Front suspesion/shocks helpppppp

[MEANGREEN70]

I need help. I'm trying to figure out what type of shocks I need to run in the front of my truck. As you can see by the pics that I have included, I dont have much suspension travel. The bags in the the pics are all inflatted at ride height -except one picture where a bag is slammed- and it looks to me like something is not right. So I would like to see if I can get help from some of you guys that have done this before. I thought about buying DJM arms so that the bags dont look like they're about to puncture using stock arms. I saw how someone posted pictures in here using stock arms with bags, and I decided to do mine that way and to me it just dosen't look like I did it right. So any information or pictures that you guys want to share with me will be very,very appreciated. Thank you very much from one truck guy to another.

[dwcsr]

first thing is get a snubber for the a arms so you don't crush the bags.
measure the low and the high and thats your travel on the shock. Give your self 1" on each end so you don't damage the shock when going all the way down or up. Go over to the gabriel shock site www.gabriel.com and download the 2005 catalog then look it up by demension and the mount style you want. You can mount them at an angle but no more that 23 degrees. It helps to angle mount them when you have a long shock that bottoms out before the suspension does but stands to tall for where you want to mount it.

[MEANGREEN70]

can someone please tell me if I need to relocate my front shocks and why?

[dwcsr]

You bags look fine. you may have to just relocate the top of the shocks for the reasons stated about. But seeing as you don't have a picture of the shock at ride height is hard to tell.

[MEANGREEN70]

dwcsr thank you for your help, Ill try to get you a pic of the front shock as soon as I get back in town. Right now iam in houston (katy).

[XXL]

Originally Posted by MEANGREEN70

I need help. I'm trying to figure out what type of shocks I need to run in the front of my truck.

ART ships a Gabriel 33033 for their front kit. I used their shocks for 5+ years without complaint. I did have to replace them a while back, so I just bought 33033's over the counter at O'Reilly's. Much cheaper that way.

Also, Monroe has a PDF spec book on their site so you can reverse engineer by dimension, mount type, etc. Only problem with both Monroe and Gabriel spec books is that they don't include any damping info... so you might find the "perfect" shock for a particular custom application only to find out it's for a Yugo or some other 98# car . Also, I recently spent a LOT of time trying to define a shock for the rear of my Tahoe. I finally gave up and called Monroe Technical for assistance. The first-line person was a bozo, and was basically reading the spec catalog that I'd already spent time with. When I got xferred to the next level, the guy seemed pretty sharp... we identified a Rancho shock with proper dimensions and that was appropriate for the piggish weight of a Tahoe. They're on the truck and work like a champ.

[dwcsr]

Originally Posted by MEANGREEN70

dwcsr thank you for your help, Ill try to get you a pic of the front shock as soon as I get back in town. Right now iam in houston (katy).

I actually live in katy.

[dwcsr]

Originally Posted by XXL

. Only problem with both Monroe and Gabriel spec books is that they don't include any damping info... so you might find the "perfect" shock for a particular custom application only to find out it's for a Yugo or some other 98# car

I know what you mean I for got about how much time it took to get some for the back of my truck. I found several and it was as you say a light car. Finally I found one that was for a tacoma 1/2 ton which was close enough. I had to angle them so I wouldn't bottom them out.

[jlaird]

dwscr, got a question. You said to get a "snubber." Is this another name for a bumpstop? If so, where would you mount it? and will it effect how low the truck can sit?

[dwcsr]

Yes snubber or bump stop. It will affect the low point but you don't want to crush the bag. set it up to the bags minimum collapsed height as per MFG.

[jlaird]

thanks for the pic! I just remembered, the bags I'll be installing (Slam Specialties) have internal bumpstops built in.

[MEANGREEN70]

dwcsr, here are some pictures of the shocks at ride height, and also when is slammed. Right now the front is very soft but I think is because of the front shocks been wrong and also in the wrong possition. I dont mean to sound dumm but this is my first project, so iam learning as i go. thank you for your help.

[MEANGREEN70]

XXL, thanks for the info Ill look into it.

[dwcsr]

That looks like the same size shock I have. how much of the shock shaft is showing when its all the way down? If you can see about an inch of it its fine.

[dwcsr]

That looks like the same size shock I have. how much of the shock shaft is showing when its all the way down? If you can see about an inch of it its fine.
This is where my is. I used some ears to mount the shock. you can get them from a&a manufacturing or make them.

If you think its to soft try some HD shocks that size. You don't have a lot of options as to location. the bottom is where its going to be the top you can move but not to much. Once you tighten up the bottom push thetop toward the frame and thats where is going to be. you just have to mount it up or down that line so it doesn't top out or bottom out.

[MEANGREEN70]

Here is a pic of the shock with the truck slammed.

[gostranger]

XXL is the 33033 shock shorter than this i am going through the same problem picking the front shocks out thanks

[dwcsr]

that is a bit close. if you use a bump stop it may be ok. or try a little shorter shock.

[MEANGREEN70]

Originally Posted by dwcsr

That looks like the same size shock I have. how much of the shock shaft is showing when its all the way down? If you can see about an inch of it its fine.
This is where my is. I used some ears to mount the shock. you can get them from a&a manufacturing or make them.

If you think its to soft try some HD shocks that size. You don't have a lot of options as to location. the bottom is where its going to be the top you can move but not to much. Once you tighten up the bottom push thetop toward the frame and thats where is going to be. you just have to mount it up or down that line so it doesn't top out or bottom out.

dwcsr, what year is your truck, and are using your stock lower arms? If you are do you have any pics of your front suspension that i can see.

[XXL]

Originally Posted by MEANGREEN70

Here is a pic of the shock with the truck slammed.

I'd say you're going to knock the tops out of those shocks after a while. They're not meant to be 100% compressed, and it's quite likely that they're what's holding up the truck when you dump the bags (if you remove the shock, does the truck drop more? I'm betting it does).

[dwcsr]

Originally Posted by MEANGREEN70

dwcsr, what year is your truck, and are using your stock lower arms? If you are do you have any pics of your front suspension that i can see.

My is a 75 on a 58 frame. I am using stock arms and 2.5" drop spindles with a Tbird rack. the shock is almost at the end of the throw but its down hard on the bump stop or snubber