I have a full set of rancho shocks on my XJ and they are about 5ish years old and I know that at least 1 and probly both front ones are shot.

They were bought at sears and are supposed to have a lifetime warranty..
I am wanting to know if anyone has had experience with exchanging rancho shocks at sears? Will they just exchange them if I bring them in? I no longer have the receipt.


I ask because I don't want to go through all the work of pulling them off, taking them in and finding out they won't replace them.


Also, along the same lines... I know i should replace both front ones at the same time, but if they will replace the front shocks, should I have or at least ask them to replace the rear ones as well?

I exchanged all four of mine at a local 4X4 shop. You can use any dealer to exchange them.

What exactly do you mean by "shot"? It's leaking?, it makes noise?, there's a bullet hole in it?

To me, if I can go over a bump and don't swerve out of control, or bounce up and down for 2 minutes like Uncle Bucks car, then my shocks are good.

going over bumps I am fine. Hitting pot holes where the tire drops an inch or two I can hear/feel it rattle. Like there is no shock at all.

You just take them in and walk out with a new set? Thats awesome!

Most shocks with "lifetime warranty" actually have a limited lifetime warranty. I think it's something like they are replaceable if defective under normal driving conditions blah blah blah. If it's found defective and not caused by improper operation then they should replace it. I bought a set of skyjackers years ago for the TJ and two of them started leaking. I took all four back and they exchanged for another set and it was fine. If you bring in a muddy and dented shock they may decline you.

Take em in and see what they say.

Which rancho's do you run?

I will have to take a look at them, I am not sure what they are. They were put on by my dad when he had it before me. All the time they have been on the XJ its just been used as a DD and never taken off road.

Then you shouldn't have a problem exchanging them.

Nice... just got around to calling sears and they said I can just come by and pick up new ones, swap them out and bring the bad ones back later

I went to get shocks from sears today.... FAIL

they said they would put them on for free... if I wait 3-4 hours.
They said I could buy new ones... do it myself and bring them back for a refund.

At least they looked at them right away to see which were bad. they drove it around the parking lot and said all the shocks are fine.

It erked me a bit but after pulling off both front tires today for other reasons I am thinking it might be the springs.

Oh well... I was planning of lifting it so new springs will just make that easier (well new from the JY)

How do you test shocks by driving around a parknig lot? Take em off and cycle them by hand.

Yeah that got me a bit PO'd.
If it wasn't raining today I would of pulled them off myself.

In 2005, I had Sears replace the original shocks on my truck with Monroe SensaTrac shocks. After 70,000 miles, they are now worn out. According to the Monroe Warranty, Monroe says they will warrant any worn out shock, for any reason. http://www.monroe.com/support/warranty.asp

However, Sears WILL NOT warrent them unless they are leaking or broken.

In talking with Monroe, they now acknowledge that Sears will not warrant their shocks for wearout, and they are done trying to work with them. Monroe says to try and see if any other local shop will honor the warranty, and if not, then have them replaced, and Monroe would pick up the cost of the shocks after I return the shocks to Monroe. Monroe will pay for shipping them back.

So, if you go to Sears to buy Monroe shocks, expect a problem if you think they are worn out, but are not broken or leaking. According to Monroe, this is the ONLY retailer that they have had this problem with.

Sears is not my first choice when it comes to anything automotive. I worked at a Sears Autocenter about 20 years ago and seen some questionable sales and repair practices go down there. They got into huge trouble for being less than honest and lost big money because of it. Try another retailer that sells Rancho shocks and see if you have better luck.

I was hoping it'd be like bringing back a broken Craftsman where you all have a good laugh at how in the world you managed to break a Craftsman while they give you a brand new one.

So did they decline your warranty after they drove it around the parking lot (wtf?) and somehow decided your shocks were fine