I just ordered Bilsteins to replace my badly worn stock shocks.

Looking at the Haynes manual, they say to place jackstands under the frame rails in the back and let the susp. hang down to replace the shocks. My question is, how big of jackstands would you need for this? Someone I know suggested just changing the shocks with the truck sitting on the ground like natural. Can it be done this way?

For the fronts, what size wrench is used to keep the shock shaft from spinning while loosening the upper bolt? 1/4? 5/16?

I plan on attempting this tonight and want to make sure I bring all the tools I need with me from my garage to my workplace.

Thanks you in advance for any tips or advice.

 

Yeah, you can do it with the truck sitting on the suspension, but it's a bit harder. You have to manually compress the shocks when you install the 'other' end on them. Not too bad. I'm stubborn enough to try it this way first.

 

some standard jackstands should do the trick and its alot eaiser with the suspension hanging down. you can do it on the ground but its harder to do it that way. on the front i never had a problem with it spinning on me but if it does if i remember it is 1/4. I just use plyers on my friends and it worked fine.

 

Swapped everything out tonight, no problems and fairly easy.

Driving it sure doesn't feel like any of the problems have gone away though. Truck still rides rough over bumps and seems to shimmy around corners and over bumps more than it should, and more than it used to when it had 35K miles. Anything else that might be worn out or bad that's causing this? Truck really is riding like crap.....

Kinda has me wondering if the heavy duty Bilsteins are a good replacement shock for a Z71?

 

Bilsteins are not going to be an antidote to a stiffer suspension....maybe a loosey-goosey, bouncy suspension, but not a tight one.

I had some ride issues that didn't go away until I had my alignment checked by a REPUTABLE shop. The shop that did the alignment after my drop turned out to have done a poor job. Even though certain measurements weren't way off, it made a world of difference in my ride to get a proper alignment.

I've also heard it takes about 1,000 miles for the Bilsteins to get to normal ride characteristics...though others have disputed this. It wouldn't hurt to get your alignment checked anyway, though.

 

You on a stock suspension?

And define: "shimmy around corners"

-Derek

 

I think the shimmy around corners you feel is often called bump steer... It's mainly related to your 'toe'.

I'm fighting with that right now, myself. If I'm cruising around a corners, and ride over some rough sections, the steering will get jerky like one wheel is telling the other what to do.

I measured the toe from wheel to wheel (with a straight-edge clamped to the wheel), and I'm toed-in 1/32 to 1/16 of an inch. I'm going to set up some strings around the truck this weekend, and measure that way.

I've been through four alignments since I had my truck. I wasn't happy with any until I told the shop to run my own personal specs. 0 toe, 4.5 caster, -.2 camber. I've been dorking with the torsion bars, so that's why my toe is off again.

I'm sick of bringing it into shops... I'll be doing my own alignments from now on.

 

2000 Silverado 1500 Z71 that is completely stock suspension. 59K miles currently, with about 10 miles on the new shocks.

This truck *used to be* super tight, both in handling and over bumps. I would never hear a squeak, rattle, shake or anything up until about 40K miles. Has been getting worse since then, but over the last 2 months especially it has gotten really unbearable. Riding on the highway if you hit slight bumps while cruising at 65mph the whole truck will jump. If this happens while on a curved piece of road then you better be ready for it. Normal in town driving is pretty harsh over bumps...and I don't mean harsh from the Z71 stiffer suspension, I never had any problems with that.

Around corners now it seems as if the back passenger tire will break loose or hop more than it used at anything greater than let's say 15% throttle, almost like it is sliding and hopping around corners. There's just an overall feeling of lack of control, very loose up front and in back, that's about the best way I can describe it.

I mean, are the Bilsteins I put on a better shock than what came on the truck from the factory? I want to retain that type of ride it had when it was newer when it actually felt like a model built in the year 2000, not from 1960.

 

I'll be bringing the truck in next week for a Motor-Vac fuel system cleansing, I'll have them check the alignment just to see if things might be a tad out. I'll also have them evaluate the entire suspension cause it feels to me more like some part is just worn out or dead.