The things that make the RS 9000 a little different from your standard factory shock is that it has a two and three-quarter inch diameter body so it holds a little bit more fluid and also it has this dial adjuster at the top that has basically nine positions to adjust to for different amounts of stiffness within the shock. That way depending on your application how much weight you have in the truck or what you’re doing with the truck you can get it dialed in for the best possible ride. The top and bottom of the shock do come with polyurethane bushings in there and this will simply swap in place of your factory shock on your truck so there are not any modifications you have to do to put these on and they fit in pretty simple so it’s a nice easy installation that gives you a little bit more adjustability and a little better ride quality in the back of your truck without breaking the bank.
The standard factory rear shock is alright for daily driving and just basic use of the truck but in reality, if you’re gonna want to use it more off-road you’re gonna want to upgrade it to something that’s a little bit more sturdy and also something that it’s built to handle rough terrains like washboard roads and rocky terrain where the back of the truck kind of bounces around and you might be losing control. These Rancho – RS9000XL is gonna be able to give you some more stability and a more comfortable ride.
The factory shocks are a little less than desirable in the back and tend to be pretty soft almost a little too soft when you get off-road or get the back of the truck articulating so upgrading to something else that’s a little more off-road capable or just a little bit firmer is gonna be an ideal change.
These Rancho RS 9000 XL rear shocks are designed to be an upgrade over the factory shock both in size and performance. They’re about 2.75 inches in diameter making for a little bit more room for oil which helps them perform on rougher terrain and washboards where it’s expanding and collapsing rapidly and is making a lot of heat. They’re made to kind of soak that up and also firm up the bed enough so that you feel like you have more control without feeling like the ride is ultra-stiff.
From our experience offroad they feel really nice and there’s not a whole lot of a change as far as ride comfort is concerned the truck does feel a bit more planted especially when it articulates but it still feels solid and it doesn’t rattle your brains out. When you’re hitting some you know really rocky terrain or areas where the tires are bouncing a lot you do get a lot of comfort with it and it doesn’t feel like a compromise at all.
On-road performance is kind of the same story you really don’t notice that they’re there and that’s essentially what you want just a more comfortable ride feels firm and planted without compromising the way that you drive it if you use it as a daily driver or your road trip in a lot it’s gonna be just fine on highways or around town or parking lots wherever.
Rancho does build these shocks with a nine-way adjuster to basically set the stiffness or the softness to get it dialed in for whatever terrain you’re on or how you like to feel the truck I will say from our experience tweaking these adjusters doesn’t have a huge change overall going from one max to the other but you could get it to be slightly softer or slightly stiffer if you were really particular about the way you want your truck to drive just don’t expect massive changes
I am really pleased with the way the ranches perform and they’d simply drop in place of where the factory shocks it so it makes for a very easy install without a lot of hassle and we really don’t have any complaints if you want to pick up a set of these Ranchos for your truck you can click here.