When buying aftermarket shocks, how do you go about measuring to insure you get the correct sizes...

I've got a fabtech lift and each front setup has three shocks... a couple of them are obviously worn and non-functional... I wanted to replace them with maybe some Rancho's or something similar...

Do i measure them from fully extended to fully compressed??? or what??? Thanks!

 

I don't know the answer to this question, but i know someone that does, once i get in touch with them i will respond back, but a quick call to rancho would probably settle the issue too

 

A good parts house should be able to get you what you need based on info about your truck and your lift. But going the extra mile and talking to a manufacturer could do you better, especially when it comes to figuring out good valving for triple shocks.

Oh and imho, you get what you pay for with shocks, cheap shocks ride cheap in my experience. and I have been more than impressed by my bilsteins

good luck and happy shopping! let us know what you find out

 

cool... thanks guys, i will probably call a few companies and see what i can find out...

bobcat - let me know what you find out if you can... Thanks

 

On a Chevy HD you only have so much travel based off the lift kit, so what you want to do is remove the lower shock bolt and then jack the truck up to allow the suspension to fully hang and then you measure for the shock length. Then you take that spec and find a shock that is full extended at the same point of close to but not under.

Hope this helps...

 

Good deal... i have three shocks per side... Two upper and one lower... i see this working for the lower, but i'm not even sure what the upper shocks are for... They are loose and don't really help with anything... maybe they are for off roading use and/or extreme travel ranges...

 

0_o i'd love to see a pic of that, maybe that would help us help you...

 

maybe these will help... they are bad quality due to me being at work thru the night...

It seems like the top two shocks support the upper braket to my upper ball joints... and the lower shock supports the lower braket to my lower ball joints... Please correct me if you know for sure...

 

ok i see what you were talking about now... thanks for posting those up

the upper shocks are as effective as the main one in the center, its simply the only place fabtech could fit more shocks. oh, and the reason they feel so loose is because the bushings are gone, should make for a much quieter and nicer ride with the new shocks.

you will definitely need to talk to either fabtech or a reputable someone, to make sure you get shocks of the right valving for the application of the upper two.
it might be hard to find shocks with that short of a collapsed length with a selection of valving, so i would definitely start at fabtech.

 

Fabtech has a newer version of these shocks... I will give them a hollar and see what I can do... They aren't crazy expensive through fabtech like i had expected, so i might just get fabtech's to replace...

Thanks for the help!

Also, just for some FYI... I did some research on shocks and suspension systems... It seems that shocks have a collapsed length, an extended length, and a travel distance... There is obviously more to them, such as chambers and rod diameters and PSI and etc etc... but my original question was how to measure them... So hope this helps someone else along the road... and Thanks everyone for the input!