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ford shocks????

M

MDCrawler

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Haven't said much on here but I do a lot of reading and I'm up for shocks on my ride. I remember some time back about somebody saying that they were using late 80s F250 rear shocks on the rear of their late 80's long bed chevy because they were long and like 20 bucks and rode pretty good. I've searched many times and come up empty, hence the post. Just looking for part numbers and part distributor (Advance, Autozone......) and what was needed to do, if any (obviously labor). I own an 87 Scottsdale 3/4 long bed 358tbi th400 208 9.5 (14b sf) rear and D44 front 4.11 on 38x12.50's. 3in lift - skyjacker 2in springs front w/ORD zero rate leafs 1.5in forward. 3in block in rear (to be shackle flip soon), also a ORD 1in body is being beat around a little bit too as is 40's or 42's in the future.
Looking at cross over in front and the ford towers to move the shocks out to knuckles and make them truly vertical (kinda holding for a d60 tho). I tow an aluminum bass boat and drive on the street with some wheeling here and there. Been fishing more than any as of late tho. I'm not going to say I'm on a budget but I'm not putting on 2.5in king coilovers either, as much as I'd love to, lets try to be real, ya know??

I'm also going to inboard the rear shocks. Prob build something like diy4x's deal without all the holes. If I'm not jogging anybody's memory with those ford shocks, then do you have any recommendations for rear shocks? currently ranchero 5000s Thanks
 
MDCrawler said:
I'm also going to inboard the rear shocks.
Click to expand...

I am in the middle of UN-doing this myself, so let me ask you why you would want to do so, besides the cool factor and the fun of building things. (Which are both valid, and explain much of the crap on my truck :haha: )

Note that angling the shocks reduces their effectiveness, plus you can run into clearance issues with the exhaust. You could then run stiffer shocks or multiples to combat this, but why not just use the original mounts?

Ask me again in a week for a definitive answer, but I really think that a decent name brand shock in the stock locations is a good idea for the vast majority of folks.

-- A
 
sweetk30: that was the article I've been digging for. Thank you!!! You have no idea the time spent looking for it.

dremu: Well some of it has to do with cool factor and I like to build crap but I'm also aware of reducing their effectiveness but that is depending on the angle and mounting position on the axle. I'm not a fan on putting them directly on top of the axle and mounting them dead center of the cross member. I wanted to go look and see the length and get up under it and do some measurements. Right now I'm playing with trying to get the lower mount at about middle of the tube as close to the wheel as possible and see how much lean in I come up with at the top and go from there. I don't know if 27in ext. length is going to work the way I want in the rear but the front might not be so bad. I'm not committed to inboard at the moment by any means. In all honesty I can't say I've ever been hung up on a shock mount either so I very well might end up with a stock position. Exhaust is a non issue - side pipes in front of back tire but can always cut off those and put turn downs on and say screw it too. Gotta love historic plates, no inspection or emissions!!! :waytogo::woot:
I've had this idea of using a super long shock for a cool factor and building a shock tower to mount the shock outside the rails and cut a section out of the wheel well and re box it in and use a cross member to reduce the frame flex from being out so far. I can explain farther if need be.
You said you were undoing yours...... do you have any pics of what you've got/had and what was it that you didn't like about it??
 
Okay, sounds like you've got a plan and know what you're getting into. I don't think I had either a plan or a clue =))

There's prolly pix in my build thread somewhere, but basically it was like the thing Kert sells, made out of angle instead of tube. I wanted to fit longer shocks. and not cut into the bed.

Initially I had the shocks mounted dead center and the truck was wooooooooooobbbly; once somebody explained the angle thing I moved them out to the inside of the frame rails. The truck is now just woooooooobbly (less O's :D ) Part of the problem was the springs, which were waaaay flexy. I've switched to more leaves in the packs, which stabilized the truck some but reduced the droop and the need for looooong shocks.

In my case I changed most of the suspension all at once, and when I didn't like the results, am now facing changing it back bits at a time until I get comfortable with it and/or find what I did wrong. :D At some point I may start a "This is what NOT to do" thread :haha:

Anyway, in your case you know what the risks and benefits are, so keep us posted.

-- A
 
This is probably going to come off dumb, but just want a quick second opinion.
The only Monroes with the matching part number I can find is from Advanced Auto Parts. None around me. How ever there is a Monroe shock, same price but different kind. Same manufacturer should have all the same specs as far as length wise?
http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/d...95&keyword=shocks!s!struts&pt=C0077&ppt=C0035

http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/we...gle-_-VALUE3-_-VALUE4&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=

Does any one know how well these would work on a 6in lift? Or have recommendations on an affordable shock?
 
Well being as how the 4in lift procomps are 21inches long and the super dutys are 27in long then that should make a 6inch lift some where around 23-24inches depending on manufacture. Mounted correctly (keyword there), I see no reason why you couldn't make these(super dutys) work for a six inch lift or even something as big as 8inchs. That said, I'm talking suspension only, not combined lift.

As for your numbers not matching.... I wouldn't stress about that so much as long as it was made for the same application. It might have 1 shim different in the piston or a few pounds more/less gas pressure or just something small. I would have to think that they'd have to be some what close.I recommend you shoot Monroe an E-mail/call and ask them your self what the differences are and what your trying to do with them. If you get lucky and find somebody that knows something beyond "How can I help you? This is Peggy":doah::haha: and you can give them your weight and wheelbase and all kinds of other factors they "might"(going out on a limb here) be able to even suggest a better shock than what has been spoken about.
Just remember that shocks are like opinions, everybody has one and they are all different. Some want caddy like rides, others want six per tire that are gold plated to match the boo hoops (diamond encrusted 33in.........rims) and low profile tires. I can go on but, ya get the picture. I have found that if most of the people who have done a mod thought it was worth doing and liked the results, then it's worth a try for me too.
 
Just an update, sorry if I'm pulling this back from the dead of a few weeks ago. I finally got around to doing the monoe deal on the rear of my V20. These shocks are the same length compressed and extended at my ranchero's I removed. Easy install and I would swear that they are identical to my 5000's when they were new(maybe better). Not a bad tip, highly recommended. I'll eventually get around to the fronts also. Just a few more dollars saved by CK5.com.
 
Monroe and Rancho are both part of Tenneco. Monroe's truck shock is the exact same as a Rancho 5000.

Different paint and stickers.
 
sweetk30: Yeah, your welcome. I hate doing a search for something and reading 4 pages only to never find out if they ever did it or not and how it worked. Waste of everybody's time. So in order for me to be able to sleep and raise hell about this I have to make sure I don't do the same, ya know?

AJMblazer: I def had my suspicions that they were sleeping under the same roof. As soon as I had them side by side I was pretty sure and once bolted on, I was down to 99.9999% sure. Thanks for taking care of the .0001% of doubt that I had.
 
Years ago on another forum we had a member who worked for Tenneco.
Basically he said most big name lift maker's generic hydraulic or nitrogen shocks were the same. His company made most of them. There was no reason to pick a Skyjacker Nitro over a Superlift Nitrogen charged shock or a TrailMaster Nitrogen shock because they were the same exact shock just with different paint and stickers.

Similarly the NAPA truck shock is actually a rebanded Monroe nitrogen truck shock. It can be had for usually $10 cheaper than it's lift company counterpart. Only real difference is it has the metal "cover" around the shaft.
 
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