[JrZook]

Ok still on the look out to get some descent shocks for the zuk. Have narrowed it down to those two choices. Rancho 9000xl's or koni 80 series. Now does anyone have any actual experience with these shocks at all? Im looking for a descent ride (on a leafy), progressive dampening and longativity.

What I know so far (or have been told correct me if im wrong):

Rancho:

9 step adjustable both rebound and bound
foam cell
15 stage velocity sensitive valving

Koni:

Rebound adjustable only
4 stage progressive valving
rebuildable (valving can be changed as well as oil weight)
oil shock (not gas/oil)

Both are similar in price (not cheap). I am tending to the koni's as they have recieved very minimal negative feedback as well as being rebuildable, although i wonder how much extra it will cost if the valving needs to be changed. Its an expensive exercise so Im hoping to get some credable feedback from others that have used these listed shocks already.

At the moment Im using some old boge turbo shocks (buttercup remains). These work ok with my soft OME leaf packs but they dont seem to have much in the way of velocity sensitive valving in them ie do not feel like progressive dampeners.

Yes this is a tech section so I would like tech no complete crap ie in the lines of 'foam cell shocks are crap do not use'. Reasoning behind the statement or again actuall experience with them would be great.

Cheers Dan

[paulv]

Have fittend koni adjustable shocks to previous road cars I have owned - not 4wd's. Had no problems. They had lots of adjustment, however I found after setting them during install never actually touched the adjuster again.
I would probably buy Koni's again - if I thought the money was justified for the particular car I wanted to fit them too.

[Chop]

I'm interested in the koni's aswell, but for my rear in the vit.
I can get them at trade price, but i need to get some of their open and closed lengths which the local parts store said they might be able to get for me.

Chop

[Gwagensteve]

Ranchos are overrated. Koni's aren't.

I have ranchos in the Gwagen. I can speak from experience they are overrated. The adjustment is a gimmick.

Steve.

[joeblow]

real shocks are not foam cell like ranchos or tough dogs.....

[JrZook]

Gwagensteve wrote:

Ranchos are overrated. Koni's aren't.

I have ranchos in the Gwagen. I can speak from experience they are overrated. The adjustment is a gimmick.

Steve.

Cheers for the insight Steve! So the adjustment is a gimmick as in there isnt much change?

[omysierra]

iv have rancho 9000s in my landcruiser ute [hj75] front and back and as far as on/off road feels go i can not tell the differance between the settings. havent used koni so i cant compare.

[Gwagensteve]

No, the opposite - there's a massive amount of change. If the rancho's are valved for the application, they are supposed to match stock valving at position at position 5. This being the case, I promise that by position 3 or 7 the car will be all but undriveable.

If you are using a shock "out of application" (and I'll be that will be case unless you want a stock length shock) then you might find you can drive the car on position 3 or 7 (or position 1 front or 9 rear, if it's anything like my Gwagen running 99009's) but not on any other setting.

Manufacturers and suspension engineers like those employed by ARB talk about changing valving 10%.. maybe 20% depending on application abd spring rate.

There's 800% between position 1 and 9. How could you possibly know where "stock" valving was? even more so if the shock is "out of application"

I've paid to dyno Ranchos. I even bought them after I had done this. They lasted OK, (one has now failed at 10 years and about 30,000km) - so-so but the adjustability is a pointless gimmick. I used to play with them when I went offroad (to soften them off) and then I dawned on me I was ruining the behaviour of my car when I took it off road.

Buy the Konis of you have the budget. If you don't buy OME.

Steve.

[sierrajim]

Having had both Koni and Rancho - until Rancho bring out something new and show results I will NEVER buy Rancho's again.

The last two vehicles I've had have been fitted with Koni's straight away, the current vehicle has even had them custom valved for the weight. The 3,000kg handles well on road, gravel, sand and dirt - even when loaded with 1,300kg of weight.

[JrZook]

Cheers for the descent info guys!

joeblow wrote:

real shocks are not foam cell like ranchos or tough dogs.....

Care to elaborate this statement Joe?
My understanding is that the foam cell design is to stop the intermixing or gas/oil which causes the oil to 'foam' and loose or alter its dampening effect. Tho I guess its possible in heavy offroad applications for the foam cell to rupture by overheating and not regain its level of performance after that?

Dan

[joeblow]

JrZook wrote:

Cheers for the descent info guys!

joeblow wrote:

real shocks are not foam cell like ranchos or tough dogs.....

Care to elaborate this statement Joe?
My understanding is that the foam cell design is to stop the intermixing or gas/oil which causes the oil to 'foam' and loose or alter its dampening effect. Tho I guess its possible in heavy offroad applications for the foam cell to rupture by overheating and not regain its level of performance after that?

Dan

yes, foam cell stuff was designed to prevent aeration in the cylinder, but was originaly used for applications such as steering dampers or items mounted horizontaly, not high loaded shock absorbers. foam cells are usually bigger to disipate more heat. a nitro shock will come good after being overheated, a foam cell once too hot will start to deteriorate the cell and its performance will never come back.

[royce]

I have rancho 9000 (model for some kind of large ford) in the rear of the vit and the range of adjustment is huge, I have only ever played with 1-5 on mine and they currently and have for a long time sat on 3, a damper works with a spring not a terrain so once its set its set, you are paying to have the ability to set it though rather than suck it and see

Dont be fooled by konis rebuildability either, all told its not a lot cheaper than a new set anyway

look at Fox and Kings for the ultimate in tuneability, they arent that dear and really could be lifetime shocks

[Fatzook]

royce wrote:

I have rancho 9000 (model for some kind of large ford) in the rear of the vit and the range of adjustment is huge, I have only ever played with 1-5 on mine and they currently and have for a long time sat on 3, a damper works with a spring not a terrain so once its set its set, you are paying to have the ability to set it though rather than suck it and see

Dont be fooled by konis rebuildability either, all told its not a lot cheaper than a new set anyway

look at Fox and Kings for the ultimate in tuneability, they arent that dear and really could be lifetime shocks

You aint stupid

[JrZook]

Well ended up biting the bullet and got a set of Koni 80 series front and rear shocks!! Rebound set midway from the factory so far. First impressions, dam!!! Super smooth!!!! Can really feel the progressive dampening of these shocks. Rides very nice combined with my old soft OME springs. Will have to see how they go over the rough stuff tho.

Now to spin a few questions yet again. The front shocks they had listed for the leaf sierra's with 50mm lift measure 303mm closed from the center of teh eye to the bottom of the top washer. I measured 295mm for a colapsed length of the front shock when the axle is on the bumpstop. I went to a few suspension places to talk to the 'experts' and presented them with this data. They all came back to me with, i've checked and this is the listed shock for your application it will be fine . WTF? Then I also went as far as asking how much do they allow for bumpstop compression because I dont want the shock to top out. Shop a) asked me what was I talking about with bumpstop compression, shop b) not sure but these are the shocks suited for you vehicle listed in our book (also rang to confirm with koni). They still assured full warenty on the items even after the above was discussed.

So what the hell? Does anyone know what they are talkign about any more? Whats gonna happen when the axle hit the bumpstop but the shock tops out first? Warrented still because it the listed shock?

Weird

Dan