Z71 Rancho Quality

[L86 All Terrain]

9 hours ago, HeySkippyDog said:

I've grown to love the "Mema's Cadillac Deville" ride of my Z85, coming off a Z60 with 5100s. Parking lot speed bumps can be taken at 15-20 mph, and it won't knock my kidneys into my throat. In the Z60, your teeth would rattle right out of your head doing that, and your passengers would be cussing at you.

With that said, I already have another set of 5100s to put on when my cloud dissipates. It'll be a sad day, but I can't justify the cost of the OEM over the 5100/4600 Bilsteins.

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Yes I would never replace with OEM Rancho's, but I have never kept a truck long enough to have to change them. 

[truckguy82]

Oem ranchos are the worst factory shock I’ve ever had.

 

anybody who doesn’t have a problem with them likely lives somewhere flat and hardly ever requires them to get some travel

speed bump speed with rancho’s = 3-4mph

speed Bump speed with bilsteins = 15-20mph

 

that is a massive difference in performance

 

literally everyone that made the same switch will agree.

 

When it comes to the bilstein-rancho switch,

-to conclude a few people drank the forum coolaid, no problem

-to think 100’s of people with 99% positive feedback drank the forum cool-aid = Certified arrogant dbag

[aseibel]

2 hours ago, truckguy82 said:

speed bump speed with rancho’s = 3-4mph

speed Bump speed with bilsteins = 15-20mph

speed bumps are placed in areas with pedestrians to make people slow down.

so with bilsteins you can drive through those areas faster?? cool.

[truckguy82]

9 minutes ago, aseibel said:

speed bumps are placed in areas with pedestrians to make people slow down.

so with bilsteins you can drive through those areas faster?? cool.

What a lame response

 

There are actually different kinds of speed bumps. Some are placed in high pedestrian areas, some are place in areas known for speeding. Some force you to drive 25, some force you to drive 15, some force you to drive 3mph.

 

Now I can go just as fast as every other car. With the ranchos I had to take a 15mph speed bump at crawling speed and a 25mph bump at like 5 mph. Now i can go over them like every other vehicle.

 

These types speed bumps are all over my area in 25mph roads, mostly from residents complaining of speeders.

[aseibel]

3 minutes ago, truckguy82 said:

What a lame response

 

There are actually different kinds of speed bumps. Many are placed in high pedestrian areas to thwart speeding. Some force you to drive 25, some force you to drive 15, some force you to drive 3mph.

 

Now I can go just as fast as every other car. With the ranchos I’d have to take a 15mph speed bump at crawling speed and hold up traffic behind me. Now i can go over them like every other vehicle.

I just thought your explanation was funny. I really am curious about what makes Bilsteins different.

I have yet to hear anything more specific than a handful of people who say it takes away the "teeth rattling over bumps". Do you have 18" wheels? I do. Maybe your wheels make it ride different. I guess my truck must be special because I have never felt my teeth rattle over a bump or felt like I had to hold up traffic to hit a speed bump. I drive it the same speed as my other vehicles on all the same roads and i think I can take it over bigger bumps. I sometimes shortcut over the inner ring on all those stupid traffic circles just for fun.

If anyone ever comes across a scientific/quantitative explanation of the difference between OEM and bilsteins, please share it with me.

[truckguy82]

19 minutes ago, aseibel said:

I just thought your explanation was funny. I really am curious about what makes Bilsteins different.

I have yet to hear anything more specific than a handful of people who say it takes away the "teeth rattling over bumps". Do you have 18" wheels? I do. Maybe your wheels make it ride different. I guess my truck must be special because I have never felt my teeth rattle over a bump or felt like I had to hold up traffic to hit a speed bump. I drive it the same speed as my other vehicles on all the same roads and i think I can take it over bigger bumps. I sometimes shortcut over the inner ring on all those stupid traffic circles just for fun.

If anyone ever comes across a scientific/quantitative explanation of the difference between OEM and bilsteins, please share it with me.

Either your shocks are blown, you don’t go over these bumps, or you don’t have the same shocks.

 

there are countless people that say the same exact thing

 

it feels like they are bottoming out. Nobody is going to test the shock on a shock dyno.

 

I don’t know why I’m wasting my time with this. You are a troll whether you know it or not. You just like to argue and are the type of guy who disagrees with popular opinion just because it’s popular.

[aseibel]

6 minutes ago, truckguy82 said:

Either your shocks are blown, you don’t go over these bumps, or you don’t have the same shocks.

 

there are countless people that say the same exact thing

 

it feels like they are bottoming out. Nobody is going to test the shock on a shock dyno.

 

I don’t know why I’m wasting my time with this. You are a troll whether you know it or not. You just like to argue and are the type of guy who disagrees with popular opinion just because it’s popular.

yep, that's me. I was just hoping you could explain how they are different. Sorry for bothering you. Happy Thanksgiving!

[truckguy82]

It’s been explained by countless people.

 

There is no shock data that exists to my knowledge. Someone would need to hook it up to a shock dyno.

 

I have never felt a shock in my life perform like the rancho’s. Had I not been on the forum, I would have thought my suspension was bottoming out.

 

It’s always happens after the bump. So going over a bump requires your shock to compress-decompress-compress.

The first compression, seems acceptable (bilstein does a better job but not so much better I’d be raving about it)

Then after that it fails miserably. I can’t tell if it’s on the decompression or the 2nd compression that it makes the thud.

