Shocks - Rancho 9000xl

[MSHardeman]

Nick if your teeth rattle everytime you run over a strip in the road and you can feel every little pebble in you butt then your VX is just right.
Seriously, the ride is pretty stiff (brutal) to begin with; at least that's my experience. I'm with you, if the shocks are going out the VX would bounce up and down a few times after you hit a bump. Also, you can crawl under the VX and look at the shocks to see if they are leaking fluid.

[VX KAT]

I too disliked the extremely rough ride, and literally thought my back door was going to jiggle off or at least bend/damage the hinges when driving on dirt/gravel roads.

After off-roading in Moab 1st day, back door was jarred askew and didn't close correctly...Jack (pbkid) or some other mystery VXer fixed it while it sat in the parking lot at the Red Rock Lodge.

After much research, went with the Ranch RS9000xl's, have all set at 5.

Some observations:
~2 of 4 OEMs (1 front, 1 rear) were blown, but no fluid was leaking.
~pushing on front and rear fenders showed virtually NO movement, so the "pushing test" to assess shocks was not helpful in my case.
~my VX rides only about 1/2" above rear bump stop, which means it hits it hard virtually every time I hit ANY bump/pebble.
~Tim Parker (SBC) told me that most VXs either rode sitting ON the bump stop, or had very little clearance like mine (and his)...so the rough slammin' ride was very much related to this.
~I've considered cutting bump stops in half as many have done...but mechanic talked me out of it (can't recall why dang it)
~Hubby's FJ and my 4Runner have about 7-8" clearance above rear bump stops...so I don't understand why the VX has so very little clearance.
~Ride on rough/gravel/dirt road did improve with the Ranchos, rear door jiggling noise is reduced. (I literally assess the ride by how loud the noise is from rear door).
~I recall a post that said the Ranchos set at level 9 were still softer than the OEMs.

Very pleased I got the Ranchos, the way I look at it, with 9 adjustments, I have much greater flexibility to find a ride I like, and can change it. It's still firm enough that I'm pleased with cornering and off-road performance.

I too got a deal on the Ranchos, but 3 get 1 free...I paid $97 x3.

[Knigh7s]

I've been using the Rancho RS9000x (not xl) Shocks for a good 2 or so years. I don't really have a complaint about them. I've always had them set to 9 since the day I installed them. I did find that my OEM shocks had no rebound after uninstalling them. I would literally have to pull the shaft out manually.

But do to the construction i have to drive through on a daily basis now, Just like VX Kat, I'm afraid my rear door is going to swing open one day on its own... I wish there was more we could do about that instead of its limited adjust-ability.

Some decent coilovers would be really awsome!!!

[lasturbo]

Do any of you have your VX lifted with Rancho 9000xl's? My question is will they be long enough if you go 1-3 inches?
Rancho 9000XL specs FRONT
RS999214
Compressed-10.375
Extended-14.500
Rancho 9000XL specs REAR
RS999215
Compressed-12.875
Extended-19.125

[etlsport]

yea, just priced them out at work (sears auto)

RS999215 and RS999214 for the 9000XL series

They are 104.99 each w/ a $40(total, 10 per shock) mail in rebate when you buy all 4 in october plus free install

[deermagnet]

I probably have more miles behind the wheel of a VX on Rancho 9-way shocks than anyone in the world.

I junked the shocks from hell at 48K miles and went with the old school 9000X set on seven. I loved 'em and praised these shocks for years as the best thing I ever did to my VX. This is my daily driver so I know from hitting the same bumps and holes every day when there's even a slight lose of performance. I went with a second set at 100K. That's 52K, but many would've been happy taking 'em to 70K or more. I again had 'em set on seven to start, but on the way home I knew it wasn't gonna work. My VX was now older and the suspension may have been getting softer. I turned 'em up to eight and that was the ticket. A third set went on at 150K set on eight.

At 195K in 6/09 they were still pretty good, but I was anxious to try the 9000XL that everyone was talkin' 'bout. Being that they were gas-charged, I figured they would be stiffer than the non-gas-charged X's I've been used to. I had the dude set 'em on six to start. I bounced the front end and it felt too soft. The ride home confirmed that, so I tried eight. Nope, still too soft. Nine was slightly better, but I needed one or two more clicks to make it perfect. I was a good bit disappointed. They cost me over $500 with the install!

I chalked it up to over nine years on the road and 195K on the suspension parts. I actually got used to the new ride quite quickly and was eventually satisfied with the XL's. I'm now at 204K with almost 10,000 miles on the XL's. Today while I was out doin' 'bout a hundred miles I tried to reevaluate the ride and I'm still very happy with the way it handles bumps and cornering and whatnot.

It is in no way set in stone that these will be my next set of shocks. Around 260K I think I'd need Rancho to extend the choice of settings to ten or eleven. But I'll hesitate at that bridge when I see it.

Mark Griffin