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Rear Shock Mounting HELP ??


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1st of all Merry Christmas & Happy Chanukah... Need some assistance. I bought new High performance Bilstein shocks for the car and have a question about the rear. I never thought about it previously with the other shocks. I had gotten a 12 bolt from a friend and it has been in there for years. I mounted the Tops first and the car is on the the ground. The bottom Mount of the shock the is about 3 inches over the stud/pin the bottom of the shock slides onto. So if I jack up the car to slide the bottom of the shock onto the pin/stud and put the car back down wont the shock be over Extended?

There is another hole in the braket about 3 to 4 inches above where the current hole for the bottom pin/stud is. It is much smaller, but I can drill it out or is that not correct ?

 

Thanks Alan

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Sounds like you have the wrong shocks. If the car is sitting at the normal riding height the shock should be in about the middle of its travel. If you have to jack the car up to attach it to the mount its going to be bottoning out all the time. I dont know that much about bilstein shocks but the stock ones dont do that. No dont drill that other hole out always the stock mounts unless otherwise directed by mfg. Sounds like you may have a full sized chevy shock not an A body shock.

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If it helps Alan you can mount the stud/pin part of the shock first the the up travel of the shock will stop against the mounting surface for top of the shock. On a friends 71 the kyb's the bottom of the shock was about an inch below the stud. A picture of the shock hanging in place would help. I'm with Steve on this it sounds like its the wrong shock if you got 3" until it gets to the stud. bilstein is made by eddblock and it suppose to be they top of the line shock, we have a set on the rear of nomad and they aren't the smooth riding shock but I guess that could be the fault of the leaf springs.

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With a gas charged shock, they extend themselves all the way out when you take off the strap used for packaging. If it were the right shock, it would extend itself out and be too long. You would have to compress the shock some to get it to fit between the mounting points.

As stated above, the shock should be roughly in the middle of its travel when the car is at rest. The shock should allow free movement both up & down of the suspension.

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I thought you said the shocks were to long but there to short. If the car is on the ground at the normal ride height position they are to short. If you have the car jacked up by the frame and suspention is streached out that is normal. I do notice that it has springs other than stock, if there sitting the back up to high that can happen also. Also make sure that the shocks are extended out all the way I have seen some that use the bands to hold them and have some that have to be twisted to unlock them (gas charged shocks)

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According to the Bilstein application chart those are the correct part numbers for the Monte. Are the shocks extended all the way? If they are the same length as when you removed them from the box, and there are no exterior straps, you need to twist them to "unlock" them.

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Weird that does look like the right part number if you search for them on the web. Have you tried twisting and pulling on them to see if they will come down anymore?

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Rear shocks should be about 22 1/2 extended and 13 1/2 compressed. In that picture, is the car at ride height or is the rear hanging? It looks like it is up in the air. If the rear is hanging he bottom studs will be below the shocks.

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The car is on the ground. Actually on the wheel dollies in the rear. Heres somthing I forgot since Car has been apart and now reasembling. If I remember correctly the front and rad rear springs are for a 71 impala station wagon big block. If you look at the pic in my car domain you'll see the stance. I had the old shock (dont know why it bad) on a shelf and it is same size. I do remember having trouble installing those as well. Wonder if I need those stock extension , but dont really want to do that. I'll try calling the place tomorrow and see if there a diffrent shock or part number for that other vehicle.. Yikes

 

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/3329691/1971-chevrolet-monte-carlo/page-2#33296910039

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Wow that does sit high you may have to go with the full size chevy shock on that. Shock extensions are only about 3 or 4 inches. Thats why I asked about the springs I knew they were something other than stock. have you tried the fronts yet you may run in to the same problem.

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If you're planning on keeping those Impala Wagon springs, you may have to measure from upper to lower mount and choose a shock that way (perhaps contact the manufacturer directly) - I don't think just switching to Impala Wagon shocks would be the answer.

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I hate to say this but I think that your spring choice will cause you long term issues. The heavy duty rear monte spring has about a 750 pound load capacity per spring 1500 for the two and are about 13 inches tall uncompressed. The impala springs are about 1350 pound load capacity per spring 2700 for the two and they are about 18 inches tall uncompressed. The front shocks fit because the spring is captive and the upper control arm is keeping the spring from extending any more. I would bet that the upper control arm is being held tight to the bump stop on the frame.

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