A good shock debate for all to enjoy

[74K30]

I see a lot of people running big ol fancy dual shock setups with remote resevoirs. Or hear people talking about upgrading to adjustable shocks.
Whatever it may be, people seem to think shocks are important.
I on the other hand have been wheeling the hell out of my truck with the same worn out shocks that it had when I bought it nine years ago.
I've never had any performance issues that have made me want better shocks. My wheels always stay on the ground when they should.
Recently I discovered that one of my shocks has torn itself free from the frame. How long ago did this happen? I have no idea. But the fact that I couldn't tell it was gone while driving or wheeling makes me feel vindicated in my belief that shocks are highly over rated.
I would like to hear from anyone else that feels the same or anyone that wants to tell me what for.

 

[kicker30]

Before I tore my blazer aprt I was running no shocks, and probably will be for a while after I get it back together. This was trail only however, but no complaints.

 

[rdn2blazer]

Shocks are pointless on my rig at this point. Especially since my rig is a driveway ornament . So as of right now, yes, I agree, shocks serve me no purpose as of right now.

 

[lectric80]

If you have soft, flexy, or long springs then shocks make a ton of difference in the ride. If you have stock, or most standard lift springs, they probably aren't going to make nearly as much difference.

I notice that I have virtually no suspension movement, that's why it feels like I am riding around on blocks, but for many of the rigs on here running 56's in the rear and 52s up front, shocks can make a world of difference to the on road handling.

 

[86chevyk10]

Well it depends on what the truck is built for. If your into mud boggin, the hell with high dollar shocks. No need for them. Throw on some cheap RC shocks and grab your girlfriend/cousin and go to town. If you are into high speed desert racing that requires a lot of vertical movement of the suspension, go with a triple by-pass remote resevor fox or king shock. Excessive movement builds up heat therefore requiring better shocks with better valving. But I do agree shocks are a little overated and really over priced!

 

[Greg72]

I bought a '64 C60 box truck and it never even came with front shocks from the factory. The front springs were so stiff that there were no oscillations to "dampen" with a shock absorber.

As stated already, the need for a quality shock is directly related to the softness of the spring it's coupled with...


If you can't tell the difference with no shocks installed either you aren't very picky about ride quality, or your springs are a lot stiffer than they probably should be.

 

[Russell]

My K5 has 6" front lift springs, and I don't notice a thing without front shocks on or off the road. The rears are 52" 3/4 tons with a shackle flip and most of the time I don't notice the rear shocks missing offroad, but if I get moving at any rate of speed, or hit a sudden bump, I can nearly loose control of the truck because of how violently it flails around.

 

[Fred_M1010]

I took my K30 for a test-drive without shocks , when I just had swapped in 56" an 64" springs.
It sucked big time! (both on- and off-road)
The wheels just kept bouncing all the time.
As stated earlier it might not be so bad with stiffer springs, but mine are really soft.

But I do believe remote reservoir shocks are overkill for most applications, except desert-racing and such...

 

[4X4HIGH]

The purpose of a shock is to dampen the ride quality that the springs make. On a daily driven vehicle shocks make a ton of difference in ride quality. I once removed my front shocks to replace them and drove the truck before installing the new shocks and man what a bouncy ride that was.

 

[Hogback Fabrication]

My rig is trail only (trailered) and I did the no shock thing for a while. It sucks, bad.

This was with very flexy (and hence very axle wrap prone) springs. Without shocks there were all kinds of problems. It made the axle wrap worse (it made the bouncing from axle wrap much worse), it didn't keep the truck from twisting over under throttle (you can see that in the video too) and it was scary to drive at any kind of speed (and kind of bumps/whoops started to get it bouncing and it started to become uncontrollable).

Example from a few years ago:

[youtube]vLK-kwL4kzs[/youtube]


After adding shocks, the axle wrap was still there of course but all of those aspects of the truck became 100X better. Absolutely worth it.

So, to say that shocks are worthless is silly unless the springs are so overly stiff for the application that they don't need damping anyway.


Now, the necessity of good shocks is another deal entirely. I'm running super cheap scratch and dent shocks from Superlift's ebay store and they work perfectly in my application.

Good shocks are well worth the money if you need them.