 

I wouldn’t be surprised if what it was doing is not releasing the tire fast enough. Like when you compress it, and you go over the bump, it stays compressed and your front tires are simply off the ground for a split second and what you feel is essentially landing back on the pavement.

 

I don’t understand what exactly the problem was, but it definitely did it, it effected my driving experience significantly, and doing nothing but switching out to bilsteins completely resolved it. I have never had any shock in my life do what my oem ranchos did.

 

I don’t notice much of a handling difference with the bilsteins, or any additional comfort on highways. It just goes over bumps like 10x better than it did before.

[typ0]

1 hour ago, aseibel said:

I really am curious about what makes Bilsteins different.

The compression and rebound damping rates.

You're welcome.

 

damp. · ing. (dăm′pĭng) The gradual reduction of excessive oscillation, vibration, or signal intensity, and therefore of instability in a mechanical or electrical device, by a substance or some aspect of the device.

[aseibel]

6 minutes ago, truckguy82 said:

It’s been explained by countless people.

 

There is no shock data that exists to my knowledge. Someone would need to hook it up to a shock dyno.

 

I have never felt a shock in my life perform like the rancho’s. Had I not been on the forum, I would have thought my suspension was bottoming out.

 

It’s always happens after the bump. So going over a bump requires your shock to compress-decompress-compress.

The first compression, seems acceptable (bilstein does a better job but not so much better I’d be raving about it)

Then after that it fails miserably. I can’t tell if it’s on the decompression or the 2nd compression that it makes the thud.

 

I wouldn’t be surprised if what it was doing is not releasing the tire fast enough. Like when you compress it, and you go over the bump, it stays compressed and your front tires are simply off the ground for a split second and what you feel is essentially landing back on the pavement.

 

I don’t understand what exactly the problem was, but it definitely did it, it effected my driving experience significantly, and doing nothing but switching out to bilsteins completely resolved it. I have never had any shock in my life do what my oem ranchos did.

 

I don’t notice much of a handling difference with the bilsteins, or any additional comfort on highways. It just goes over bumps like 10x better than it did before.

Thank you. That actually makes some sense.

[aseibel]

3 minutes ago, typ0 said:

The compression and rebound dampening rates.

You're welcome.

 

damp. · ing. (dăm′pĭng) The gradual reduction of excessive oscillation, vibration, or signal intensity, and therefore of instability in a mechanical or electrical device, by a substance or some aspect of the device.

ok, now you're on the right track- I understand the physics of how the suspension is supposed to work. Now can you tell me which one has MORE damping? Does the Bilstein offer more damping or less than OEM? I am trying to figure out if people who like the Bilsteins are getting a stiffer/faster OR softer/slower rebound over bumps than my truck. I can't tell from the typical descriptions of how people's body parts feel inside the cab. If my Ranchos are shot, my ride would have no damping and continue to oscillate after every impact, no? Since my truck does not oscillate, I can infer that my Ranchos are not shot?

[truckguy82]

5 minutes ago, aseibel said:

ok, now you're on the right track- I understand the physics of how the suspension is supposed to work. Now can you tell me which one has MORE damping? Does the Bilstein offer more damping or less than OEM? I am trying to figure out if people who like the Bilsteins are getting a stiffer/faster OR softer/slower rebound over bumps than my truck. I can't tell from the typical descriptions of how people's body parts feel inside the cab. If my Ranchos are shot, my ride would have no damping and continue to oscillate after every impact, no? Since my truck does not oscillate, I can infer that my Ranchos are not shot?

I have no idea, all I know is what I said in my previous post. I don’t feel much of a difference doing anything except when there is a large amount of travel required.

 

If I had to guess the bilsteins are mildly stiffer until it needs to compress quickly. Then when the shock travel speed increases, or pressure increases, it acts night and day different than the rancho. Like there is some sort of valving that keeps it stiff on low impacts and then keeps it soft on big impacts.

[L86 All Terrain]

Personally I don't jump speed bumps, I tend to try to drive around them if at all possible or roll over them at 3mph. I have yet to have any of my Ford or Dodge friends complain about the ride of my truck, most in fact have complimented it with the Ranchos and 20" wheels which I swear is twice as rough as my 2010 All Terrain Z71 was with 18" wheels. Truckguy82 is on to something, the damping on the Ranchos is very stiff and slow which is where the complaints about axle hop and fishtailing come from. I wish I could find a shock that would take the initial hit a bit softer but remain at the same compression rate as the Rancho in normal conditions to maintain the current handling characteristics of the Z71 suspension. With all the suspension tech today, your ride-style choices should not be limited to trampoline or asphalt compactor without spending $3k.  

[15 Z71]

10 hours ago, truckguy82 said:

I have no idea, all I know is what I said in my previous post. I don’t feel much of a difference doing anything except when there is a large amount of travel required.

 

If I had to guess the bilsteins are mildly stiffer until it needs to compress quickly. Then when the shock travel speed increases, or pressure increases, it acts night and day different than the rancho. Like there is some sort of valving that keeps it stiff on low impacts and then keeps it soft on big impacts.

Just curious what year is your z71 with the Ranchos?

[Colossus]

At the suggestion of several duramax owners who are mechanics at the repair facility I use, I'll be replacing the ranchos with Bilsteins within the next few months.  I'll let you know how things go.  Granted a fair comparison would be new ranchos against new Bilsteins.  I've got 195,000 on the factory ones on my 2008  2500 Z71.