cdherman
Active Member
I bit the bullet and decided to ditch my LLS air suspension on my 04 EB Expy.
Although Rancho does not have a great name in some parts, and their website search engine does not list parts for the 03-06 Expy, if you go to their .pdf catalog you can find the parts numbers and since installing the "QuickLift Loaded" units (coil, shock, whole unit, like the monroes), I can verify that they fit and work as advertized. The catalog says they are "not for air suspension" which is correct I guess -- putting them in gets rid of the air suspension.....
They have a $100 rebate right now, which means I got all four units for a total of $534 after rebate. Not Bad.....
There is some confusion out there about the Rancho Quick lift setup. They are NOT a variable height setup. They have a dial that varies the "ride". Goes from pretty soft to pretty stiff. But the shock itself cannot be adjusted higher or lower. For instance, for the 03-06 expy, the lift is 3/4" over stock in the rear and 1" over stock in the front. Those numbers are from rancho and pertain to difference from XLT (with coils). How those relate to a vehicle that had airsuspension is less clear -- its my impression that it feels about where the trim height was when I had the expy in 4L (which raises the air bags up about an inch).
Anyhow, its a decent ride, better than my old worn out shocks and leaking airbags. The price is good and I will never have to worry about the air bags failing catastrophically and dumping me.
Only one annoyance -- each time you get in the vehicle, you will see the dash computer saying "air suspension switched off". You have to hit reset once and then you are back to your normal screen.
If someone is contemplating this swap and needs details about the installation, just ask and I'll write more how it went for me. I also did new inner and outer tie rod ends, ball joints, torsion bar links and repaired a leaking front axel seal. Plus I replaced the CV joints. I pretty much did it all.....
Although Rancho does not have a great name in some parts, and their website search engine does not list parts for the 03-06 Expy, if you go to their .pdf catalog you can find the parts numbers and since installing the "QuickLift Loaded" units (coil, shock, whole unit, like the monroes), I can verify that they fit and work as advertized. The catalog says they are "not for air suspension" which is correct I guess -- putting them in gets rid of the air suspension.....
They have a $100 rebate right now, which means I got all four units for a total of $534 after rebate. Not Bad.....
There is some confusion out there about the Rancho Quick lift setup. They are NOT a variable height setup. They have a dial that varies the "ride". Goes from pretty soft to pretty stiff. But the shock itself cannot be adjusted higher or lower. For instance, for the 03-06 expy, the lift is 3/4" over stock in the rear and 1" over stock in the front. Those numbers are from rancho and pertain to difference from XLT (with coils). How those relate to a vehicle that had airsuspension is less clear -- its my impression that it feels about where the trim height was when I had the expy in 4L (which raises the air bags up about an inch).
Anyhow, its a decent ride, better than my old worn out shocks and leaking airbags. The price is good and I will never have to worry about the air bags failing catastrophically and dumping me.
Only one annoyance -- each time you get in the vehicle, you will see the dash computer saying "air suspension switched off". You have to hit reset once and then you are back to your normal screen.
If someone is contemplating this swap and needs details about the installation, just ask and I'll write more how it went for me. I also did new inner and outer tie rod ends, ball joints, torsion bar links and repaired a leaking front axel seal. Plus I replaced the CV joints. I pretty much did it all.....
