99 ranger 4x4 offroad

About 2 weeks ago I installed KYB MonoMax shocks all around on the recomendation of many on this site. For the most part I like them and much improvement over what I had.

I have an issue with the front though. When I installed them I had to lift the A-arms to get the bottom mount to meet the a-arm. about a 1/4" on the left and about 1" on the right.

Going to work I take the freeway. There is a soft dip and when i exit the dip it feels like the front end is being launched up and then will bounce about 2-3 times, kinda like how worn out shocks feel. Also it feels like it's reaching the end of travel on the front end.
The rear just floats through, like it should.

I contacted KYB and they pretty much just said they have never had an issue with shocks on the Rangers. If I feel there's a problem to return them under warranty. I contacted Summit and they were great and got me two new shocks.

I installed them last night and the right shock was clearly blown out. Oil everywhere. I could compress the shock by hand and when I did oil came out around the rod.

I'm concerned that the shocks are to short and I will have the same problem. Shouldn't the end of travel be a mechanical stop from the a-arm and frame and not the shock reaching full extension?
I now wish I would have keep the old shocks so I could compare lengths. Wish I would have done that when I installed the new ones.

 

I have the MonoMax's on my '99 4x4 too and have never had a problem, sometimes you just get a bad one. Everything thats made in quantities, its bound to have a defective part here and there, at least Summit took care of it for ya. Yeah if you can compress that shock with your hands thats sure a blown shock. It took every bit of my 150 lbs to fully compress one of those bad boys!!
Can you give me a part # on the front ones you have? The ones for our trucks is part # 561001. Do you have any kind of suspension lift? Body lift wouldnt matter, the shock mounts stay in factory position on a body lift.

 

They are the 561001 in the front. I bought the truck used so really don't know the history. Do know it was owned by a kid or someone younger by the exhaust and a few other things....

As far as I can tell it's stock suspention.....

When you installed yours did you notice needing to lift the a-arm to get things to line up?

 

Naw, that dont ring a bell. I installed the top first and tightened that bolt down good on the rubber bushings, then nearly popped a blood vessel trying to compress the shock to get it to slide into that groove on the lower control arm. Does anything look bent or out of wack!?

 

nothing looks wrong, but not sure I would be able to tell if it was. It's a tad out of alignment. drifts ever so slightly to the right.

 

You have torsion bar suspension, right? Go knee down about 10 ft in front of your truck and see if the lower control arms are level or at an angle. The problem could be(especially of a younger person had it b4 you) that the torsion keys are cranked up too far.

 

yes, I have the t-bars. where should the control arms be at? level or angled?

The entire truck appears to sit relativly level. I do know that the tires are oversized from what it comes with stock.

If I need to crank the t-bars back to stock is there a way to tell when they are at that point? like so many turns on the adjustment screw?

 

you should be fine even if the t bars are cranked.

I had the KYBs with 0 issues.

 

They should be level(the lower control arms). If the truck sits level then it sounds like the t-bar keys has been cranked up. What size tires is on it now? Usually ppl only turn that bolt 4 complete turns. It really wont hurt nothin to leave them cranked up just as long as they are not turned all the way up. If they are, I'd back off of em bout 4-5 complete turns. Maybe someone else will dial in on this thread and we can get another opinion...

 

well I ran outside real quick. The truck is parked facing some shrubs so i just looked under by the bumper for now. The control arms are at a slight angle. maybe 10 degrees or so. I'll take a better look later.
the tires are 265/75 and the door sticker call out 245/75

I guess I'll just keep my eye on them for a while and see what happens.

Thanks for the help!

 

No prob Brant. Yeah that 265/75R16 is the largest tire you can run without any lift...