Repair-It

The rear seems more bouncy than usual. Frankly the front is kind of bouncy, too. The truck rides well but is too bouncy. The front shocks were replaced at some point, but not sure when.

Rockauto not surprisingly has a pretty large collection. I think I settled on these:

MONROE 34776 {Click Info Button for Alternate/OEM Part Numbers} Gas-Magnum Info
Front; RWD
MONROE 34777 {Click Info Button for Alternate/OEM Part Numbers} Gas-Magnum Info
Rear

https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.ph ... 7&jsn=1369

Total cost shipped would be $133.69 which is pretty cheap for 4 shocks and these are in the Heavy Duty category and seem up-rated from OEM. I can't quite convince myself to pull the trigger yet. But since I've fixed a bunch of stuff over the past 1-1/2 years I guess I feel like it might be worth doing shocks on.

- Upper and lower balljoints (It's a Dodge!!), front shocks, $679 parts & labor - June 2014 @ 109k

Geeze, front shocks only 13k ago. I mean the rears are definitely worse. But you can get the front bouncing and it will continue a few oscillations before damping out. I could do just the rear and see how I like it I guess.

Do you know what type of shocks they were replaced with? It might be like the Ranger, you get some shocks that are new, but don't provide much more damping than the worn out ones.

I could check the history but I don't think I'll find the actual shock part number.

The "good" news is, if I just do the rears, it may end up riding like my Roadmaster: too stiff in the rear, too soft in the front.

I am ordering rear shocks. If the front seems too bouncy after that, I'll do the fronts, too.

Ordered the MONROE 34777 @ $34/ea.

https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.ph ... cc=1354137

For some unknown brain fart reason, I only ordered 1 shock. Also, I am going to need bolts based on the looks of what is there now.

Shock bolts are $5-$10 each and that doesn't include the nut. I will probably chance it with what Ace or TSC has. They usually have decent shoulder bolts in stock.

I received my other shock these week and tackled this today. It was really pretty easy. Didn't even have to jack it up or drive it on ramps. I did have to lower the spare tire to gain clearance to the driver's side upper mount but it lowered no problem. The tire is in great shape. The wheel is not in great shape. The winch worked perfectly but the bracket at the end that holds the wheel up folded in two due to rust so the spare is in the bed right now. I may try to fix that but it is better than the spare dropping onto the highway and causing an accident.

The old ones were almost completely dead though not totally. Effectively no damping though. Likely original. Here is the tire on the ground. Never used one of these underbody winches before but it was cool (until the bracket broke). New shock. I faced the label the wrong way but it's probably just as well - they are Monroe. The shock hardware was all good. The heads had some rust but the bolts themselves were very solid. I reused no problem. The shocks are staggered so the driver's side one goes from the back of the axle up towards the rear to mount. The passenger side one was the opposite. I think it reduces axle hop or something. Pretty typical for trucks. See, the bolt was in very good shape overall. I think they were 21mm but I hammered on a 13/16" and that worked well for the bolts. I used my impact of course, and they came right off. I did soak everything last week so that probably helped some. New passenger side shock. Super easy. I just cranked it down with the impact and let it run a couple seconds. They are big bolts, so I made it "tight." Here is the spare winch deal. You use the toolkit under the rear seat and it has a lug wrench and some long pieces for the jack and the spare tire winch. Yes I wised up and flipped the lug wrench around the other way so it was a proper handle. This is the winch. I forgot to snap a pic of the busted bracket. Test drive revealed 100% better body control. These shocks are just what I was looking for. They definitely have some damping. And I have no immediate desire to change the fronts even though they are not as stiff but they are far more recent so I'm good for a while I think.

I forgot to mention that the upper nuts had these sheet metal locking things that keeps the nut from turning around so you can just blast the bolt off. Handy.

kevm14 wrote: This is the winch. I forgot to snap a pic of the busted bracket.