Any front shock suggestions?

[bigmoe]

I recently got my 65 back on the road and have driven it almost 400 miles. The front suspension is pretty firm. It will barely come down much at a dip in the road. I feel every ripple and crack in the road and crossing railway tracks can rattle your teeth. If I bounce it at the front bumper with my hands it will go down only an inch or so at the most.
Here's my set up:
65 Gmc with 5.3 LS engine and 4L60e
sway bar
square body front crossmember swap.
New front coils ACDelco 45H2104 They are the lighter ones for sq body 6cyl truck but are heavier than the original 65 6 cyl ones.
The shocks are Monroe 34958 - 74-83 Jeep Wagoneer.

I can't recall why the Wagoneer shocks but I wonder if they are too stiff? What are others with similar set up running?

[Captainfab]

Why aren't you running squarebody front shocks?

[bigmoe]

It's over two years since I did the front suspension and I have no idea where I got the idea for the Wagoneer shocks. I assumed someone on here suggested them. I just looked them up on Rockauto and they are on the "Heavy Duty" section for Wagoneer even. I guess I'll order some square body ones.

[Chevy Fleetside]

I think maybe I need some of the wagoneer shocks.

[AcampoDave]

When I did a crossmember swap I used Monroe O.E Spectrum shocks for the year of the truck ('66 C10).
They are pretty soft.

[verdell]

I went from Gabriel to Monroe and then to KYB monotube. The KYBs really improved the ride.

[forestb]

I am going through the same problem. Here is a thread where I got some advice. I am about to order a set of Belltech chocks to see if that helps.

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...80#post8811480

[bigmoe]

I got some KYB 344068 and it improved the ride a bit. I pushed down on both shocks on the floor and let them go and the 344068's came back faster. I realize it's never going to ride like a Caddy.

[bigmoe]

I've been wondering what difference coilovers would make with ride quality. I watched a video on tubular A arm and coilover installation on a C10 and it looks pretty straight forward. Only thing is I would want to know ahead of time how much improvement to expect because it's a fair chunk of coin to invest.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9S3Q7sa_gs

[Southcity]

[QUOTE=bigmoe;8810654]If I bounce it at the front bumper with my hands it will go down only an inch or so at the most.

Is your truck lowered? wondering if you have stock height bump-stops and this is what is preventing suspension travel. If so, trimming the bump stops will help. Pics are helpful if you have them.

[bigmoe]

[quote=Southcity;8838492]

Originally Posted by bigmoe

If I bounce it at the front bumper with my hands it will go down only an inch or so at the most.

Is your truck lowered? wondering if you have stock height bump-stops and this is what is preventing suspension travel. If so, trimming the bump stops will help. Pics are helpful if you have them.

Stock springs with 2 1/2” drop spindles. 79 c10 crossmember and a arms. The lighter weight stock coils and new shocks helped but it still rattles hard on small pot holes.

[cgrocen]

If you want a smoother shock absorber action, you may want to consider some NOS shock absorbers without the nitrogen gas in them. I have found that the new nitrogen gas charged shocks make a vehicle ride stiff. I bought some Monroe Sensa-Track shocks for a 1982 Continental Mark VI and it rode like a lumber wagon with those shocks. I have bought some NOS shocks for some of my other cars because they did not have gas charged shocks when new. Some of the old style oil filled shocks may have different valving inside than the new ones and they will give a softer ride. At least that is what I have experienced.

[AcampoDave]

Just a thought, but have you looked at your cab cushions? If the rubber is all shot out it could be contributing to a harsh ride. Simply switching mine from poly urethane to OEM style rubber smoothed my ride out a bit.

[Short 3/4]

For what it's worth, tire pressure can make a huge difference in ride quality. Something to experiment with before you start replacing stuff

[forestb]

You might want to get some dual adjustable shocks before you spend a hole bunch of money on coilovers. I just got a set of Belltech rear shocks for the rear of my truck to try and soften up the ride and it helped some. If I were to go further I would get a set of dual adjustable shocks.

[theastronaut]

Coilovers are just a spring mounted over a shock. No real difference in performance than a separate spring and shock. It's just easier to swap to a different rate spring, and height adjustment is easy as long as you don't run out of travel.

What tires are you running? A stiff sidewall will kill ride quality- my daily driver/autocross car rides pretty good on all season tires, but when I swap on my track tires with taller but stiffer sidewalls I feel EVERY little road imperfection. Tire pressure matters too.

Gas shocks don't necessarily mean a bad ride- the gas is there to keep the oil from foaming. The oil weight and valving is what controls ride quality.

Check your bump stop clearance. One trick I learned here is to dab a bit of grease on the tip of the bump stop, if you get grease transfer then it's bottoming out.

Anything loose and rattling in the cab will make it seem like it's riding rougher than it actually is.

Shock length matters- too short and the shocks won't let the suspension droop down into a dip, and too short won't let the suspension compress enough over a bump. Remember that one inch of travel at the shock is roughly two inches at the wheel.

Verify that the ball joints move freely.


On my old '66, I had passenger rated 225/75-15 front tires (soft sidewall), 1.5 coils cut off the stock springs, 2.5" spindles, relocated KYB Gas-A-Just shocks, and the bumpstop brackets were completely removed to regain full travel. It rode better than my dad's completely stock '66.