Frame question

[Koor]

Hello everyone!
I just bought a ‘53 GMC Truck. It has a Chevy front end on it. The guy I bought it from said the frame was from a ‘91 Silverado. Long story short I went to buy shocks for it and 3 of them fit and 1 doesn’t. In the back the driver side has the shock that goes towards the back of the truck, measures about 19”, that ones good. The passenger side goes to the front of the truck and it measures about 14” the shocks I bought don’t collapse that much. I see no marks anywhere on the frame. Does anyone out there have any idea what exactly I have? Any help would greatly be appreciated. FYI it’s a 10 bolt rear end.

[joedoh]

Originally Posted by Koor

Hello everyone!
I just bought a ‘53 GMC Truck. It has a Chevy front end on it. The guy I bought it from said the frame was from a ‘91 Silverado. Long story short I went to buy shocks for it and 3 of them fit and 1 doesn’t. In the back the driver side has the shock that goes towards the back of the truck, measures about 19”, that ones good. The passenger side goes to the front of the truck and it measures about 14” the shocks I bought don’t collapse that much. I see no marks anywhere on the frame. Does anyone out there have any idea what exactly I have? Any help would greatly be appreciated. FYI it’s a 10 bolt rear end.

is the axle on top of the leaf springs or below? if the axle is mounted to the top side of the leaf springs, it sounds like you have a truck with a flip kit installed, the 91 fullsize usually has the axle mounted to the bottom of the leaf pack but a quick way to lower it is to "flip" the axle to the top side of the leafs. doing this with a "flip kit" (its just a bracket that lets the axle mount correctly) lowers the rear end about 6 inches. its a great way to lower a fullsize chevy.


anyway, because the shocks mount to the axle and not the leaf pads, if you have a flip done you will need either shocks that are 6" shorter, or "shock extenders" that are usually sold with the flip kit, and lower the bottom of the shock mount so a stock shock still fits.

shocks that are about 6" shorter are like the ones used on S10s, but dont take my word for it because I think the s10 uses a smaller eye on the bottom. you may have to spend some time on the monroe shock site (monroe.com), its a great resource for looking up mount types and lengths if you dont mind looking at literally hundreds of pdfs haha.

good luck!

[Koor]

Well that solves that problem!! Thank you very much.

[joedoh]

hey if that helped out, you are welcome!

[dsraven]

post a pic if you can't figure it out. sounds like you might have it, thanks to joedoh

[mr48chev]

14 inches between mounting points at static height?

This should keep you off the streets and out of the bars for a few hours. This is the Monroe shock chart that shows most of what they sell with ends, extended and compressed lengths. Stock shock for the 91 Silverado should be a Monroe 32225

There shocks that are short enough but finding one with the crosspin on the top that is short enough might be a challenge.

http://www.shockwarehouse.com/news/p...ck-lengths.pdf

I'm thinking that there is a shock mount relocater that the shops that sell drop kits for the 91 model Chevy trucks sell that might be a solution.