i want to upgrade my shocks for a smoother ride...which would be my best bet?

Rancho
Edelbrock
Bilstein

any of you guys have any real experience with these? please give my your honest opinion.

Running Rancho 9000s and there was a huge difference over stock. Highly recommend.

Is the difference primarily in the form of better wheel articulation on rock obstacles or something else?

Is the difference primarily in the form of better wheel articulation on rock obstacles or something else? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I have run Rancho 9000's on two differnt H2's. Your articulation wills tay the same. The ride is adjustable to stiffen it up so much it seems to not have as much body roll while cornering.
The truck also seems to ride more like a truck than being in a boat.

to help you guys out on what i'm looking for...after putting on the mud terrain tires, the truck seems to ride a little rougher. i get a little vibration from the tires and i just want to smooth it out if that's possible.

by the way, i talked to a guy here at a local 4x4 shop and he highly roccomended the Bilstein gas shocks that will automatically adjust for on and off road.

Hum Vet, the Bilstein gas shock is a very good shock but it will not adjust automatically for on and off road, no shock will as they get hotter from extream use they soffen up the side reservoir on the race ones are to keep the heat down.

Edelbrock Xtreme with reservoir... Firm on street and very responsive on off road at high speed ....

I plan on upgrading the shocks regardless. I don't want to lower the tire pressure until i'm actually doing some offroad stuff.

i think a lot of your rough ride is coming from your 22" rims, i haven't seen your truck but imagine you don't have as side wall as you used to. usually, the bigger the rim you get, the smaller the sidewall....which leads to a firmer ride.

In that case I would be tempted go with the Rancho adjustables, that way you will at least have some adjutsment to get the handling how you like it, although I suspect you won't be able to do much about the tire rumble.

I wasn't suggesting airing down, just lowering the tire pressure slightly. I don't know what you aerunning at right now, but the higher the pressure, the more you will feel the lugs. Dropping down 5 -10 psi may make a noticeable difference. When you do go off-road don't air down too much with 22's. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>thanks PhilD,
yeah, i know that i can't air down too much with this setup for offroading but i will try lowering the tire pressure just a little to see how it rides. as far as the shocks go, you may be right about the Rancho asjustables...maybe i can soften them up a bit to take some of the vibration out of the cab that i'm getting from the tires. but if all else fails then i'm not gonna cry about it. i really love this setup and i'm sure that i can live with the ride, vibration, noise etc...it's really minor when i actually think about it. i just wanted to get some opinions to see if there was a solution to this mionor problem. thanks for all the input guys.

good place to get the ranchos: www.trailduty.com

Go with the Ranchos. I have had them for about a year and a half and being adjustable you really can get a good ride on and off road, just like Paragon said.

I'm gonna take you guy's word and go with the Ranchos. I'll post an update to let you'll know how it worked out. Thanks for the help guys.

ok guys, i want to know if this is a good deal...here is the work that i decided to get done since i'm replacing the shocks...

2" Lift Level Kit (re-indexed torsion bar cams)
Rancho9000 Adjustable Shocks (front & rear)
Pitman Arm
Idler Arm

All of this with installation included and alignment will cost me $1040.00 OTD at a local shop here in Sacramento.

Will I be paying too much?

Personally, I would not do the torsion bar keys.

why do you say that? i just want it to sit a lil higher...at least 1 1/2"

I think you will be looking for more wear and tear on the front end components with the new keys. Even some people that have over torqued their stock keys have experience premature failure. You are changing the driveline geometry.

I would try raising some with the stock keys first. I've been told by GM that the truck is supposed to just ride on the "jounce bumpers" or what we used to call "bump stops."

well, would you suggest doing a 2" to 4" airbag lift or 2" body lift instead? i don't want to do a real lift...just want a lil more height... an inch or two would be perfect.

even if i use the stock keys, i'm still gonna need an alignment right?

I know there are a thousand opinions on this one, but I still don't know the answer: Will cranking the torsion bars one inch adversely affect the durability of any of the front end components? Cranking 2"?

