Though similar, a coilover is not a mere shock absorber. Shocks are not load bearing, and thus are not designed to carry the weight of the vehicle, only to lessen the harshness of the springs and other suspension components during travel. A coilover, on the other hand, is load bearing, and could conceivably raise the rear of the truck or allow for heavier loads without sagging. Considering these facts, my statement remains true, a shock absorber cannot raise the rear of a leaf sprung truck.

As for the use of the coilovers, I would be curious how well our shock mounting brackets hold up after extended use of this system, as they were not designed to bear any significant load.

 

I could be way off base here, but just thinking about the physics of a shock absorbed and the principals behind the conservation of energy, I don't know that you could say that the shock mounting brackets were not designed to handle any significant weight.

I will warn you now I am going to go eng-i-nerd on the subject for a minute.

The mounts were designed for shocks... which means that, regardless of the type of shock (standard or coil over), it is designed to dampen the oscillation (resist sudden movement) of the suspension. During that action I see no way that the shock could resist a sudden movement (dampen) of the suspension (and the truck itself including payload) and not see significant load.

For example, you go over a speed bump at a fairly good pace, to dampen this jarring movement the shock resists the sudden movement and attempts to spread the impulse over a longer time to make it appear less sever. To accomplish this the shock has to oppose the natural movement of the tuck (on the compression of the shock) and the spring (on the expansion of the shock)

Just because the shocks see little load under steady state conditions (flat roads, parked) it is not a fair assumption to say that under transient conditions (dampening operations) that they will not see load.

It is true that the coil overs would place some load on the mounts under steady state (normal) conditions that were not there with the stock shocks, but to think that this force is in excess of what the mounts would see during dampening would be a big stretch.

long story short... yes it places some additional force on the shock mounts that would not be there with normal shocks, but nothing beyond what the mounts were designed for (i would imagine)


nateroach

 

I am certainly no engineer, but I think about it this way:
The only thing tying the two mount points together is the shock. At rest, with all else being equal, you can remove the shock without compromising any other portion of the rear suspension. The rear won't even sag, because the shocks aren't holding anything up. When mounted, unless the shock is topped or bottomed-out, the only resistance the shock offers is provided by the fluid inside. With the shocks off of the truck, the piston can by pushed through most of its stroke by hand. I can't imagine pressure on the mounts being more than a couple hundred PPI during normal operating conditions. Considering all of these things, the shocks cannot possibly put that much strain on the mounts, when considering the strain on load-bearing components like, say, the leaf spring shackle and mounts.

Not even considering the frameside mount, take a look at the welds on the axle mount, and tell me if you think it looks like it was made for weight handling of any significant amount. Simply put, these mounts were not engineered to support the weight of the truck, only to withstand the resistance of the shocks.

As soon as you install the coilovers, they will push against the frame mounts and push the axle down, away from the frame, providing lift. This unloads some of the truck's weight from the springs, which is now supported by the coilovers. I would like to see how this system withstands years of use/abuse.


Again, I am no mechanical engineer, and my physics is rusty at best, but it makes sense to me. Am I the only one?

 

The rear monroe load leveling shocks are in and installed. It gave me a 1 1/2 lift in the rear and the ride is pretty much the same. I notice nothing different really, overall, BEST BANG FOR THE BUCK IMO. I paid $110 for the pair with a LIFETIME warranty and not only are they NEW shocks with coil overs, but it lifts the truck over an 1" and will help with sagging when towing, NO-BRAINER, THANKS for advice on it. I installed the Bilstein 5100 2" leveling struts up front and overall very satisfied. I figure when the rear settle in, it will drop to only a 1" in the rear v.s. the current 1 1/2 inch. This is exactly what I was looking for, a little bigger than stock but NOT too big where I have to change out so many other parts to accommodate the lift

 

I was about to start a new post with the same questions you had. Viking - Can you comment back about pros and cons of this setup now that you have had some time with it? Also, did the rear settle down to 1 inch? Got any pics and measurements so I know how much of a rake there is with this set up? Thanks!

 

I am also looking at pulling the trigger on a set of Bilstein levelers for my truck but I have been reluctant to when I saw all the remarks about a "Death Wobble". Does the wobble only happen when the liftis maxed out? Does this wobble cause problems to CVs?