Motorcraft vs. Rancho shocks

[Li'l Work Truck]

I'm a few weeks out from a major suspension refresh on my 2008 Ranger (single cab, 6' bed, 2.3L, 5-spd, HD rear suspension) and I've been looking for some good shocks. I know the common consensus is that it's difficult to realize part quality as a whole per brand anymore, but I wanted to ask about Rancho shocks, mostly because of the price difference ($111 for Motorcraft and about half that for Rancho).

Has anyone had any notable experiences, good or bad, with Ranchos for things like perceived build quality, longevity, noise, ride quality, etc.? My truck is stock, save only for the wheels which are Ultra mods at 8", but nearly the same weight as the stock steelies.

 

[SenorNoob]

Motorcraft is essentially repackaged something else. (WAG Monroe) Rancho has a pretty significant brand name to uphold themselves. I'd be willing to bet they are as good or better then the Motorcraft. Maybe someone has more concrete evidence.

Do wanna say this, I bought a pair of Rough Country from the scratch & dent store on EBay when they changed the model line-up in like 2014. Just took them off last year for the lift and they still worked fine...

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Yeah, I doubt Motorcraft are made by Ford.

I used to always just buy middle of the road shocks by Monroe or one of the others like them. More recently I got a pair of KYB shocks for the rear of the Choptop and they surprised me. I’ve known that KYB, Rancho, Skyjacker and the like are supposed to be better shocks but here we are and I’m looking at trying some Rancho or Skyjackers on the front of my Choptop. Actually have some Rancho shocks ordered in for me to take a look at probably this week. I wanted to look at a pair of Skyjackers too but they were out of stock