I've never dealt with gas charged shocks (i.e. Bilsteins). Is there a trick to installing them at all? I mean, does it take huge force to compress them if they over extend or whatever?
CK5
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Dumb question about gas charged shocks
- Thread starter Mastiff
- Start date
Mine I installed the upper first, then use a floor jack, or bottle jack to get it near the lower mount point. The final tweaking to get the bottom bolt in is a PITA.
I could compress them if I used both hands. Which conveinently left no heads for putting in bolts so essentially it looked like a monkey fuukin a football. The easiest way is to just manipulate the suspension up or down to make it easier to get in.
Okay, so this will be fun. One of my lower mounts is tweaked a little so it takes some effort to jam the shock/bushing in. It was a pain with a normal shock. I suppose I should take the time to get it fixed up right before I start wrestling these things.
scottsdale86
1/2 ton status
It is only hard to compress them if you are a girly man. I routinely do one arm akward under the car shock presses to build my upper body strength. Doesn't everybody?
Try installing ford raptor shocks with 200psi in them...
Press and ratchet strap
Press and ratchet strap
Don't cut the band or use a ratchet strap around it. Install upper then Compress the suspension using a jack install the lower. Cut the band or remove ratchet strap. Easy
Takes some effort, but far from difficult.
How tweaked is your lower mount? Mine was tweaked, but i tweaked it back into position with the convenient pry bar ratchet that was in my hand. They bend easily.
It's not real bad. Looks like some previous owner over torqued the shock eye bolt and sort of bowed one side in. I played with bending them in and out a little but they were starting to get far from parallel. With a little more effort I think I can get it right.
I like the idea of trying to compress the suspension before cutting the band. Not sure if I can get enough compression though. The only time I've gotten it close to fully compressed is when ramp testing the opposite corner.
Truthfully, you are over thinking this. The shock mounts will bend easily, so realigning them isn't tough . I always tweak mine open a bit to make inserting the new shock easier.
Install top, cut band, and hope you get the bolt through as it extends. It doesn't extend very quickly. If you miss, use a ratchet strap to recompress, or just muscle it back into place. Its really not that bad.
I use a block of wood as a fulcrum for a pry bar to compress the shock when installing one on the ground--its a bit tricky but do-able...if its on a lift I usually install the lower bolt first ,then pull down on the shock to compress it and align the upper mounting bolt...its a lot easier to pull down on one than try to push up when its on a lift,and less likely to make the truck want to lift up off the lift foot too...
Worst shocks to install are the load levelers with the coil springs on them...done plenty of those,and got a few busted knuckles doing them...one I was using a bottle jack to compress to align the bottom bolt ,decided to slip out off of the jack and smash my forehead in...drew blood,I was mad!
..
Worst shocks to install are the load levelers with the coil springs on them...done plenty of those,and got a few busted knuckles doing them...one I was using a bottle jack to compress to align the bottom bolt ,decided to slip out off of the jack and smash my forehead in...drew blood,I was mad!
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Leaving the strap on is fine (assuming the strap doesn't interfere with the upper bolt), but you aren't always installing a new shock. Sometimes you have them off for other reasons. I like to put the lower bolt in the mount, attach the top of the shock, then use both hands to compress the shock until it's a few inches shorter than static height. Then guide it down with one hand while the other hand slides the bolt back and catches the shock eye as it passes through. If you miss, just start over. A good shock is really slow, as that gas charge isn't a lot of force compared to it's internal damping.
As long as you can get a bolt through the mount tabs, it doesn't matter if they are opened up a little far. Once you tighten the nut on the bolt, the tabs are right back where they need to be.
As long as you can get a bolt through the mount tabs, it doesn't matter if they are opened up a little far. Once you tighten the nut on the bolt, the tabs are right back where they need to be.
Well, I'd classify it as kind of a pain in the butt. I attached the top, cut the strap, and it was bottomed out in less than 2 seconds. I'm not strong enough to hold that shock compressed with one hand. Really, I could barely get it to ride height at all. I'm installing 14" travel shocks with about 6" of uptravel from ride height.
