So far, so good - rear shocks in

[C-ya]

Rear shocks in with little fanfare except my 7 y/o daughter and I both getting a slight pinch when sliding the bottom bolt back through, she on the left (and after that, she found something else to do!) and me on the right. Guess you'll get that when you manhandle the shocks into a compressed position to slide the bolt in! I'll tackle the fronts on Wednesday in preparation for a trip to TN this weekend.

A couple of pics...

The old and new



Left/right side



Successful spare tire deployment



The old muffler (mentioned in another post, but it started making one helluva racket last Tuesday morning. Got it replaced Saturday morning.)



And the new...

 

[mikeinDE]

Lookin good! How long did the install take on the shocks? and what kinda muffler did ya get?

 

[C-ya]

The rear shocks take all of about 30 minutes to do. That was mostly getting the tools out and getting the truck up on the ramps. Oh, and few minutes compressing the shocks and cussing. 18mm wrench and 18mm deep socket for the bottom (so you can leave the tires on) and 18mm socket on an air gun (if you have one) for the top. Top inner nut is captive and doesn't need a wrench on it.

My exhaust was modified from the cats back before I bought the truck. It had a "quiet" muffler on it (34" long from inlet tip to outlet tip). To alleviate the rattle/buzzing/vibrating, I opened the back of the muffler up and man, did that V8 sound good! I contemplated a welded muffler (Thrush Exhaust - Products Page - Welded, Turbo, Glasspack, Headerback), but didn't want the drone. Next time, I'll get their Turbo mufflers as I had them on an Hombre (aka S-10) with a SBC and they rumbled nicely without being obnoxious. In the end, I ended up with another quiet muffler. If you are right at the exhaust tip, you can hear the rumble, but it is nice and quiet.

 

[Mark20]

What model Bilsteins? I'm about to order a set for the rear.

 

[djthumper]

What model Bilsteins? I'm about to order a set for the rear.

24-103350

 

[C-ya]

24-103350

Yep, those. shockwarehouse.com. I think the discount code was Shock55.

 

[Mark20]

Yep, those. shockwarehouse.com. I think the discount code was Shock55.

Ordered, same ones I found there through their search engine. The discount code still works. Brought a pair for the rear down to $126.

 

[FarFetcher]

The rear shocks take all of about 30 minutes to do. That was mostly getting the tools out and getting the truck up on the ramps. Oh, and few minutes compressing the shocks and cussing.

I just had the same compression problem with the rear shocks. Somehow thought I could cut the band and shove the bolt through as the bottom end went by the bracket. The easiest way to solve the problem for me was to jack the rear of the car up about 45-50 turns of the stock jack. The shock is fully extended, and lifting the body lines up the bracket easier than trying to pry, push, or jack the bottom of the shock up.