Rancho 9000 9118 shocks, how do they work?

[RamAirZ]

Hey guys, I just picked up an 85' Suburban for our family rig, and it has Rancho 5000's up front but the rear shocks have part# 9118 on them, which are the 9000's. Instead of an external adjust knob, there is a line running out of them which looks to be an electric line. There is a simple 2-sided toggle switch on the dash (left turns something on, right turns something on, middle is neutral). When I flip the switch I hear something click out back, but from what I gather online the shocks are manually adjustable, or am I wrong? I thought you had to turn a knob on them? I've run adjustable shocks before but never these types and have no experience with them so thought I would post here and see if I could get some info, thanks!

[NZSquare]

I had a set of rancho 9000's on a toyota 4x4 I used to have , the line coming out of them is an airline, they use a small compressor to adjust the damping rate on the shock so the click you hear is probably the compressor and the switch changes the shock rate.

Personally I hated them, I ended up ripping off the compressor and lines and you can replace them with a knob on the shock body itself, I never had the need to adjust them in the cab but each to their own.

Hope that helps

[crakarjax]

Mmmm... nevermind. Posted in the wrong thread!

[RamAirZ]

^ ? What seats are you talking about? Thanks for the info on the shocks, that's what I started thinking, I need to find the compressor and see if I can get the knobs to slap on there.

[ERASER5]

I am not sure what the problem is. Do the shocks not work? Or do they not change shock rate? NZSquare may hate the air adjustment, but never said why. There must be a reason. Surely a "click" when you throw a switch is not seen as a bad thing. I guess I am just confused.

[NZSquare]

Sorry I should have explained, I hated them because I paid an arm and a leg for them and never could tell the difference between the highest and lowest setting, I just used to leave them on full soft all the time. This may just have been because they were over damped for the vehicle but still...

The lines come out of the bottom of the shock and are in a pretty bad neighbourhood in a 4x4, just one more thing to rip out.

[RamAirZ]

After I hear the click, it doesn't feel any different. I tested going over a speed bump fairly slow and when the back end comes down it "bounces" really smooth like a Caddy, but would be horrible that way when I haul a load (too soft). I tried the different switch positions and nothing.

[ERASER5]

NZ, did the manual knobs work any better? If not, maybe RamAirZ just need new shocks altogether. After all, why go through the struggle of changing from auto to manual if there will be no change. I hate doing thing twice.

[RamAirZ]

Ya I think I will see if I can find some knobs cheap, if not I'll just get new shocks. The RS5000's on the front ride great. The rear rides good too, smooth, but I can tell it won't be good for a heavy load. It could also be the springs, but a stiff shock can help that. Maybe I'll just get rear airbags and be done with it