Yesterday I braved the chillly weather and finally put new shocks on. I went with Sensa-tracs and did it myself laying in the driveway. Got a damn good deal on them, at $80 for all four!! Yes you read that right hahaha. My oem shocks had 110k miles on them.

In any case here is my observations about the installation and the effects this shock had on handling etc.

* Spray each nut with wd-40 several days in advance.
* There was no need to jack up the truck or remove a wheel for any of the shocks.
* Back was easy as pie, but wear glasses as rusty flakes will rain down on your face.
* Front was a bit trickier, but you can turn the wheel as far as it can get for more room. (or at least i can, but i'm only 130)
* You need to be rolling dubs on the wrenches for each shock. ( You need two to remove the bolts or they'll just spin.)
* Cut the top nut off the front shocks, much easier as mine were rusted in place. not much room to turn a wrench there anyways.

Basically installation is easy and completely straight forward. Anybody with half a brain who can turn a wrench can do this job. No need to pay a shop a few hundred bucks.

After installation I noticed definite improvements in my ride quality, namely:

* ride height in front was raised about .25 of an inch.
*no more nose dive when braking
* brake noise from my front pads was reduced to almost nothing.
* truck hugs the turns now, instead of rolling like a boat.
* after driving over bumps, there is no "aftershocks" after the initial bump. No more jiggling on down the road.

One thing that did not seem to improve was when going over potholes. As stated above, the truck doesn't jump around anymore, but the initial bump actually seemed harsher. People tell me that new shocks are almost always going to be stiffer then ones with 100k on them.

Does this mean that these new shocks are going to have a break in period and become softer as they break in?

All in all it was worth it completely and i'm sorry I didn't get new shocks sooner.

 

Sensa Tracs lasted a year for me 45k miles or abuse. so seized

 

Mine took about 2000 miles to soften up. But every shock brand is diffrent.

 

Monroe Reflexs = Awsomeness

 

I put Sensa-Trac's in my truck last spring. I hate those effin shocks. Bilstiens will be going in about mid february.

 

Rangerdave: I didn't really understand what you meant by your reply. Are you saying you put 45k miles on your truck in one year, and then your sensa-tracs seized up??

If so I'm surprised. Almost everything I read on these forums said the sensa-tracs are the way to go. I actually bought these based on the experiences that ya'll have shared on this forum.

Like in this thread many of you said get the sensa-tracs! I hope I made the right choice lol.

https://www.ranger-forums.com/showth...ht=sensa+tracs


As far as I can tell, shocks are more of a personal preference, kind of like mufflers.

 

I put on the Rancho adjustable shocks because I feared that I would pick the wrong one and get too soft or stiff of a ride. I have them set on 3 in the front, and 1 in the rear. Still rides pretty rough, but I'm sure the E range Duratracs don't help it.

A Ranger should ride better than it does, I don't buy this "it's a truck thing" either, since every Super Duty I've ever ridden in rides 10x better.

 

That was a good idea to get the adjustables, but I got such a good deal on these sensa- tracs, that i couldn't pass it up. I'm glad i got these though, so far they have softened up a bit, and the ride is much better than with my oem shocks. But ya, idk why the Rangers ride so bad, i think its a combination of being lightweight and having a dated suspension..?? in any case they handle the road like a truck from the 70's and the old f350 dump body I drove for work had much better road manners.

 

torsion bars dont help.