hey guys, im in need of new front shocks. the shocks i have now are fabtech, and they are shot. anyway, i would like your guy's opinions on the rancho rs5000 and the procomp es3000 shocks.

I have a 2000 5.4L 2wd ex-cab f150 if that helps any.


Thanks,
Spencer

 

has anybody had any experience using these shocks? anything about them??

 

I tried the RS5000 complete missmatch for my truck. Personally, if you stay on the road most of the time I would highly recommend OE shocks. Aftermarket products chang ride due to different compression and rebound damping rates which then do not match spring rate. Ford engineers design springs and shocks to work TOGETHER so if you want, in my opinion, best overall performance, go OE, if not you will make some compromise.

I raced motorcycles semi professionally and spend a lot of time working on optimum suspension set-up where compression, rebound, damping rods, and spring rate could all be changed, one affects the other. At least on motorcycles you can change spring rates and damping to match track conditions, trucks, thats a different story, you get fixed spring rates and fixed damping rates with most shocks available. Rancho XLS9000, and possibly others, make shocks with adjustable damping which offers some fine tuning.

I spent considerable time investigating options, Bilstein, KYB, Rancho, Monrone, and I was just not happy with what I was learning. I spend all my time on road but pull a 11K boat in summer and I put OE's on a love the ride and performance. The OE shocks were expensive but I feel the investment was worth it. Others may disagree with my input here. The main thing to keep in mind when you get opinions it's improtant to understand what that particular owner wants for performance, i.e. off-road, heavy work loads, street. It really matters so chose wisely!