Harley#356’s How-To’s
So-Cal Rear Shock Extenders
Purpose behind the Mod:
If you're lowering the rear of your truck more than 2" its a good idea to install a set of shock extenders. It will put the shocks back in their intended operating range of motion, smooth out the ride with the shocks not near bottoming out, and improve the lifespan of the shocks with them not operating at the end range of their travel limits. So-Cal was the original sellers of shock extenders, and their fitment takes some pursuading, but Belltech recently started producing them, and for around the same price, the fit & finish is 100 times better.
Need:
-Set of So-Cal or Belltech Shock Extenders
Tools Needed:
-Floor jack
-Jack stands
-Sockets/wrenches
Process:
-I've got photo's for each step of the way, so just follow the steps in each photo description. Install is very straightforward and easy, so a lot of this is common sense, but for the newbies uneasy about wrenching themselves, this will show you exactly how easy it really is! If you have any questions, just post up and I'll edit in anything I may have missed, because as you can see in the photos I took the pics in 2004 for the how-to, and just getting around to it now! LoL!
PHOTO # 1: :Jack the rear end up, and its easier if you allow the rear axle to hang so the shocks are less compressed. Be sure to put jackstands under the frame! Back when I did this I didn't have many tools, so my jackstands were only tall enough to go under the axle, which made it a PITA to compress the shocks to get the extenders bolted up!
PHOTO # 2: :Here's a photo of the So-Cal extenders. Be ready for hardware not fitting right, and brackets not wanting to cooperate, unless you buy the belltech ones!Also make sure both side brackets are difference, since the HD's have different shock mounts on the drivers & passenger sides.
PHOTO # 3: :This photo shows the shock unbolted & uncompressed. You can see in this photo why I said its easier to do this with the rear end hanging down & not compressed, and you can see how far the shock used to be compressed with the truck lowered & no extenders!
PHOTO # 4: : Drivers extender bolted up. Everything went relatively smoothly for this side, it just may take some pursuasion with a hammer to get the so-cal bracket over the stock mount to bolt it up. Don't be surprised if you have to hog out some holes with a drill for bolts to fit in either.
PHOTO # 5: :Here's the passenger side. As you can see the shock bracket is different than the drivers side. Now is the perfect time to do the flipped rear shock mod! See my other how-to in the index listing. Basically, if you have traction bars, flip the passenger shock. If you don't have traction bars, keep the shock where its at because it helps a tiny bit with axle wrap when you don't have traction bars.
PHOTO # 6: :Passenger shock uncompressed.
PHOTO # 7: :New extender mounted. There's a 3rd bolt I couldn't get lined up, that you can't see in this pic, but I left it out, and everything was fine. It just bolts the extender to the bottom side of the stock shock bracket to keep the extender from rotating, but it never moved in the 3 years it was on there. Just last spring I flipped the passenger shock the other way, so its no longer setup like this.
PHOTO # 8: :Both extenders on! Easier said than done with the So-Cals....easier done than said with the belltechsLoL! They now hang down a tad lower than the pumpkin, but if you go over any bumps, the shocks are attached to the axle so they move up with the wheel, you'll never have to worry about scraping them or hitting them on anything like t-bar brackets on the frame rail, unless you get high centered rock crawling your HD offroad! LoL!
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Originally Posted by Harley#356
huh?
and right click or paste add does not work either
. Any help appreciated.
