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Rancho Steering Dampener Mod


magregor
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Anyone install the Rancho RS5000 Dampener without buying the $65.00 kit? I bought the Dampener, but not the kit and want to know if anyone has pics of their install or suggestions on location of the brackets, etc...

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The kit contains a bar of flat stock that is drilled out to mount onto 2 of the idler arm bolts at the frame, and hang down with a hole to mount the shock. On the centerlink, you have to remove the stock mount fins, then the mount is a L shape with a hole for the shock end and 4 holes to accept the 2 U-bolts that clamp it onto the centerlink.

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Thanks for the replies guys! I went to the hardware store today and spent $14 bucks and now have it mounted. I will post pics of the work once I transfer them off my Blackberry. There were a few tweaks (just adjusting to make sure it didn't bind on extension of compression, but all went well and what a HUGE difference in how the truck handles on the front end!

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Here's the pics guys,

IMG00047-20100529-1412.jpg

IMG00048-20100529-1412.jpg

As you can see, the brand new pin is still there for the OEM stabilizer so if anyone needs it, I can take it off for them :-) I used 14 bucks in hardware from Rona, all from the gate section. considering the Rancho kit costs 65 bucks, I figured since everything else on my truck is fabricated, I might as well do this too!

Edited by magregor
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How thick is that bracket? My main concern here is the strength of the mounting plate? To be exact... will it bend over time?

 

The brackets included with the mounting kit are around 1/4in thick.

 

Also, from the pic, it looks like the cylinder end is higher than what is normal.. does it bind at all?

 

 

 

Take a careful look at how close it comes to the factory mount on the CL, that punched a hole in my original Ranho SS

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What exactly did you get from the hardware store? 14 is a lot better than 65!!!

 

I used a heavy duty gate hinge (1/4" plate) and just cut the hoop off of it that held the hinge pin and drilled 2 holes that lined up with the Idler Arm bolts...I had to use longer bolts for the Idler Arm, which I had kicking around the garage. For the Centerlink mount, I used an angle bracket for the gate hardware (3/16" thick), but it was a 6" bracket, so I just cut off what I needed and then used (2)- 1 1/4" U-bolts I found in the gate hardware section as well. All parts totaled $14.61. I took a suggestion from the forum and bent the OEM bracket as flush as I could to the new centerlink and had my son run the steering wheel, while I was underneath checking and adjusting the clearances, etc. I had to make one adjustment after, as I had the bracket on the Centerlink too far to the drivers side and it caused the shock to top out, so I moved it an inch or so and all is good. HUGE difference in how the truck handles now!

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