upside down rancho - don't do it

[redrangie]

had to mount mine in the front upside down for a bit until I tweeked the bottom eye mount. They were clunking a bit under axle wrap/braking.

Anyway I start getting some sever bump-steer all of a sudden, and it seems to be temp dependant? WTF? ( I was getting wheel hop)

I pull the shocks out to reverse the mount, and low and behold, a cc or so of oil from each one is all over the fawking things. So, long story short, I think I have found while some people say you loose dampening when you mount a rancho upside down. The oil leaks!

I ran these upside down for a while. I don't think you loose dampening when you put them upside down. I think that rancho valves these separately for rebound / compression.

Right side up = soft compression firm rebound
Upside down = soft rebound firm compression

[wilsby]

John,
you may be right about the leaking oil, but the compression/rebound setting doesn't know up from down. Compression is always compression, regardless of how the shock is oriented, and vice versa.

[redrangie]

I know this is the way it is supposed to work. But remember that rancho's are an oil only shock. Monroe used to do a shock like this also, and they use one way valves.

I don't have an exploded view of the rancho valves, but i used to have several of the monroes that illustrated this.
j

[wilsby]

Well, the valves may or may not work in all positions. Most likely not, I guess. All Í'm saying is that compression is always that. It will not be reversed by changing the position of the shock.

Maybe splitting hairs, or maybe I misunderstood you post.

[Old Scout]

I ran 9012's upside down for ~6 months. The only problems I had were that a air bubble would form in the valving overnight. The first 4-5 blocks from the house I would have no damping. I heard the Rancho fixed this problem with the 99012s. ( 9000X series)

[redrangie]

Originally posted by Old Scout
I ran 9012's upside down for ~6 months. The only problems I had were that a air bubble would form in the valving overnight. The first 4-5 blocks from the house I would have no damping. I heard the Rancho fixed this problem with the 99012s. ( 9000X series)

these were 99012's. THE ONLY difference between 9012 and 99012 is the multiposition adjuster. Period! I got this from the rancho rep himself. You can get the 9 position valve and put it on your 5ways if you want.

j

[GRNRVR]

I ran them can side down the first year I had them and now they have been can side up for well over a year now and I really can't tell the difference between the two positions. I have always been interested in this debate though since Rancho says you can run them either way, some folks say you can't, and others say you can. Each group having their reasons. I personally can't tell the difference.

[Old Scout]

Originally posted by GRNRVR
I ran them can side down the first year I had them and now they have been can side up for well over a year now and I really can't tell the difference between the two positions. I have always been interested in this debate though since Rancho says you can run them either way, some folks say you can't, and others say you can. Each group having their reasons. I personally can't tell the difference.

If you look at the instruction sheet that comes with the shocks it states that certain year S-10s need to mounted "upside down" >

[redrangie]

BTW OS,
Why is your snow man's nose Brown? Isn't supposed to be a carrot? I thought carrots were orange?

j
:flipoff2:

[rick130]

had the same problem with TLC 80/100 series mounted up side down in the rear of a Defender. The damn thing bounced all over the road (no low speed rebound). The adjuster area at the end of the shock was getting pretty warm after a few hours highway use.

Approached the local Rancho importer who had recommended them as a way of increasing the wheel travel.
"Yeah, they do that sometimes. No, you can't return them as faulty as you are using them on a non standard fitment"

These things use closed cell foam in the outer tube to take up the air space of a 'normal' twin tube damper. I suspect that if there is slightly too little oil or foam, the valves are going to cavitate when inverted.

'caveat emptor'

Rick