Anyway, I reverted to using a ratchet strap to get it installed.
At least I know what I'm up against now.
Anyway, I reverted to using a ratchet strap to get it installed.
At least I know what I'm up against now.
Seems like with all the force from these shocks pushing down, the truck will site a little higher. Is that true? More lift is the last thing I want right now.
Carcinogen
1/2 ton status
Not really. if you can compress them so can the weight of the truck
Neh--you'd need a micrometer to measure the difference in ride height,if they increased it at all...if you can collapse the shock by hand,how much actual lifting force do they produce?...practically nil when your talking about a 2 or 3 tin vehicle..
The only time shocks will "lift" a vehicle is if they have coil over shocks on them...I was always amazed at how many people came in the parts store wanting new shock "because my car is sagging"...I'd have to tell them you need new SPRINGS, and then maybe new shocks too!..often the price of a pair of springs was half what 4 shocks costed..shocks only control spring rebound to avoid bouncing mostly,most of them offer much less resistance to compression than extention unless you get specially valved ones used mostly on race car applications.
The only time shocks will "lift" a vehicle is if they have coil over shocks on them...I was always amazed at how many people came in the parts store wanting new shock "because my car is sagging"...I'd have to tell them you need new SPRINGS, and then maybe new shocks too!..often the price of a pair of springs was half what 4 shocks costed..shocks only control spring rebound to avoid bouncing mostly,most of them offer much less resistance to compression than extention unless you get specially valved ones used mostly on race car applications.
I'm just guessing those shocks might take 100 pounds of force to compress, toward the top. Doesn't that translate to 100 pounds pushing the suspension apart/up, per corner? That's 200 pounds up front, which could counteract a big bumper or winch. Though the bumper does have more leverage, being further out front.
My ORD springs came in tall, so I'm hoping if I get a bumper or winch some day it'll help get it back down. I don't need anything else fighting me the other way.
My ORD springs came in tall, so I'm hoping if I get a bumper or winch some day it'll help get it back down. I don't need anything else fighting me the other way.
You are thinking about this wrong. It takes that much force to overcome the damping of the shock, and move it to a neutral position. But, it doesn't take that much force to hold it there. The shock also doesn't get progressively stiffer as you move through the stroke.
So, yes, it takes the trucks weight to compress it once, but it is not exerting the 100 or however many pounds of force after its compressed. The force is exerted in the opposite way that it is "asked" to move, whether it be up or down from the ride height position.
I'm not sure we're talking about the same thing. These gas charged shocks extend under their own power and I challenge anyone to hold it back from extending with one hand for more than a few seconds. A "normal" shock only has damping and only resists motion, but that's not the case with these. I don't own a bathroom scale, but if I did I'd like to set it up to measure the force exerted while the shock is static.
As for whether it's pushes with more force when more compressed, I don't understand the design enough to say. If it's a fixed amount of charge compressing into a smaller space, it would do just that, but maybe there's something else about the way the gas is managed that prevents this. It felt like it was harder when more compressed, but maybe my position was just getting more awkward.
As for whether it's pushes with more force when more compressed, I don't understand the design enough to say. If it's a fixed amount of charge compressing into a smaller space, it would do just that, but maybe there's something else about the way the gas is managed that prevents this. It felt like it was harder when more compressed, but maybe my position was just getting more awkward.
xenomarine
1/2 ton status
tl;dr but to install mine I put a ratchet strap around them the long way and compressed them with the force of the ratchet strap. This also held them close enough to where I could get the bolt started then wiggle the ratchet strap handle around to change the length of the shock minutely to get it to go in. It's a pain to get the strap on and started but once there's tension in the strap it doesn't seem to want to slide off either side.
I will agree though, they do actively push out at a seemingly steady rate. It must add some sort of force, thereby theoretically lifting the vehicle, but I won't believe it's more than ~1/32 of an inch in any practical application.
I will agree though, they do actively push out at a seemingly steady rate. It must add some sort of force, thereby theoretically lifting the vehicle, but I won't believe it's more than ~1/32 of an inch in any practical application.
