Yesterday I had a broken shock again in the front of my 90 1500. What a pain. I had to use a breaker bar, liquid wrench, cheater pipe, box end wrench and air impact. Since this is the second time a pot hole broke my shock I decided to change something.
I took (2) 1/2 inch grade 8 bolts about 4 1/2" long and cut them to length and drilled a 3/16 hole for a hitch pin clip on the threaded end. NExt time I have to replace a shock all I have to do is pull the pins and pop it in. This is way easier than fighting rusted hard -to-get-to bolts. Since the stress it all on the bolt and not the pin it should work fine.
I'm gonna do them all like that on my 83.