the shock stiffness is VERY dependant on spring quality and tension. basically. since jeeps arn't very high wheel travel off-roaders... you want a stiff shock for anything invovling high speed. the stiffness will cause the spring to move slower alowing the suspension to suck up a bit more of the bump before it bottoms out. the slow stuff you want a really loose shock so that the wheel will follow the trail to the best of its ability. if you had lots of travel...... the best would be a soft shock that is just enough to keep the suspension from topping or bottoming out in a given tarain. that is why i like my RS9000X's (you are right they are the RS9000X shocks) i can set them really firm when i go play in the sand, keeping me from bottoming hard and damageing things (but you know i just push it harder bottoming it anyways...) then when i hit the trails i put them all the way loose allowing the tire to move as quickly as it wants to follow the tarrain. a bad thing about stiff shocks is they tend to where out quicker since they absorb more force (rs9000x's have a lifetime warantee for that) some shocks have "velocity sensing valves" meaning that the faster you push them the stiffer they get. i know all the ranchos have that, and im pretty sure all the bilsteins have it....

in the end you will get what you pay for... you buy cheep monroes... you will damage the car playing in the sand and they will ware out very quickly. you buy 800$ triple bypass shocks you will probably never even scratch them in a stock truck and they will last forever....