Lets assume one doesn't carry a heavy payload, tow, or off road on a regular basis. What is the point of bolting on fancy shmancy shocks i.e. Fox, Icon, King, and the like when there's virtually no weight on the rear end? I'm not bashing anyone who has gone this route, Just looking for experienced input on the subject. I know that a higher quality shock will make for a smoother ride, but is the cost worth upgrading from factory to high end vs. mid level? Lets hear your thoughts.
Like everything when it comes to mods, you need to look at what the intended end use of the vehicle will be before throwing anything at it. In the case of shocks, the things you need to look at is how far the suspension needs to travel, how much load it needs to handle, and how often they will be cycling. The first and last items are the most important and the load capacity is less of a concern since the shock isn't actually holding the load weight (unless it's a coil-over assembly), that's the spring's job but you do need to know the weight so you have a shock that's appropriately sized to dampen the forces involved or it just bobs up and down the road after a bump
The higher end shocks typically have either a different compression/rebound valving or more adjustability in either how fast they compress/rebound and how quickly they dampen that travel; some even have multiple stages of adjustability on the compression and rebound strokes so when the shock is compressed at a faster rate it uses one level of dampening and when it reaches a certain point in its stroke it will switch to a different dampening rate.
The next important thing was how often the shock can cycle before it starts to lose its dampening ability, called shock fatigue. Since they have to compress a fluid to dampen the travel they generate heat as that happens, if they are required to compress frequently in a short span of time they can build up enough heat to affect the shock's dampening fluid, whether its oil or gas filled. Gas filled have better damping abilities but they heat soak a lot faster than oil filled. The higher end shocks have larger shock bodies or remote reservoirs for this reason.
If you aren't racing the truck like a pre-runner or planning to regularly carry a heavy load that requires a different damping ability then you are replacing shocks with higher end ones only for a different ride quality, that's when it's up to the individual to determine what's it worth to them. I run a set of adjustable Rancho 9000XLs up front and dual adjustable QA1s out back, they're both higher tier shocks because it's worth it to me with everything else I've done to my truck, most people wouldn't think spending $1500 in shocks is worth it.
