a ton of different compressed/collapsed lengths.
p.s. I never order a shock length based on what the manufacturer says fits, I measure it for myself. Rancho makes a ton of different compressed/collapsed lengths.
matt4282
Member
I just installed my rear rancho rs5000x shocks and one of the shocks was “frozen”. I could lift the corner of my Jeep and when I let go it didn’t go down on its own. When I jumped on the back to compress it down it wouldn’t come back up on its own. I took the shock off and cycled it a lot up and down by hand to loosen it. Seems to be better now.
OP
I don’t remember exactly how my h they measured once they unbolted and extended them. I think it was around 24 inch or 25 if I remember correctly
OP
Maybe you should try to unbolt them and do what I did. The impact before I did this, they felt super bouncy, even just pulling out the driveway. It wouldn’t absorb the impact thus causing them to feel bumpy.
OP
It's amazing to think that people are able to free up a shock by hand better than a 2 ton vehicle moving around is able to do.
If you try to push it in with your whole body weight, you are not even coming close to the dynamic force of one corner of your rig when a tire hits a bump. That can be 1000's of pounds of force.
For sure that’s what I said a few posts up too. I’m still curious how this solved the issue?
The only way cycling the shocks would help is if they are hydrolocked. And cycling them very slowly causes the fluid and gas to go back to their correct chambers or locations. On some older gas shocks the instructions would even mention it,but I haven't seen that for a long time.
OP
When I called 4 wheel parts, they said some air could’ve been stuck and doing that would help apparently. I am assuming if you were to go up and down a a curb a few times and let the wheel/tires drop, then by logic, it would be the same thing.
matt4282
Member
Doesn’t make sense to me either but it worked.
I didn’t drive mine after I installed it at first. Something didn’t seem right when it wasn’t expanding or contracting on its own under the jeeps weight. that’s why I took it off and cycled the shock to loosen it up. It may have loosened up on its own by driving it around. I don’t understand either why it was not expanding or contracting under its weight when first installed but I could do it by hand when I took it off the Jeep.
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That still makes no sense to me. The piston moves through the shock oil. The only thing that could get trapped below the piston would be the gas. And the valving is not going to trap the gas for very long, especially once things get moving. And none of that is going to lock up the shock.
OP
Update: 2 years or so later. It seems like they wore out my tires unevenly. Maybe the shocks were still defective after all. Haven’t even put 8k miles in these tires. I was told I need to buy 3 tires soon. Such a shame since they were relatively new tires (goodrich Ko2).
I enjoyed the smooth ride the ranchos rs5000x offered but I’m thinking of biting the bullet and finishing everything I thought about buying suspension wise. The shocks were the first thing I purchased along with the tires. Had the tj to ZJ tie rod conversion done that year. This last summer I had metal cloak control arms installed, driveshafts, Currie coil springs. Had an alignment done every time something was messed with that could mess it up.
it leads me to believe it’s the shocks that are/have gone bad. Only 1 out of the 4 tires is still good. To use.
Thinking of biting the bullet and buying the anti rock sway bar by Currie, better tie rod/drag link, and a whole new set of shocks that aren’t ranchos.
Any other recommendations?
I enjoyed the smooth ride the ranchos rs5000x offered but I’m thinking of biting the bullet and finishing everything I thought about buying suspension wise. The shocks were the first thing I purchased along with the tires. Had the tj to ZJ tie rod conversion done that year. This last summer I had metal cloak control arms installed, driveshafts, Currie coil springs. Had an alignment done every time something was messed with that could mess it up.
it leads me to believe it’s the shocks that are/have gone bad. Only 1 out of the 4 tires is still good. To use.
Thinking of biting the bullet and buying the anti rock sway bar by Currie, better tie rod/drag link, and a whole new set of shocks that aren’t ranchos.
Any other recommendations?
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Black Max's are gaining in popularity around here. I have never ran a set and as far as I know they do not offer a 10-11" travel shock.
Better alignment shop. Aka home garage.
I don’t see how 3 tires going bad could be related to your shocks, tie rod, stock sway bar wit or without quick disconnects. An AntiRock will make it ride looser onroad. I’d get my warranty out of BFG foR KO2’s going bad after 8,000 miles. That’s ridiculous. Maybe you got a bad batch. What size and tire pressure aRe you running?