I just talked to a tech at Rancho and asked him, would it be copasetic to run RS9012's upside down on my rig???
He said if I mount upside down and there was air trapped inside the shock body, the ride would feel noticably soft and spongy, but if this feeling wasn't noticable I should be alright to keep them upside down.
Any takes on this??
I was thinking, the controls on the 9000's would be better protected up inside the shock tower.

K-ton

That's how I'm running mine, and for the same reason. I think they feel fine;)

My 5012s (same as 9012s without adjustability) worked fine OFF road upside down, but ON road they do not, because they develop about 1 ~ 2 inches of free play in them when you put them upside down. If you run them that way for a while, then disconnect the bottom mount, you'll be able to move the rod an inch or more before feeling any resistence. On road this creates a vehicle with a lot of sway and side roll.

I've run them both ways. If you run them upside down they will get air pockets in them. After a while if you disconect one side or the other and compress them you'll feel the air bubbles, mostly at the beginning of the stroke but they are also throughout the entire stroke. The bubbles create voids where you'll basically have no resistance or damping. They still work but not as good as if run w/the adjuster down.

They definately don't work correctly upside down. They seem to lose most of their compression damping when upside down. Then when the cycle reverses, the fluid hits the valve suddenly and transmits a knocking (rattling) noise through the frame that sounds like loose frontend parts (balljoints, TREs, etc.).
I only found this out after over a year of frustration trying to track down loose frontend rattles only to never find any.
A rep at Rancho I spoke to some years ago about this was a dumbass (kept insisting there wasn't a problem).
If you cycle the shock by hand holding it upside down a couple times, you'll see how the compression gets soft (slack) for a large portion of the stroke.

I dont run them anymore. Not just because of this problem, but they also have sloppy valves, as well. The clunkiness I mentioned above is still present, even right side up (although not as bad).
I put some nitro gas ones on and I like them better. I am curious about those Procomp MX6 adjustable shocks. they got to have better valving than the rancho.

As for protecting the control, I was able to position the knob inside the lower shock mount which protected it very well. I could still get a finger through the front hole to adjust it. Not sure how similar the Toyota mount is to my Ford (never really paid attention to 'em).

4x4junkie what nitro gas shocks do you run?

I read this post yesterday, and turned my shocks to the right way, and it did make a big difference in handling.

Thanks.

Maybe I'm just lucky, but Ive had my 9012's mounted upside down for the past five years with no problems. I just took them off a couple months ago to check them, because someone else mention the problem with dead spots, and they were tight all the way through their travel. I'd say run them upside down for a while, and then if you run into problems turn them over.

Everyone who asks this I suggest take a shock and hold it rightside up and compress it, most likely will be pretty damn tough, then flip it over and try the same thing. You will feel alot of air bubbles, at least in all the hydrolic ones I've tried this with. Bottom line they were designed to mount one way so stick with that.

I'm gonna have to agree with most here and say run them the way they were meant to be run. The reason you see shocks like the Bilstein (sp?) being run upside down is because its a monotubular shock. Because of that it won't get the air pockets that people are mentioning. The Ranchos however, are a dual tube I believe, so you get the dead spots at the beginning of their stroke.

Thanks for all your input, I guess the Majority Rules and I will run them right side up. I guess that is what the board is for.
I look into the eyes of hind site.
K-ton:flipoff2:

Ive been told if you run Pro-crap shock upside down that they will leak, of course I guess thats why you dont buy pro-craps. :flipoff2:

Been running 9012s upside down. no probs.