Time to change complete shocks, Need Help and Recommendations. Please check setup.

[Edmond]

Hello Bronco Gods.

Not sure why the pictures are not straight, or why they tilted, sorry.

After driving my bronco over 7 years with the same shocks setup, time has come to replace them.
i am running 35 inch tires with extended radius arms, 11 leaf springs, dual rancho 9000 adjustables in the front and single explorer shock in the rear. it has a body lift and 3.5 inch lift, i didnt built the shocks setup, I only did the suspension setup which was radius arms and the 11 leaf springs.
like to address that this shock setup was never changed when i added extended radius arms, because i didnt have enough in my budget to replace shocks. i had dual shocks running on factory regular shorter radius arms.

The dual front shocks are 17"and 16" collapsed, one is an inch higher then the other. The single rear shock is 15" collapsed. The shocks are all extended out 6.5 inches when bronco on level ground, as seen in pictures.

i ride the bronco on daily basis and i do light offroading every few weeks.
i want to put new sets of shocks and looking at the bilsteins or fox 2.0, i dont want to go with ranchos for now.

What do you guys have for a setup? could i see some new pictures?

i understand that the shocks that i have chosen are pretty expensive but i am willing to spend that extra to have a better ride and handling.

my 1st main question,
Do i need to put dual shocks in the front or can i get away with just single shock? remember , the shocks i have are pretty old by nowand could be beat up. i dont really see much of a difference in the adjustable shocks when putting in any position, either loose or tight, they are acting the same.

2nd question,
Do i have to get the same size of shocks or do i have the option of getting an inch longer shocks? as i mentioned the shocks in the rear 15" collapsed, will
16" shocks be better or worse?

3rd question,
Do i need to get adjustable shocks again? i have noticed some guys dont have adjustables, they run a normal shock.

i have seen the new shocks from bilsteins or fox that do come with a reservoir, with adjustables, correct? i am gearing more towards that.

4th question,
Do you guys think i am making a big mistake and just should go back to ranchos and forget these new bilsteins or fox shocks that do come with reservoir and are adjustables? should i just get the normal bilstein 5125 or go with 7100 or how about the fox 2.0's factory series?

I really appreciate all the help.
Best Regards

 

[patrickk1]

The advantage to the bilstein 7100's is that they are rebuildable. Regardless of brand, You only need a single shock on the front but if you decide to go two, make sure they are specifically for dual shock applications. The valveing on them will be completely different on a dual shock setup (both shocks valveing should equate to the single shocks valveing). With todays shock technology, nobody really needs dual shocks anymore (unless your heavy in the desert). They were a bandaid fix for womping through the desert causing the shocks to overheat and causing the fluid to foam. I ran 14" Bilsteins on my truck with a linked suspension, they were awesome. You will probably be limited to a 10" in the bilstein 7100, although this will probably give you more shock travel.

Picking shock length depends on a number of factors. #1 being at ride height what your current shock length is. I have not had ranchos in my hand in years, but with 6.5" being extended at ride height, there cant be much up travel on your current shocks. Also, it depends on how much your suspension can flex. I flexed my truck with no shocks (and even with no springs) before i selected my shock length. I was in a different situation though as I built my shock mount after selecting shock length and setting where I wanted the up/down travel on that shock to be.

Adjustable shocks are good for changing from trail to street settings as you may want different settings for each. I prefer to have a single shock setting that works for both. The adjustable ranchos I've had in the past, the adjustment knobs rusted up in a few months and were worthless at that point. I am not bashing rancho in particular. I dont like any of those cheap shock brands (but there are a few people who still swear by them).

For specific valve settings, you' have to do some searching on the forums. I don't remember offhand what mine were (and I sold the bronco) but i found some (pretty easily) recommended settings on the forum.

 

[76Broncofromhell]

RS9000s aren't that good of shocks.

1. You don't need two of them either.

2. Measure the suspension at full bump, that will tell you your minimum shock length.

3. Externally adjustable shocks are generally low end.

4. Bilsteins 5100 are good shocks, I use them on my rigs. You probably don't need a bypass shock for what you are running, but it can't hurt.

The right way is to calculate your spring rate in lbs/in and convert that to Newton/meter (http://www.convertunits.com/from/pound+force+per+inch/to/newtons+per+meter) which will get you what your desired rebound setting.

Here's a good site that helps you get nearly the right shock without having to think too much about it:

http://www.eshocks.com/bil_ORgd.asp?Manf=All

 

[Edmond]

thanks for the great info guys.
thanks patrikk and 76bronco

i have decided not to go with dual shocks.
probaly go with 5100 or 7100 bilsteins.

patrikk, you mentioned 6.5" being extended at ride height, there cant be much up travel on your current shocks, what exactly do you mean? is the shocks kind of short for this suspension setup?

76bronco, you mentioned, Measure the suspension at full bump, that will tell you your minimum shock length. how can i measure the suspension at full bump, could you please explain?

you both advised against the dual shocks up front for my bronco since i dont offroad as much as i want to, and to stay away from adjustables shocks.
i will do exactly that. i will install single shocks with no adjustables.

thank you very much , god bless

 

[patrickk1]

What I meant by my statement is that your shocks could potentially be too short. I don't know for sure without knowing your shock uncompressed length (could probably find part numbers on the shocks). I was just taking a guess based on the 6.5" showing of the shock. I don't know what length shocks rancho sells. If it's a 8" travel shock, that only leaves 1.5" of up travel. Like 76bronco said, you need to flex your suspension to determine what length shocks you need. You need to find out what max and min length you need.

 

[broncoitis]

Patrickk,

I think you have it backwards! If he has 6.5 inches of his shocks shaft showing at ride height then he has potentially 6.5 inches of up travel and 3.5 inches of downtravel based on a 10 inch travel shock! No?

 

[patrickk1]

Patrickk,

I think you have it backwards! If he has 6.5 inches of his shocks shaft showing at ride height then he has potentially 6.5 inches of up travel and 3.5 inches of downtravel based on a 10 inch travel shock! No?

You are absolutely correct. I don't know why I was thinking backwards. although, 3.5" down travel doesn't seem like that much to me (that's assuming a 10" shock and you are planning to do a little offroad with it). I've never flexed out factory radius arms before, but can you even get 6.5" of up travel from it?

Best bet is to flex out the suspension and check what length shocks you need you need.

 

[Edmond]

Any easy way to extend the suspension in the front shocks? Not clearly sure how to do that, I am just such an amateur.

Just to be clear here,
If my front shocks are 16" and 17" compressed, then I should have minimum 10" of travel, correct? Now if my shocks up front are already extended out 6.5", then I only have 3.5" of up travel and 6.5"down travel? Does this look normal? Doesn't this show that I don't have much of a up travel on the bronco? Am I not suppose to have higher travel then 3.5"?

Same goes to the rear shocks, if the shock is 15" compressed , doesn't that give me at least 8"-9" of travel, and if I have 6.5" extended on flat surface, then that leaves me with just 1.5"-2.5" of up travel and the rest is down travel? Then I don't have enough travel in the back also? I have more down travel?

Does this mean that I really need bigger shocks all around? At least by couple of inches? Do I have to go with 12" travels up fronts and 10" travels in the rear? What do you guys have as travel in your shocks with 3.5" lifts or 5.5" lifts?


Thank you

 

[Edmond]

any ideas as to how to extend the front suspension or measure the suspension at fill bump?

 

[gr8scott]

any ideas as to how to extend the front suspension or measure the suspension at fill bump?

I used a floor jack once.