The bouncing was really unsafe. I took it to the dealer and they said it was fine after a drive, damn A'holes.
Had to change them with only 19,000 miles on the truck, unbelievable.

Haven't noticed any rust on the Ranchos, but I'm never really looking for it. I'll take a good look at them when it dries up in a couple of days.

 

I have the Monroes and have had them on for about 2 weeks and love them. It's definately much stiffer than the stock ones were, but not harsh at all. To me it rides like a truck should. It feels like a new truck.

I think the general consensus is you'll have a huge improvement no matter what you go with as long as it's not an oem strut/shock. Mine weren't blown yet at 57k, but they were just plain poor quality.

 

That's good news, cause I just got these;
DSC04239.jpg

 

Looking at the various makes of strut, I see that each one has a set of upper pieces & boot that are sold separately - that brings a question to mind. Are the OEM parts trashed when I take out the old strut, are they manufacturer specific so that I need for example monroe parts to go with monroe struts, or are they there just in case I do need them?

 

The replacement struts are a direct replacement for the original parts, so your original mounts, if they're good would work fine. I bought replacements when I did mine. I figured since I had it apart I would just replace everything.

 

What he said and they are universal I have moog upper strut mounts and rancho struts

 

but what about the boot? The plastic cover.. can it be removed from the OEM and put on the replacement?

 

Yes, along with the bump stop that's on the shaft of the original strut.

 

Thanks for all the input, it's much appreciated.