Write-Up: Installing Rancho F-250 shocks on the Riviera

good to know. it just occured to me that its possible to cut the shock rod a inch or two , to prevent that from happening. it will definitly void the warranty though

and then rethread the rod. easy to do. wonder if ti will work. in theory it should?

How does that work? I've never heard of it before. The shock rod would be the chromed part that slides up and down, right? Wouldn't it be pressurized?

Jack the R wrote:

How does that work? I've never heard of it before. The shock rod would be the chromed part that slides up and down, right? Wouldn't it be pressurized?

The shock rod (chrome rod) is solid not hollow, so it can be cut and threaded to any length, theoretically.

right! in theory,if you cut the rod ,that will shorten the travel of the rod. thereby (in theory) prevent botoming out. and on a lowered car that would work. question is,is the extended length of the rancho shock the same as the overall length of the oem shock? im trying to see how this mod might fail.if the rivi becomes airborne(u never know!) then a full extention of the shock might stress the shock but other than that, it might work...........

How far the shock would extend in a jump would depend (?) on the travel of the spring, not the travel of the shock. Since the spring is shorter, I'm guessing it would all be o.k.

You'd have to measure the suspension travel with both springs to be sure, which would be laborious since you'd have to swap springs, but other than that not difficult.

So far I haven't heard of ewolfe having trouble with his 2nd set of ranchos, but he's had his Riv in winter storage. Maybe wait a few months and see what develops?

If you cut the shock rod wouldn' t it need to be rechromed?

Jack the R wrote:

If you cut the shock rod wouldn' t it need to be rechromed?

No, I don't think that end of the shock strut will contact the seal or cause a problem.

just found a complete coil over shock conversion kit at strutmasters.com interesting!

for the rear only

That looks like a good set up with a lifetime warranty.
If you decide to go that route, let us know how they are.
How they ride, quality, etc.

So Jack the R Pioneered the Rear F-250 Rancho shock mod. Sadly those shocks are discontinued. My questions do you guys think the Bilstien shocks made for the F-250 would be an improvement over the stock Riviera rear shocks?

i dont know but i love my bilsteins...

It's a trade off. If you never significantly load the trunk, or never run the car with 3 or more adults (including driver), Bilsteins might be better. I put Bilsteins on my Audi A6 Avant and it was great - the owner of the local Audi garage said mine was the best driving Audi in the area, period.

Thing of it was, though, if you loaded the Audi up (2 teens and luggage) it did not handle so well.

Having driven both the Riv and the Audi under similar loading conditions - the Riv loaded (4 adults and trunk full of luggage) handled better than the Audi similarly loaded, for my highway cruising/driving. What's more - if you insisted that the rear cargo area not be loaded beyond what could be covered with the privacy screen (so you could see out rear view mirror) the Riv *Carried More* cargo along with those passengers, by a good bit.

Given the choice I would stick with the air ride rears. IF they were available I'd put Bilstein struts on the front, and have Bilstein shocks made to fit/work with the air ride. All they 'd need is correct shock valving, metal caps (instead of plastic) and rubber air bladders with a fitting in that metal cap.

Listen, you'll have people touting Bilsteins or Ranchos or whatever, if only because they feel lonely and they want you to drink the kool-aid, too - so to speak. Robotennis comes to mind (just kidding Robo).

Having driven both as I outlined above, I'd say no, the F-250 Bilsteins won't be an improvement unless you never load the car. *OR* maybe with Bilsteins put on progressive springs that have a significantly higher rate-not sure how much higher though-than stock. A correct set of progressives would help make up for the lack of air-ride although they would be stiffer unloaded (which for my kind of driving would not be a big deal). The right coil-overs could serve as progressive booster springs.

Albertj

Camlifter pioneered the F-250 shock mod. I was maybe the third person to do it.

Ask eWolfe what the part number is for the Ranchos he used. They may still be in production.

