Yes, they are worth it. I've burned through several sets of 9000s and 5000 ranchos. With ranchos they warm up really fast in the dunes. I would come home after a weekend, and the shocks would show that all the travel was used, and my bumpstops got a work out.
With the 7100s ( 12 inch short body resivor up front, and 10 inch w/o resivoir in back) I don't bottm out. If you hit a bump too hard, you brace for the hit, but it never comes, even after the shock gets warmed up. In fact, the ride just gets a little smoother after it warms up. I'm running the 360/80 valving in front and the 270/? in back. They work great. The only time I've seen them bottom out is rock crawling when I get twisted up real good. At speed they seem to firm up and "catch" you before you hit hard. It's really impressive.
I should add, that in order to work well, you need good solid shock mounts. I've had to remount my f250 mounts once because they weren't attached well enough.
Tom
