whats a good shock for a 4x4?

who makes good shocks that wont empty my wallet?

I bought stock replacement bilstein HD's on ebay for about $250 and they are fantastic.
Are you lifted?

I like my monroe gas magnums. They're about 30 bucks a piece with a lifetime warranty. I have Monroe 34687's and they are about 18" compressed 33" extended. Which is similar to rancho 5012 and 9012s in length. They are actually about 1" shorter than the Rancho's compressed which I think makes shock tower mounting easier as you shouldn't need to trim wheel wells.

Bilsteins(which is what I want) are a little to expensive for me. Pro comps any good?

How much do you want to spend?
Most people say rancho's are valved too heavily for our trucks.

Rancho 5000s ride horrible. Maybe their adjustables are better.

I have ARB Old Man Emus and they seem to be good. I don't have much to compare with other than stock, though.

I have the Procomp 9000's on my '90 and they ride fine both on and off road. Then again, I have a very heavy truck(4600+lbs), so I am not sure how they would be on a lifted stock rig.

Well, I don't know about the good part, but I have some "Black Diamond" shocks I got off eBay. They definitely wont empty your wallet, but I can't really speak as to quality. They've been on there for roughly 2.5 years now, and they seem to be holding up fine. Granted I only have the 100% shot stock shocks to compare them to, but they seem to work well enough until I'm no longer poor and can afford some OMEs or Bilsteins.

I used to run a set of KYB GasAdjust shocks on my '85:
http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/4R_suspension.shtml#SpringSpecs

They were a fairly decent shock overall and not that expensive.

ditto on the rancho rs5k's being too stiff. i've had them for the past 4 or so years. i can't really complain though, i think i paid around $115 for all 4 brand new.

I don't have my toyota note book handy.
but I was looking at I think....
napa's rear shocks for a 96 dodge D 200?
eye's on both ends and 12.75 inchs travel (I think) and they were around 25.00 each.

if I could find my note book I would have the part number as well.

I just installed the kyb monomax and have been pretty happy with them. There kind of harsh on small bumps and pot holes but really soak up the big stuff pretty good. Some of the harshness might be coming from the "add a leaf" and cranking down on the torsion bars.

I recommend the Doetsch Tech Pre-runners or OME. Stay away from the Rancho 5000.

So I went and bought bilsteins... Only the best for me! muahahaha!

$250 delivered on ebay...

I'm running these too (Doetsch tec prerunners), they are good.

Trashcanman, keep in mind if you ever want to for example run ball joint spacers the Bilsteins will have to be shimmed. Bisltien doesn't make a long enough shock for any kind of lift other than a 4" bracket lift or higher.

Frank

but the billsteins say that they are for 0" to 1" lift? still too short?

They are the same size as stock.
Id recommend using an impact gunto break the nuts loose, and if the bolts get stuck in the rubber in the front, use a ratchet/wrench to spin em' free. (that is the problem i had).
With no hiccups, it should take you about 2 hours max to change em all out. rear take about 15 min each, fronts are a little more complicated cause of the can.

Trick on the front shocks. Sawzall the tops off. Cleaner, simpler and a heck of a lot faster.

x2

what are you guys talking about????sawzall the old shocks off? what part?

Right in the middle, where all the gas is. Just wear a mask.

J/K. I'd think you just sawzall the very top tip where it attaches to the mount, then jut slide it out.
Not the way I do things personally, but it'd work.

air ratchet and some penetration oil took it off quickly for me...
I saw my local canadian tire carries PB blaster that everyone raves about, im gonna have to buy a can...

X3 on the Doetsch pre runner shocks. Valving is excellent and they have built-in bumpstops. Price is nice too. Check em' out, bottom of the page:
http://www.doetsch-shocks.com/2.asp