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What is the part number for the Bilstein fronts? I have a 3" drop in the front and the current shocks don't have nearly enough damping.I've had alot of different shocks on various rangers with various drops both static and bagged. The Beltech NitroDrops are a great all around good choice, I've had quite a few pairs in the past 27 years of having many lowered rangers.
If you have a flip kit or shackle flip, your truck shouldn't be bouncy in the rear as it's still stock suspension? Unless you don't have a bolt-in c-notch and are tapping the bumpstops/frame? I've had calmax/djm/toxic/Doetsch and they all ride relatively fine.
The Beltech NitroActive I found were very stiff for the rear of the truck, I put them on all 4 corners of a 96 i-beam splash truck years ago, and after a few months I switched the rear back to nitro drop and the truck so much better with an empty bed. The stepside are waayyy lighter beds than the fleetside, and with empty beds stiff shocks is a bit rough. Splashes came with rear sway bars though, as most ranger do not have rear sways. So on a splash with a sway bar, no bed load, no spare tire, and roll pan instead of bumper the rear body roll is really non-existant once its lowered with just pretty much any twintube shock.
The belltech nitrodrops are about 12" when collapsed, so you can put them on some pretty low trucks. I have found that on a fleetside bed Bilstein 4600 yellows ride terrific, and prefer to use them, I have them on a lowered static ranger currently.
I had Bilstein fronts and Nitrodrop rears on this 06 truck. I switched the rears to Bilstein and although they are monotubes the ride is not bouncy by any means.
The Bilstein part number is 24-026758 (the application they are listed for is 97 Tacoma 2wd) and they are 12.11" collapsed and 18.8" extended. Which is comparable to the Lengths of a Belltech Ranger application and is a perfect length for any combination of rear lowering techniques on a ranger from a 2" drop to a 7", for any year ranger both i-beam or sla.
Of course Bilstein's are more expensive than most all other shock options, but they are a high quality brand and have lifetime warranties.
If anyone is interested I suggest to purchase them from Autozone.com (they don't carry them in-store), as they are about the lowest price online, have FREE 1-2 day shipping, and if you don't like them you can return them to any store, and still be $0 dollars out of pocket.