Rear shocks / coilovers

[Perpendicular]

On my 67, I am noticing the rear shocks seem weak. It is lowered somewhat so wonder what others recommend for a rear setup.

Would you do coilovers to help the factory 60 year old springs? If so, what experiences have you had?

If just shocks, what have you seen that works well?

I am starting with the rear as they likely are much older than the front as it was rebuilt at one point.

Thanks for the opinions!

[LockDoc]

Originally Posted by Perpendicular

On my 67, I am noticing the rear shocks seem weak. It is lowered somewhat so wonder what others recommend for a rear setup.

Would you do coilovers to help the factory 60 year old springs? If so, what experiences have you had?

If just shocks, what have you seen that works well?

I am starting with the rear as they likely are much older than the front as it was rebuilt at one point.

Thanks for the opinions!

I have never used coilovers so I am no help there. Depending on how it was dropped would make a difference. Were the springs heated to drop it?

If you are going to just try original type shocks I would just buy a name brand. I used Gabriels on the back of my '71 and they seem to be holding up good.... Depending on how much it is dropped you may want to install a shock relocator kit on it.

Hopefully others will chime in on this.
.

[LONGHAIR]

Weak as in soft? Like it continues to bounce after a bump (speedbump, etc)
If that is the case, and they are just worn, simply replacing should be good.
As LockDoc mentioned, what you replace them with, will depend on what is there now. That is related to how it was lowered. There is no need to overcomplicate it.

If however, you are talking about the rear sagging some, shocks aren't the cure. Ordinary shocks do not carry any of the weight, they just slow the bouncing.
Coilovers can help with that, but it's not as simple as that.
First, most stock shock mounts are not capable of holding much weight. They were never intended too.
Second, they add to the total spring rate of the rear suspension. This can make the ride stiffer.

Overall, more information required

[HO455]

GM'S factory shock mounting wasn't the best when new but, when lowered they are at too great of an angle to be effective. Being perfectly vertical between the axle and frame is optimal and the farther from that the less effective the shock is.

If you're happy with stock or close to stock height new shocks will probably be fine. Stick with a brand name and if possible get a heavy duty version. Suburbans weight more in the rear than the equivalent long bed pick so the shock has more weight to control. What works well on a C10 short bed won't work well on a Burban.

If your planning on lowering the truck more than 2 or so inches I would look into relocating the shock mounting. For more information on the different methods do a search for shock relocating or relocation.

To see how I cobbled up a new pair of upper mounts to decrease the angle of my shocks click the link and scroll to post 516 to start.

https://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/...=Choke&page=21

If you can post a photo of the rear axle and shocks it would help us to recommend shocks.

As always this is just my opinion which along with a sawbuck will get you a steaming hot cup of Joe just about anywhere.

[Perpendicular]

Great info everyone, thanks for the initial thoughts.

I will get some more info for y'all when it comes back from getting the headliner done. A little info, I am also looking at the 4 link from QA1. I like what they are promoting and the costs seem reasonable. My lowering setup is blocks and likely springs heated up, not positive on the springs.

Thanks again!