I live on a state maintained (so they say) gravel road. The road is pretty much a wash board. My 2004.5 Ram 3500 SRW 4x4 is terrible on the road when it is empty the back end just jumps and hops - not nice to ride in and I think a little dangerous. I try to keep the speed down to a reasonable level but heck it is much worse than my 99 Ram 2500.

I assume this is normal for these trucks. Would new after market shocks help with the jumping and hopping?

If so I was thinking either KYB MonoMax or Ranchero's. I am not that familiar with the Monos but they look like a very good shock - cheaper than the Rancheros.

I use the truck for pleasure fairly often but also pull a 3 horse GN horse trailer with it. What shocks would you guys suggest for me for my application?

Any other suggestions?

 

Should help for sure but as far as brand someone else with mor knoledge (spell.?) will chime in with mor info.

Michael

 

I have the Rancho RS9000's on my 04.5 2500 and they ride great. I leave them set on 5 all the time and the truck rides nice considering the 35's.

 

I have always run Bilsteins, if you have a 06 they are not available yet,,, Need to fill out your signature, go to UserCP and then click on Signature and share with the deisel word your mods, year and other cool info on your truck.

They are more money than the others but the quality is like buying a Rolex for your wrist.

 

The Rancho's do help.
Try using 4hi on the gravel. Seems to help when I travel on the washboard gravel roads.

 

The Monomax's are my favorite non adjustable shock. I sell and install 20+ sets per year. Never had any come back. These would be my first choice for a tight budget. Anything less.....you would be throwing money away.

Although I feel the Bilstien's are too soft, they make a great shock too. I like a shock that controls body roll and axle hop as well.

Rancho's are the lowest quality of all mentioned. They fade quick on bumpy roads. I have the 9000's on all my older offroad vehicles and they worked OK for most driving. At least they were adjustable.

ProComp MX6's are a good balance for price,ride, and durabilty. I have sold and installed 6 sets since they came out and have had good customer feedback. They are my first choice as of right now. For the money, they are the best adjustable shock available.

I want to try Bilstien 7100's so I can play with the valving myself. Anyone play with these?

Summit Racing has the best prices on KYB's if you decide to go that way.

 

The stock shocks are junk. Replace them with something else and you will notice an improvement. I have Rancho 9000s and love them. Greatly improved the handling and ride. I keep the fronts set at level 7 (out of 9) for the heavy Cummins. The rears usually stay on 3 or so, until I get ready to pull heavy....then up them to 7 or so. The adjustability is a great advantage in my opinion.

 

Thanks for the great responses. It looks like most of you agree that different shocks would help. I like the looks of the Monomaxs and the positive comments are good to know. The different opinions on the Rancho 9000 are interesting - I thought that the feedback on these would be totally positive.

I took the advice and completed my signatures.

 

you may also want to consider removing the overload spring with a mini pack. This will take the initial hit out of the travel.

something like this, http://lorenzindustries.com/products_leafs.html
Im sure there are others.

I have them and they have reduced the initial bump stop against the overload spring. They can still carry the GVW. Should also still work great with air bags.

 

Check your tire pressure!
Unloaded my 2500 calls for 40 lbs rear...loaded to max 70 lbs.
At 40 to 50 lbs when empty...truck ride good.
At 70 empty, bounces all over the road.

In fact when I bought this thing I found that the 3500 road too hard.
So I automatically bought a 2500.

What I should have done was taken a 3500 out for a test drive with the proper "empty" preasure in the tires and I probably would have bought the 3500....not much more money.

Hope this helps.
BTW...I agree with you...with max tire preasure when empty...these thing dangerous.

 

Hey twhman,
I have a few miles on my rig and the last set of shocks (3) so far including the stock ones were the KYB's. I will NOT buy them again!! Tried the Monroe shock for trucks, that was the 2nd set and will not buy those either. I have used Bilstein's before and would love to put a set on my truck but they are NOT available, since I checked last. Do you want to know which were the longest lasting shocks in my 280k miles?? Sorry, but you're right, the original equipment shocks lasted 100k miles. Haven't been able to get an aftermarket set to last half that long. Oh, bye the way, my truck works for a living!!

 

I just bought a set of Bilstein 5100s for my '05.

 

I had a set of the Rancho 9000's on my 03. They seemed pretty good and I did like the adjustable part. May put a set on the 06 mega but will take a look at the ProComp's too. Anything is better than stock. I have 24k on my stock shocks and they are already shot.

Goat.

 

Do you have the part numbers? Will they work on a non-lifted '07?

 

Summit racing had the lowest price, and all four part numbers for the stock and lifted front and rear shocks.

summitracing.com