What shocks? FOX VS. Rancho

[LakeEffect]

I have a JLU with a steel bumper and a winch. Currently coming from a Zone spacer lift with nitro shocks. I'll be picking up the Mopar 2" lift kit without the shocks. I'm deciding between the FOX 2.0 Adventure shock and the Rancho RS7MT shocks. A majority of the driving is on road with some mild off road in the summer months. We frequent some sand dunes and hit mild trails with some rock obstacles. I use to have a JKU with 5100 and liked them but these nitro shocks on my JLU are not my favorite.

Now the Ranchos are only $79 a shock which is very attractive. I can get the FOX 2.0 for $130 a piece, and the Bilsteins are usually in between. The Ranchos seem too good to be true. I view them as a value brand but they do have a great warranty. I personally wanted the FOX shocks for some time but purely because I "think" of them as more of a premium brand.

Is FOX what I make it out to be? Is it worth the cost difference between the Ranchos? Or should I shut up and buy the reliable Bilsteins?

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[Electrified]

The Rancho's and the Fox's are not in the same league IMHO. Buy once, cry once and buy the Fox Shocks. To me, the Bilsteins ride too stiff on my truck but I have no experience with them on my Jeep.

 

[NChap89]

Following as I plan to add new springs & shocks on my XR in the near future. Looking at Metalcloak or Rock Krawler 2.5" springs... undecided on shocks.

 

[LakeEffect]

I did find you can purchase the Mopar 2" springs from the dealer individually for about $30-40 just FYI.

 

[Electrified]

Following as I plan to add new springs & shocks on my XR in the near future. Looking at Metalcloak or Rock Krawler 2.5" springs... undecided on shocks.

Same here. I am looking at Clayton or RK springs and am leaning toward either Falcon or RK's RRD shocks.

 

[TheRaven]

Definitely Fox. But the Ranchos are great...I have them on my Tahoe, still working great 5 years in. They also come stock on many GM trucks. If the difference in cost between Rancho and Fox was $50 per shock for my Tahoe, i'd be running the Fox's, no question. For me it's about an $800 difference (total).

 

[Caliguy]

Honestly, the fox 2.5’s that come with the mopar lift are specifically tuned for the vehicle. I’d say both options you are considering are inferior to the fox shocks that come with the mopar lift kit

 

[dpike]

i currently have fox 2.0s on my jeep now and have a set of rancho rs9000xls in a box waiting for me to install them.
the fox were a big improvement over falcon 3.3s for dd and light trail use.

 

[3TV]

Rancho shocks were considered good shocks back in the late 1970s and 1980s. I don't know if Rancho shocks are valved differently now, or if it is just that everything else got better. But the last three vehicles I have tried Rancho shocks on were pretty bad. The last vehicle I actually took them back off of. All of them felt like they had too much compression damping relative to the amount of rebound damping they provided. So you had a stiff feeling but bouncy ride. That includes a set of RS9000. They had five different settings, but all of the setting felt bad.

 

[m3reno]

I put on Ranchos 9000XL front and rear and the drive is amazing compared to stock. I have the rears set on 6 and the fronts on softest setting. Now the jeep drives perfectly!

 

[GATORB8]

A couple newer options to consider.

Fox has a RR version of the 2.0 and a mono 2.5 now.
Bilstein has a RR version of the 5100, the 5160s (which I run). They're under a grand for a set with the Northridge discount.

 

[LakeEffect]

Honestly, the fox 2.5’s that come with the mopar lift are specifically tuned for the vehicle. I’d say both options you are considering are inferior to the fox shocks that come with the mopar lift kit

i currently have fox 2.0s on my jeep now and have a set of rancho rs9000xls in a box waiting for me to install them.
the fox were a big improvement over falcon 3.3s for dd and light trail use.

What made you switch back to the ranchos?

 

[Bzinsky]

I had bilstein 5100’s on my gmc sierra. They are a great shock. They are indeed pretty stiff driving around, but they are soft when you need them to be soft, IE when you hit a large bump.

That being said, I am really happy with my oem rubicon shocks. They seem to be every bit as good as my bilsteins.

I personally would not change my oem rubi shocks to low-mid level stuff like fox 2.0 or bilstein 5100. I don’t think it would have a very good return on investment. If I was going to upgrade it would be to some higher end stuff with remote reservoir’s. I’d also do hydraulic bump stops.

 

[Bill_P]

For the price, the Rancho RS9000XL is a good shock. Might take a bit to dial them in and figure out what you like, but the adjustment ability is nice

 

[GATORB8]

I had bilstein 5100’s on my gmc sierra. They are a great shock. They are indeed pretty stiff driving around, but they are soft when you need them to be soft, IE when you hit a large bump.

That being said, I am really happy with my oem rubicon shocks. They seem to be every bit as good as my bilsteins.

I personally would not change my oem rubi shocks to low-mid level stuff like fox 2.0 or bilstein 5100. I don’t think it would have a very good return on investment. If I was going to upgrade it would be to some higher end stuff with remote reservoir’s. I’d also do hydraulic bump stops.

Difference really shows when you start lifting and dealing with the limited stroke. Also, although shock extensions are a go between, OP is already out of the range of stock shocks working effectively.

The RS7MTs do seem to be a great improvement travel wise to the RS7000MT they replace. The previous versions had less travel than the stock Rubi shocks.

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