BTW -



But I haven't had more than a couple people and no luggage in the Riv - maybe it does fall down when loaded down.

albertj wrote:Listen, you'll have people touting Bilsteins or Ranchos or whatever, if only because they feel lonely and they want you to drink the kool-aid, too - so to speak. Robotennis comes to mind
wtf are you talking about? what does lonely have to do with a modification to any car?
modifying my car is what i do for fun not from feelings of lonliness.
if oldsman wants to venture into mod land and is looking for people with practical info who have successfully done this who the f..k are you to pass judgment Mr. stainless exhaust?
it would be a gas to have someone do what I've done to my riv and say" wow robo it works!
no one i know who works on improving the ride or performance of their car ever end up with something someone else has figured out and say" this sucks why did you talk me into it?" we are all big boys and in no way does drinking infected kool aid sway our judgment.

robotennis61 wrote:

albertj wrote:Listen, you'll have people touting Bilsteins or Ranchos or whatever, if only because they feel lonely and they want you to drink the kool-aid, too - so to speak. Robotennis comes to mind
wtf are you talking about? what does lonely have to do with a modification to any car?
modifying my car is what i do for fun not from feelings of lonliness.
if oldsman wants to venture into mod land and is looking for people with practical info who have successfully done this who the f..k are you to pass judgment Mr. stainless exhaust?
it would be a gas to have someone do what I've done to my riv and say" wow robo it works!
no one i know who works on improving the ride or performance of their car ever end up with something someone else has figured out and say" this sucks why did you talk me into it?" we are all big boys and in no way does drinking infected kool aid sway our judgment.

If you insist.

As for your comment "what the f..k" --> Considering the source, I'll take that as a compliment. Thank you.

Albertj

Jack the R wrote:

Camlifter pioneered the F-250 shock mod. I was maybe the third person to do it.

Ask eWolfe what the part number is for the Ranchos he used. They may still be in production.

BTW -



But I haven't had more than a couple people and no luggage in the Riv - maybe it does fall down when loaded down.

That's pretty funny!

Albertj

albertj wrote:As for your comment "what the f..k" --> Considering the source, I'll take that as a compliment. Thank you
your sarcasm is wasted one me AL,ill tell you why
i don't go blindly into modifying my car or any car that i have ever owned hoping that my idea will work. i think things through and i have the balls to do it. I'm not inexperienced to the point that i rip out all stock parts praying that my idea works.
everything that i have done to my car works flawlessly and without hiccups, a couple things still need finessing but will work as planned.
i appreciate your "BEE TROLLERS" knowledge on many repair topics pertaining to the riv.. but but do yourself a favor and don't give your pedantic know it all side away by slamming ideas that you yourself aren't adventurous enough to do

OK.

Albertj

albert j wrote: Robotennis comes to mind (just kidding Robo).
my apologies AL. i was channeling shintsu and thought that a swing of my e-penis was called for but my substantial nuts swung around and smacked me in the head thereby momentarily impairing my calming sense of judgment

robotennis61 wrote:

albert j wrote: Robotennis comes to mind (just kidding Robo).
but my substantial nuts swung around and smacked me in the head thereby momentarily impairing my calming sense of judgment

You too huh?

ooff!

I am getting tired of Rancho. Another wasted day of trying to get my shocks replaced because of the lower rubber bushing disentagrating (sp?) after a short while- less than a year and under 7k mi. They used every way they could to get out from their warranty and suggested next time I use the 9000 series shock with the poly bushings. On my dime of course. They should have replaced my old adjustables (with the poly bushings) with the 9000 series when they discontinued the adjustables. Instead they gave me their crap version as a warranty replacement when they discontinued the adjustables. Not only have I had no support from their tech dept, they do everything they can to skirt their warranty. I have also heard a lot of moaning and groaning from the truck crowd too (so much so that I went with another brand on my Bronco). Too bad, I liked the way their shocks handled on the Riv. I strongly recommend staying away from these guys.

Eric, sorry to hear. So where will you go from here?