What inexpensive shocks for an old Ranger pickup.

[callbay]

I have a 98 Ford Ranger 4x4 with 221,000 miles on it and it's quite beat up. I just use it every few days. Maybe a couple of thousand miles a year now. I don't carry anything heavy or tow anything.

What shocks would you reommend? Like some Monroes for $20 TO $40 each? Not wanting to spend much as the truck is not worth much..

Thanks.

 

[chevys10]

Monroes should be fine. Buy with AA coupon code. There is also a rebate on Monroes for the next month or two.

 

[Donald]

What does RockAuto have for $20-$30? Or Amazon?

 

[stephen9666]

I put cheap Monroes on my Nissan, since I don't drive it that much anymore. I bought them from Advance using their ridiculous online discount codes. I think they are Gas-Matics.

Are they the best shocks? No.
Are they working fine for my needs? Yes.

 

[EricF]

I put 4 kyb GR-2's on a 95 Ranger that was beat up out of Ohio, with rust damage and an anemic 3.0 with 200+ on the odometer.
it made its way to california just fine, towing a one way u-haul with 2 jetski's in it along with some other goodies.
The ride would kill your kidney's.
after the 4 kyb's, and price wise, pretty reasonable at $45 each, the truck glided on air. Super ride!
It was worth the money putting those on.

 

[The Critic]

On Rockauto, you can get 4 of the KYB Excel-G shocks for $110 shipped. They are good, premium-quality shock absorbers for cars/trucks.

The alternative is 4 of the Monroe Sensa-Trac Light Truck shocks, which are $130 shipped and they have a $30 rebate right now.

Between the two, I would probably just go with the KYB.

 

[01rangerxl]

Forget Monroes on these trucks. My truck ate up and spat out a set of Gas Matics, with one blown out completely (oil dripping down the housing). Sensatracs might be better, but for the price there are a world of better options (really anything but Monroe is a better option). My OE shocks with over 100K miles on them were better than the Monroes. I never used the lifetime warranty because I didn't want another set of garbage.

Currently running Motorcrafts up front and KYB Excel Gs in the rear, spent probably about $80 for all four on Rock Auto.

FWIW, I did have Sensatracs on my old Explorer, and they never failed, but they also didn't provide any noticeable improvement over the OE shocks that had over 150K on them and rust holes.

 

[SteveSRT8]

Originally Posted By: callbay
I have a 98 Ford Ranger 4x4 with 221,000 miles on it and it's quite beat up. I just use it every few days. Maybe a couple of thousand miles a year now. I don't carry anything heavy or tow anything.

What shocks would you reommend? Like some Monroes for $20 TO $40 each? Not wanting to spend much as the truck is not worth much..

Thanks.


Gabriel Ultras are a great deal on Amazon.

We use them in our fleet trucks now. GREAT value!

 

[Bgallagher]

Originally Posted By: chevys10
Monroes should be fine. Buy with AA coupon code. There is also a rebate on Monroes for the next month or two.


+1 I have Monroe shocks and struts on my car and they seem to be doing the trick

 

[Jimmy9190]

Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
Originally Posted By: callbay
I have a 98 Ford Ranger 4x4 with 221,000 miles on it and it's quite beat up. I just use it every few days. Maybe a couple of thousand miles a year now. I don't carry anything heavy or tow anything.

What shocks would you reommend? Like some Monroes for $20 TO $40 each? Not wanting to spend much as the truck is not worth much..

Thanks.


Gabriel Ultras are a great deal on Amazon.

We use them in our fleet trucks now. GREAT value!


+1

I went through several different brands of shocks in the last 6 months, had a real hard time finding the right shock for my Dakota. Steve recommended the Gabriel Ultra in a post I had on here last year and I should have listened to him and taken his advice back then. It would have saved me a lot of time and trouble.

I tried Monroe Yellow Gas Matics, Sensa Tracs, Rancho RS5000 and Gabriel Pro-Guard shocks and did not like any of them. About a month ago I went back to Auto Zone and they exchanged the Gabriel Pro-Guards and I paid the difference for a set of Gabriel Ultra's. I could not be any happier with the Ultra's. They are the absolute best riding shock out of all of the ones I tried. My truck rides and handles great, it is firm but not too harsh or stiff. The Ultra is a great shock at a great price, just like Steve said, and there is also a rebate on Gabriel Shocks at Auto Zone this month too, so it's an even better deal.

I would also say do not use the Monroe Gas Matics, my truck rode terrible with those, felt like a 4,000 pound brick rolling down the street. They were very inexpensive, but the ride quality was terrible..

 

[SteveSRT8]

Glad those Ultras are working out for you, Jim!

 

[EricF]

last I checked, Motorcraft shocks are made by Monroe.

the gas-matic yellow's are just so bad I'm surprised they're still sold.

 

[artificialist]

Originally Posted By: EricF
last I checked, Motorcraft shocks are made by Monroe.

the gas-matic yellow's are just so bad I'm surprised they're still sold.


+1

Those blue shocks and struts they make are just as bad. They were called Monroe-Matic, and you could get "Econo-Matic" which was a cheap imitation of a quick-strut.

They don't last more than one year, and sometimes they are defective out of the box!
Sensa-Trac, Reflex, and OESpectrum are fine.

 

[Jimmy9190]

Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
Glad those Ultras are working out for you, Jim!


Yep, they do ride great, they are the closest I could find to the Monroe Reflex. Monroe stopped building the Reflex for a 2WD Dakota so I had to find something different.

I put those Rancho 5000's on Ebay a few months ago when I bought the Gabriel Pro-Guards. No one wanted them and they did not sell. I re-listed them last Monday and dropped the price and a guy in Texas bought the Rancho's from me today for $70.00 so I broke even on those after shipping. I took them down to Fed Ex and shipped them on out to him earlier tonight. All of the other shocks I tried I either got a refund or a store credit toward a different set of shocks, so now that my shock replacement is all done, I wound up only paying about $110.00 for all 4 Ultra's at Auto Zone. I also used a $10.00 coupon and the shock purchase earned me a $20.00 credit on my Rewards Card. I believe my shocking experience is finally over now. Gabriel Ultra is the best reasonably-priced truck shock and I can definitely say I have tried them all.

 

[stephen9666]

Just to add a little more info,

I'm on my second set of Gas-Matics on the Nissan. The first lasted several years and I replaced them after the truck became noticeably bouncy over speed bumps.

Again, they worked fine in my application. They were worn out after 70k miles.

Not great, perhaps, but they're super cheap. I think I paid about $65 + tax after discount codes from Advance auto.

So, I did not have the bad experiences others here are claiming. They aren't fancy, but they worked fine for me.