Let me do my front axle swap on your lift and you can keep them haha

Made in USA that's oldSome measurements to compare.
Pre tear down, unknown 4" lift springs.View attachment 441327View attachment 441328
New Tuff County HD.
With old shocks connected, @ 3/4" more droop.
View attachment 441329View attachment 441330
With shocks disconnected
View attachment 441331
@ another 3/4" of droop
How old do think these shocks are?View attachment 441332
Oh, you don’t like forearm slicers?Quick removal of sharp edges left from cutting u bolts
View attachment 442273
View attachment 442274
View attachment 442275
That front axle doesn’t look flexed at all.Pulled the shocks, rotated the tires and set it down, on my articulation ramp.View attachment 442368
Did this with and with out the sway bar. Losing the sway bar got me ¼" more droop and @⅜" more stuff.
My factory shock mounts are 21¾" droop and 18¼" stuff.
The ORD Bilstein recommend for 4" lift is 23⅜ and 15⅛.
The 3" lift recommend is 22½ and 14 even.
The spring is almost flat, as pictured. I know there might /will be more movement then I created. Question is how much.
The snubber to spring plate had 4" of clearance.
So which shock do I order?
To figure out my shock length I just measured my eye-to-eye shock mount length at rest. I then diveded that by 2 which will give the stroke length needed. The front shock mount eye-to-eye measurement was 22". I diveded that by 2, and it gave me 11". Since a 10" stroke is the longest stroke length Bilstein has that is what I went with. My shocks have basically 6" of compressed travel, and 4" of rebound travel. My limiting straps only allow for 2" of rebound travel.Pulled the shocks, rotated the tires and set it down, on my articulation ramp.View attachment 442368
Did this with and with out the sway bar. Losing the sway bar got me ¼" more droop and @⅜" more stuff.
My factory shock mounts are 21¾" droop and 18¼" stuff.
The ORD Bilstein recommend for 4" lift is 23⅜ and 15⅛.
The 3" lift recommend is 22½ and 14 even.
The spring is almost flat, as pictured. I know there might /will be more movement then I created. Question is how much.
The snubber to spring plate had 4" of clearance.
So which shock do I order?
I learned the hard way on my ‘57 Chevy … NEVER cheap out on AN fittings. I stuck with Russell fittings for the longest time and after spending what I thought was too much coin, bought some no-names on eBay. Life began to suck after that, made even tougher as there’s no way to visually tell one from the other.Got the 77 in shop. It been in for a week or 2.
Got a laundry list of updates to do. Going to do the front axle gear change and new front lift springs.
Been fighting an oil leak at the rear, got worse when oil cooler was in stalled. A drip from the adapter between block and filter.
Today after racking, looking the under side over I find one of the AN Fittings is leaking.
Between this new leak and the old leak I think this truck doesn't want an oil cooler. Ima gonna pull it.
Have to figure out if those Fragola or Amazon Evil fittings I don't remember who's ATM.
Discovered I need 50"ish jack stands so I can do the springs standing up.