Measuring for Shocks

[Doug19]

I have a static drop 66 GMC frame with leaf springs that I need to measure for shocks on. In the rear I have removed a few springs, and axle flip, and drop shackles. Right now it is just a bare chassis. Do I need to have all the weight on the rear to measure? If so roughly how much weight should I put on the back to get a close estimate?

In the front I did a 2.5" z plus 3 inch drop springs and 2.5" drop spindle. What shocks do I need for the front.

Any recommendations on which shocks I should use?
Also once I measure how much travel should I have each way?

[kitsbeach]

Originally Posted by Doug19

I have a static drop 66 GMC frame with leaf springs that I need to measure for shocks on. In the rear I have removed a few springs, and axle flip, and drop shackles. Right now it is just a bare chassis. Do I need to have all the weight on the rear to measure? If so roughly how much weight should I put on the back to get a close estimate?

In the front I did a 2.5" z plus 3 inch drop springs and 2.5" drop spindle. What shocks do I need for the front.

Any recommendations on which shocks I should use?
Also once I measure how much travel should I have each way?

I was told to find measure the compressed height and the fully extended height. Once you have those numbers I'd pick from the popular choices on this site. There is a KYB post somewhere here that shows the popular drops. And you can probably use that as a cross reference if you wanted to choose a different brand.

I'm using a combination of porterbuilt in the front and no limit in the rear and they both recommend different brand shocks. So I used their suggestions and, with some digging, figured out a KYB gas-a-just that corresponded to each and got them. Haven't installed them yet (still on route from Summit).

Oh yeah and I think you'd want to have the regular weight on the truck before you measure for ride height. But if you used something popular I'd say you could get away with not knowing exactly.

[DLW]

For static drop, I'd have full weight on vehicle. If you are doing shock re-locaters then get those on first. I would measure ride height at this point then look for a shock that fits for that ride height, or find the shocks compressed and extended height's and find something that fits your ride height. Just make sure you hit your bump stops before the shock bottoms out, and it extends far enough you can pull your wheel out of the wheel well. I went with QA1's TD513 shocks to fit my application, but I'm sure KYB or Ridetech shocks would work out fine too.

[kitsbeach]

Originally Posted by DLW

Just make sure you hit your bump stops before the shock bottoms out

Good point.!