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Good shocks for softer ride?


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I was thinking about getting the Bildsteins everyone talks about but my local 4x4 shop said they are stiffer than the OEM shocks.

 

What would be a good soft shock I could run? I was thinking more along the lines of a high speed off road shock.

 

I don't care about load/towing capacity so the rear sagging is a non issue.

 

Sent from my LG-H932 using Tapatalk

 

 

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9 hours ago, tx2014 said:

Pretty good video on it from custom offsets. 

That was awful. That information took forever to get through, guy didn't really explain your selection info beyond "nitro is stiffer", just terrible.

I don't have any great information on this but also interested in softer riding shocks. I believe that tires probably make a bigger difference than shocks. In terms of ply, load rating, type of tread, etc. I've got a 6" lift with Fox 2.0s and am also looking for something a bit softer though.

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Shocks. I wish that word would have never been coined. Dampeners is what they are and they are not soft or hard. They are fast or slow. In fact unless they are bottomed out, topped out or are driven at a rate by a bump that is so fast as to hydro-lock them they have no spring effect what-so-ever. When they are so driven the spring rate is infinite. 

 

Springs are hard or soft and they have a job. Hold up their corner of the truck at a specific ride height at a given in-sprung weight. Trucks being trucks have far more spring rate than required to do that job when the truck is empty. The spring still compresses and rebounds with the undulations of the road. Dampeners control the SPEED at which this happens. A dampener that is slow in compression feels harsh. In fact if it is slow enough it will literally lock up. One too fast in rebound is also harsh allowing the spring to unload too rapidly. How quickly or slowly they NEED to be depends on the load they are being asked to dampen. More precisely the speed of compression and rebound they must maintain. That load is in part the spring rate and in part the carry load or un-sprung weight. 

 

When you're looking for a 'better' ride you asking for a change of speed in the shock. Speed is controlled by the viscosity of the oil, secondary, and the valving primary (shim pack). Most manufactures of non-rebuild-able shocks use the same medium weight oil so that only the shim pack is the variable between brands. This pack is built up of many thin round pieces of spring steel. Their thickness and diameter cover and uncover ports in the piston to control the timing and rate of speed oil is allowed to move past the piston in either direction and they are not always the same nor should they be. But what they are in a toilet paper shock is FIXED. It is what it is and worse not only will they, the manufacture, not tell you anything specific that is useful the result is...you guessed it...highly subjective. Oh they can measure with great precision how it behaves on a shock dyno and quantify the results to an expected solution BUT they can not tell you how YOU will perceive the result at your backside.

 

So...we sign up to a discussion group and ask others how they perceive the result. But here's the problem. No two people will agree on brand X, Y or Z and so  at the end of your query you know nothing more than you did at the ask. 

 

If you REALLY want a result you have to be able to control the variables. That's the spring rate; the shim and oil. To do that you are going to spend some serious money on a rebuild-able and tune-able shock and custom springs. King, Fox, Icon.

 

Now here's a ray of hope. Names like diyer2 offered spend a good deal of time and money on the sensory experience. These are direct replacement shocks not normally offered for lower or lift situations. They assume the buyer is a guy that just needs to replace a part or needs to modify the current result.  More often than not...to a group who feel as you do. In almost every case it will be an improvement but NOT the Holly Grail. I would add KYB and KAYBA to this list of Monroe and Gabriel. Four pretty good names in direct replacement. I might normally add Bilstein to this list as well although they seem focused on custom aftermarket these days over factory replacement. 

 

:seeya:

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Good points grumpy.  Another option to consider is the adjustable Rancho 9000XL shocks.  These can be adjusted to different levels of firmness.  Don't have experience with them so can't comment on how well/bad they work.

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Having installed Rancho 9000XL adjustable shocks on my old 96 Tahoe, adjustments were easy for my on-road, off road and trailer load duties.

the (9) adjustments can and will give you your "Custom" ride qualities..

Now have 9000XL's on my 2016 RCSB in rear and their 9000XL / Level Strut assembly on front with adjustments still easy to control ride and load in back..

I will admit the Monroe, Gabrial, KYB, etc., type shocks do offer differenct ride qualities to to Non-Gas vs. Gas charged.

 

For anyone who installs Rancho 9000's,, make sure you use heavy duty / trailer type bearing grease (Red Tacky) around the adjusters back site to seal out water and road salt..

 

Cheers---K

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