KYB on lowered truck?

[chevymotocross]

I installed a 4.5/6 drop kit last year on my 87 swb and the kit came with Doetsch-Tech shocks. The front consists of 2'' belltech coils and 2.5'' western spindles. Rear is a flip-kit and shackles. Seems some people either love or hate the Doetsch Techs, I hate them. This could be due to the nasty roads here in CT though.

Particularly, the front is what drives me nuts, it's like driving a cement truck when it comes to bumps and imperfections in the road. I had KYB GR-2 shocks on before the drop and I loved how the truck took the bumps. I know lowering sacrifices some comfort, but I didn't think this much.

I'm going to give KYB a call tomorrow, see if they can hook me up with part numbers for my drop, but do any of you have part numbers off hand, that work on our trucks with this amount of drop? I'd consider Billsteins as well. Monroe I'd like to stay away from, always thought they were cheesy.

[rwhit57]

I have a similiar setup on mine and run stock shocks. Why can't you use the ones you had? There should be plenty of travel for those shocks to work, unless I'm missing something.

[chevymotocross]

No way the stock shocks would work with this drop. There would be like .5'' of travel since the mounting points are so much closer together due to the drop. Not sure how it works for you, but it wouldn't for me.

[rwhit57]

No way the stock shocks would work with this drop. There would be like .5'' of travel since the mounting points are so much closer together due to the drop. Not sure how it works for you, but it wouldn't for me.

There is no way the position of the lower a-arm should change that much. Lower spindles don't change the a-arm position at all or much. The lower springs will but not too the extent that you should need a shorter shock. My truck has 2.5" spindles and a full coil cut off stock springs, should be real close to what you have. Unless the coils you've got are more than a 2" drop there is no reason you can't run a stock shock. If your lower a-arms aren't fairly level with the ground, not only is it going to be hard to set the camber,it won't ride real well either. I had problems with aftermarket coils being too stiff or too soft, and shorter than advertised and went back to stock coils, cut. Note, the KYB's are not a stock shock, I'm running factory replacement Monroe's and the travel is about where the lower a-arm would hit the crossmember.
You do have the bumpstops removed right?

[rwhit57]

Just wondering if you got your problem resolved.

[slammed79]

With a spindle only drop you don't need to run drop shocks, anything more than 2" coil drop (1 full coil) you should run drop shocks. Anything more than 4" rear drop you need drop shocks, a flip kit is usually 5-7" of drop, add in shackles and yeah you need drop shocks.

I've run Toxic shocks from summit and loved them. Beltech also makes some, I'd check those two out.

[VileZambonie]

I had a set of douchetechs and was not impressed with them. I would not recommend.

[rwhit57]

I have only done one flip kit so I might be thinking of something else, but do they, or some come with a shock extender bkt? I agree on the front shock setup anything beyond 2" shorter coils then you probably need a shorter shock. With spindles and a 2' coil a stock shock should be fine. A lot of guys don't know to cut the bump stop off, I've seen that a lot.

[slammed79]

I had a set of douchetechs and was not impressed with them. I would not recommend.

Good to know, I'll stick with my lovely Toxics.

[Skunksmash]

I had a set of douchetechs and was not impressed with them. I would not recommend.

Douchetech? ROFL!!