 

[BGKYK5]

The friction in a leaf spring suspension can do a pretty good job of damping vibrations in some cases. Stiff springs can also reduce roll and pitch. My blazer currently has no front shocks and is scary undrivable with soft, low friction 52" front springs. The vibration on my truck isn't an issue without shocks, it is the roll and pitch. Shocks can help a bunch with transient roll and pitch.

 

[ktmoutfront]

Don't try this without shocks.

 

[blazinzuk]

I used to think this too.

But I have sold many cheap shocks to guys and alot of decent shocks (bilsteins for instance) and for the most part the rockcrawler guys don't need awesome shocks.

Shocks make a substantial difference in a truck where you have the correct springs, and by correct I mean you weighed the truck did a whole lot of math and ordered custom springs. In the vast majority of our trucks we are running either lift springs or 52/56s or something else (I used to run 60" long dodge springs)

The only place I noticed my el cheapo shocks was the dunes. My shocks could take it for about 45 minutes, then you had to let them cool down.

High speed stuff demands good shocks, jumps demand great shocks ( if your suspension if up to the task) dunes demand great shocks. Rockcrawling not so much.

I have replaced shocks on guys rigs and they were blown away by the difference a set of shocks can make.

 

[GreenieK30]

I put some King remote resi shocks and King bumps on my 1986 Chev and it is amazing! Totally different then the Rancho 5000s and rubber bumpstops.

 

[73redblaze]

I took my K30 for a test-drive without shocks , when I just had swapped in 56" an 64" springs.
It sucked big time! (both on- and off-road)
The wheels just kept bouncing all the time.
As stated earlier it might not be so bad with stiffer springs, but mine are really soft.

But I do believe remote reservoir shocks are overkill for most applications, except desert-racing and such...

i have the same setup and i 2nd his response!

 

[presamax]

Don't want to high-jack the thread... "GreenieK30" and "73RedBlaze" what kind of King shocks are you running on your rig? How much travel are you getting? I'm planning on getting some custom deaver springs and go with either Kings or Fox shocks. My '75 Jimmy is pretty heavy (full roll cage and bumpers).

Julius

 

[73redblaze]

Don't want to high-jack the thread... "GreenieK30" and "73RedBlaze" what kind of King shocks are you running on your rig? How much travel are you getting? I'm planning on getting some custom deaver springs and go with either Kings or Fox shocks. My '75 Jimmy is pretty heavy (full roll cage and bumpers).

Julius

O im not running kings i just have the 56/64 setup. Im running procomp 15" front with ford shock towers and 18" (i think) rear imborded. I get close to maxing out front and rear

 

[6.2Blazer]

I on the other hand have been wheeling the hell out of my truck with the same worn out shocks that it had when I bought it nine years ago.
I've never had any performance issues that have made me want better shocks.

While I do agree that some people think that shocks are more important then they really are, I think the above comment discredits your point of view.

It's all about comparisons. Basically you say that you have never driven this particuliar truck with different shocks on it. Honestly, how can you say the worn out shocks work great when you have never tried anything else? It's just like a guy who has never driven any truck before getting in one with worn out and unbalanced Boggers and saying "these tires are the best on the highway, those other people who say all-terrain radials are better on the highway are crazy".

 

[GreenieK30]

I bought the shocks used to save some money, they are 2.5" diameter Kings, 14" and 16" travel, with 2" diameter 4" travel bumpstops. It is the smoothest riding leafspring setup I have ever ran, it is really stable on side hills too. It is not bouncy and way better then the Rancho 5000/9000s or no shocks that I have ran before.

 

[andyblack]

What I've learned is that the better the springs you have, the better shocks you'll need if you want to use the good springs to their potential. I had a solid axle Toyota truck that I put some Rough Country springs on the front of because they were the cheapest I could find. They were so stiff that they never moved. I took the front shocks off and didn't notice any difference. Same thing with my wife's CJ7. I think it makes more of a difference in the rear. I've tried taking the rear shocks off both the afforementioned vehicles and they bounced up and down so bad I could barely drive them. Maybe the weight of the engine up front helps to dampen the rebound or something. My point is, for stiff springs, I don't think the type and quality of the shocks you use matters as much as when you have soft, compliant springs.