Rancho Lift And 30k Review

Last summer, Rancho Suspension posted an open call for late Tacoma's to test a new suspension package. I had never really given Rancho products much consideration and had no real opinion of them. I figured, "What the hell?" and threw my name in the hat. I was playing with lifting my truck and was going through the typical motions, comparing OME, Ironman and Icon and debating whether I needed anything more than new springs and shocks (i.e., upper control arms, etc.).

The Rancho guys were very cool. In exchange for being the Double Cab guinea pig, and maybe using my truck at the 2012 SEMA show, they'd give me a new suspension kit, new cat-back exhaust, and new tires. Even better, they were very flexible and very sensitive to both my schedule and the fact that they would be working on someone else's property. Again, they were great.







The lift provide the truck with 2 3/4" up front and ~1+ in back (in addition to the 1+ that came from the TSB suspension upgrade). With the upper control arms, the alignment was all back to factory spec. The prototype front springs are rated at 700 lbs (I don't know what the production springs are rated at, but Rancho mentioned that the production springs would probably have a softer rating). The results were great. The truck drove very well, both on and off road. The new suspension really does well with washboard roads, too. Certainly an improvement over stock. However, the heavy front springs are a little too heavy for a truck sans steel bumper and winch and I sometimes notice a little sensitivity in the steering while on the freeway. Also, with this lift, I got some driveline vibration. You'll probably note the spacer blocks for the rear suspension. Initially, Rancho was going to use an AAL. I don't know why they switched at the last minute. I see this as temporary as my rear springs are starting to fatigue and will need to be replaced/upgraded later this year.

After a few weeks of driving it around, I brought it back to Rancho for a carrier bearing shim and to prep for SEMA. I purchased 17" FJ Cruiser rims and Rancho put 285/70R17 BFG ATs on them. Also, they added a Dynomax cat back exhaust. Then, they added decals and shipped the truck to Vegas for a week.

I have to say, seeing my truck at the SEMA show was one of the coolest things ever. Although, it was way cooler being there with my son.










And its not every day that you randomly find your own truck on Youtube. Very cool and had to include.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=DajrxKlEzyU

Shortly after I got the truck home, I sold the 285s to a friend. I was getting slight rubbing on the driver's side air dam at full lock and it really bugged me. Also, there was noticeable lag in acceleration. Since a new bumper and gears is not on the list this year, the tires were replaced with 265/70R17s. The new tires gave the truck a more subtle look, corrected the speedometer, and resolved some of the performance issues and I was happy.

Sometimes I miss the 33s...



After my last trip, which was to Carrizo Plain, I began hearing a random metal-on-metal noise when I would shift from reverse to first. The sound would be best described as pinging a light gauge metal, like the stock skid plate, with a ball peen hammer. In checking out the undercarriage, I found nothing loose and found no signs of new damage (the front skid is slightly deformed from a previous incident).

I discussed it with my mechanic when I took it in for service a few days ago and he had some interesting feedback. First, the front diff had been lowered by Rancho. When installing the lift, Rancho had used some spacers to realign the two stock skids, so the drop was not noticeable. I was a little disappointed to hear this because I understand it to be a useless mod that puts the dif at risk. For some reason (likely it shifted while traveling Carrizo Plain), the front diff was now contacting the skid plate when I would shift from reverse to first, hence the random metal pinging sound. My mechanic pried the skid away to provide more clearance and added two rubber spacers to address the noise. On the plus side, my CV axles are at a good angle.

30,000 Mile Update
After 30,000 miles on the truck, I can happily say that I am still impressed with the Rancho equipment. I think I am starting to get some of that infamous Taco lean, but have not been able to get consistent measurements. Depending on the weather, the slope of the parking spot, the angle of the sun, and who knows what else, I've found the difference from left to right to be somewhere between 1/4" and 1/2'.

The Rancho components appear to have a lot of life in them. They have handled heavy loads, towing, and offroading with ease, and still ride better than the stock suspension. The alignment is good and I have no abnormal tire wear.

The rear suspension is going to need a refresh soon. The rear shocks seem to be holding up well, but my leaf springs, which are the Toyota TSB pack with a small block added by Rancho, are beginning to frown. There are, of course, many, many choices so it will probably be some time before I figure out which springs to go with.

I also recently discovered on additional feature and benefit of these shocks: they're tunable. I received the truck back from Rancho with the shocks set to "3." This was too soft and I got some bobbing. I dialed the knobs to "4" and had a good day. Then I took a very long back country trip to the Arizona Strip and had the truck loaded to the gills. After the first day, I recalled that I could adjust the shocks for a heavier load and the performance and handling of the truck greatly increased. Almost no bottoming out and high speed driving was much more controlled.

Overall, I am very pleased with the Rancho gear and would strongly recommend it to anyone who is interested.

Today:

 

Pics don't work

 

Weird. I can see them.

 

Because YOU linked them from another site that YOU are a member of... We, are not.

Please upload to Photobucket or Flickr. Thx !

 

Man, you'd think I was new at this or something! My apologies!

 

Pics are up. Looks good.

 

Nice read and review. I have those Rancho rs9000xl adjustable shocks on my TJ and I absolutely love them. There's 9 different ride settings you can adjust with a turn of the knob.

 

Yeah, I am very impressed with the ability to adjust the ride so easily. I have to admit, I thought it was gimmicky. But it is a damn nice feature fore because I use my truck for such a variety of uses.

 

I'm probably going to buy this kit. It is by far the cheapest I can source in Canada at $1200.

Thanks for the review.

 

Good read and great write up. Thanks for taking the time to post pic's and follow up with any issues . I like the pic in your drive way the best . Truck looks good. Rancho was one of the better lifts in the early days. Glad to see that they came out with something that works for our trucks. Thanks again for the info and enjoy.

 

Great report and pictures...Thanks!!!

 

Thanks for the feedback guys!

I just put a ~200 lbs. shell on the truck and again found the adjustability of the shocks quite nice. It really is a great feature for a truck that so often has varying loads

 

After nearly 60,000 miles, the suspension is holding up very well. No swaying, no bobbing, no leaking.

In August, I finally replaced my aging stock springs and block with a pair of Dakars. The springs had fatigued quite a bit and the axle wrap was getting to be unbearable. The new springs were amazing. Unfortunately for me, the Rancho shocks were a bit too short for the 2 3/4" lift. So, a few weeks ago, I swapped out the rear Ranchos for a pair of Icons (VS 2.0) purchased during the Black Friday-ish sales. When the truck is unloaded, the Icons do seem to be an improvement over the Ranchos. I detect a marginal improve,net in controlling the rear end when bombing down a dirt road. With a load in the bed and driving offroad, the jury is still out. I've only had one short trip with a heavy load I a dirt track and my initial impression was the Rancho shocks might have handled the load better. More testing is needed (and I am heading to Death Valley so to do so).

Incidentally, Overland Journal awarded the Rancho shocks their Editor's Choice Award. I understand why. After 60k miles of abuse, I mean of use, these shocks have performed flawlessly.