Replacing Rear Shocks Only

[Cynthia Grant]

I have Rancho RS9000s on my 2003 ST, and am in the process of getting them replaced under Rancho's lifetime warranty. However, they are out of stock for the front shocks and have only sent me the rear ones so far.



My question is: Is it OK to only replace the rear shocks now and replace the front shocks in about a month when Rancho finally sends them to me? I've put about 130K on the existing Rancho's and recently the truck's ride feels worse than it did with the original stock shocks. The rear of the truck especially is going out of control when the truck hits large bumps, which is why I'd like to go ahead the put on the new rear shocks.



Anyone have any reason why I should wait and do all 4 shocks at the same time (other than obviously saving $$ by going to the mechanic once vs. twice)? I don't want to damage the new shocks or the truck if it is not a good idea to replace just the rear shocks. But the way it's riding right now, it feels like every pothole is shaking my ST apart.



FYI: I don't drive off-road, but some of our upstate New York roads sure make me feel like I'm off-roading!

 

[Brandon Poorman]

When I replaced the factory shocks on my ST I only replace the rears for budget purposes. I could only afford to do two at a time. It won't hurt anything to just replace the rears. And BTW, don't take it to a mechanic. It takes 20 minutes to do both rear shocks in the driveway.

 

[Gavin Allan]

Agree with Brandon. It is fine to replace rears and fronts at different time. Just don't replace left or right at different times!



Replacing the shocks on my '03 Adrenalin was pretty straight-forward and easy. I did all four in about an hour myself.



It shouldn't make any difference in cost whether your mechanic does all four together, or if he does two today and two next week.

 

[Cynthia Grant]

Thanks for the confirmation that I can change just the rear shocks! Wish I could do it myself, just don't have ramps to lift up the truck.



I appreciate your responses!

 

[Evan Lipinski]

You might not need ramps, if you take the spare tire out you can sit yourself right under there or at least i can.

 

[Brandon Poorman]

No ramps are needed at all. Drop the spare and you can get to everything without lifting the truck at all.

 

[John G]

cgrantbx, if you don't have ramps or jackstands, I'm just going to guess there's a chance you don't have a very complete tool set either. So even though it might be true as Brandon says that "you can get to everything without lifting the truck", you should know that one of the two rear shocks will be hard to install if you don't have some special wrenches -- for example a thin ratcheting box wrench.

 

[Kevin Lang]

I believe that the bolt head is 10mm and the nut is 8mm. I bought only and 8 and it was useless as you really want the ratcheting wrench on the top, but I had installed my Rancho RSX 5000s with the nut on the bottom, which was a PITA when I went to replace them last summer. The drivers' side rear is the frustrating one.



It can be done, with a few choice words and a few more minutes, with just your average cheapo set of box wrenches and a socket set (I've done it twice with such now), but there's something to be said for the right tool for the job, and the wrenches are dirt cheap. I agree that no ramps are required.



Hopefully your hardware won't be as rusted as mine was. Despite living in Maryland, a place that rarely gets more than a degree or 2 below freezing and regularly measures snow in fractions of an inch, mine were so rusted that not even PB Blaster could do anything so I had to use saws and nut splitters to get 'r done. Not fun in last year's broiling MD summer.