hey guys!? what are some benefits form buyuing new shocks? aside from a smoother ride, are there any other benefits? like offroad abiltiy and things of that nature? does it raise the truck at all?? and do they work if you already have a body lift installed??

thanks again for the crash coarse

 

The shocks only job is to stop spring oscillation. It will not raise or lower anything, it will make riding more stiff or more soft as the dampening and rebounding is the only thing that is the difference in different manufacturer shocks.

 

like he said shocks help with body roll and how the truck reacts to emperfections in the road(pot holes bumps) it can also help to some degree with brakeing, less front dip, offroading difrent shocks will make the truck react diffrent to ruff terain, but it wont lift the vehicle at all, and yes thesame shocks can be used with a body lift, good luck

 

So there is really no offraoding benefits form them..just protection oif the shocks?? does it increase the trucks LIFE?

 

Most off-road style shocks are stiffer absorbing larger bumps only keeping your suspension from articulating on every crack in the road. This is designed to prevent premature wear on suspension components. They will not hold the road as well as a softer "street" shock.

So potentially an off-road shock could extend the suspension life some what.

I think the real advantage to an off-road shock while off road is preventing a shock from over heating and foaming or blowing a seal, then needing replacement of the soft shock.

 

The difference in a stock shock and an off-road specific shock will not be noticeable at all at slow speeds. They both will be firm on a truck. The advantage comes when you have a premium shock and are driving at speed. The premium shock will help prevent body roll on sharp turns, nose dive under hard braking and will prevent the rear end of the truck from fish tailing on rutted dirt roads. The premium shock can handle the road without the oil foaming, which leads to degraded performance. If you are crawling over baby head size rocks at three miles per hour you will be hard pressed to notice a difference between stock and upgrade. I have a 2003 Scab, 5.4 ltr 4x4. I drove on the stock shocks for a few thousand miles before purchasing four Bilstein's. City driving at city speeds on our crappy roads in Denver is still harsh, as it was with the stock shocks. The improvement is when I'm on the highway or driving a dirt road to my sister's house. She lives in the mountains about six miles off the pavement. Her driveway (all six miles) is rutted, washed out dirt road. With the stock set up the rear end of the truck wanted to go all over at speed. With the Bilstein's the truck sticks to the road like glue and turns like it's on rails. Just some observations from my experience.

Bilstein shocks are valved for each specific application. The shocks for my truck are designed for only my truck, and it's weight. Some other brands have shocks that are designed to fit everything from a 1997 Dodge to a 2005 Chevy, the weights between the applications are way different. In other words, buy shocks that are designed and set up for your application, or you won't be happy.

 

Old shocks can wear out tires quickly. So, new ones (provided the old ones are old and worn out) will extend the life of the tires and keep the wheels planted firmly on the ground.