Will 1" that make the 37" tires fit better?

1" torsion adjustment plus 37" tires would improve my breakover angle a fair amount, right? How much?
Thanks in advance for any advice.

Yeah, anytime you alter the torsion bars, you need to get an alignment. But, personally, I would ride on it for 10-15 miles or so before I got the alignment after making the torsion bar adjustments.

When you crank on the bars the torque from the bar might not be enough to settle just right and driving a few miles will allow things to settle, otherwise it might throw that new alignment off if you do both at the exact same time.

ok, here's the run down on the prices...

2" torsion bar cams $79.95 + $56.00 labor
Front Shocks $89.99 + $84.00 labor
Rear Shocks $89.99 (labor included with front)
Pitman Arm $148.74 + $105.00 labor
Idler Arm $155.88 + $70.00 labor
Alignment $105.00

plus a couple other small charges they have printed on the invoice...

Brake Clean Consumed $6.25
Grease Consumed $7.75
Freight IN $12.50

Here is what the total reads...

Merchandise $744.53
Labor $420.00
Misc -$183.50
Tax $59.75
Total Amount $1040.78

I know there are a thousand opinions on this one, but I still don't know the answer: Will cranking the torsion bars one inch adversely affect the durability of any of the front end components? Cranking 2"?

Will 1" that make the 37" tires fit better?

1" torsion adjustment plus 37" tires would improve my breakover angle a fair amount, right? How much?
Thanks in advance for any advice. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>It really depends on where they are now. If the truck is sitting hard down on the jounce bumpers (the yellow bump stops) you might could safely get 2" out of it. If you are just off the top of the jounce bumpers now, I would be scared to add another 1".

37" are going to fit no matter if you crank 'em or not. As a matter of fact, mine DID NOT rub and I cranked on my torsion bars, got an alignment among other things and now they are rubbing a little in a couple of spots, but the rubbing is very minor.

Where is the alignment accounted for in that?

Not sure if you want to do anything but you could easily dump over $200 of that by not doing the keys and doing the shocks yourself. It would maybe take you a couple of hours (giving you plenty of time) to do the shocks.

Where is the alignment accounted for in that? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>my bad, i had to go back and edit that post and incude the alignment.

I know there are a thousand opinions on this one, but I still don't know the answer: Will cranking the torsion bars one inch adversely affect the durability of any of the front end components? Cranking 2"?

Will 1" that make the 37" tires fit better?

1" torsion adjustment plus 37" tires would improve my breakover angle a fair amount, right? How much?
Thanks in advance for any advice. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>It really depends on where they are now. If the truck is sitting hard down on the jounce bumpers (the yellow bump stops) you might could safely get 2" out of it. If you are just off the top of the jounce bumpers now, I would be scared to add another 1".

37" are going to fit no matter if you crank 'em or not. As a matter of fact, mine DID NOT rub and I cranked on my torsion bars, got an alignment among other things and now they are rubbing a little in a couple of spots, but the rubbing is very minor. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Thanks for the info. So I take it that these fine beasts aren't uniformally torsioned from the factory?
I'll check it out in the morning and see if I cen tell how far above the the jounce bumpers I am. I torsioned my Sierra about 1-1/2", but I was less concerned about #@^&ing it up.
(Side note: I just had the thing realligned when I had the tie rods upgraded - doh!!!)

Nope they are no where near the same from the factory. A couple of years ago I was trying to figure this out and went to the dealer lot and out of 9 vehicles 1 was the same, they were all different.

well, i got everything done. the steering feels a lot better and the new shocks seem to give the rig a better ride. i will take it back and have them check the alignment in about a week or so. thanks guys, for all the input.

After all that and no pics ? what's up with that........

After all that and no pics ? what's up with that........ </div></BLOCKQUOTE>I didn't think pics would be neccessary for this lil mod but I will be posting more pics soon. here's a link to pics that i last posted before the 2" torsion keys and Rancho Shocks.

http://elcova.com/groupee/forums/a/t...1/m/8581051061