New Shocks

While in the process of changing my fuel filler neck, I noticed that I needed new shocks. My rear shocks were leaking. I had wanted to change them for a while, but I did not realize that they had gotten that bad. When I go over a dip in the road my truck feels like the front tires lose contact with the road for a quarter of a second and I lose control of the vehicle. Then when it comes back down, it sort of jerks back into control. Michael said that his truck had the same problem and that he wanted to change the shocks on his as well. Since our trucks are near identical, he thought we could do it together. We could learn on one and then do the other easily.

This is one of the front shocks. They came black, but you know that I like blue. I spray painted them blue to give them that Thomas touch. I like to alter things a little to make them unique and also so no one else has one like mine. I think they turned out pretty nice.

Here is one of the old, front shocks compared with the new one. The old shocks were so rusty that the metal was flaking off the outside. I was able to compress the old shocks easily with just my hands. With the new shock, I had to put the tip on the ground and use my body weight to compress it. The nut holding the old shock on was so rusted it took all my strength to remove it (which is quite considerable, if you have ever arm wrestled me you know. If you beat me arm wrestling, then your strength is more considerable than mine). All the bolts came off stiff the whole way. The top of the shock goes through a hole in the frame and the bottom connects to a bolt welded to the frame. In order to compress the shock enough to get it on the bottom bolt I had to use my truck’s jack. Jennifer pumped the jack and I controlled the shock with both hands and when it was compressed enough I pushed it on the bolt. Without Jennifer’s help I would not have been able to do it (I tried).

Here is a picture of the old, rear shock compared with one of the new ones.



Seth is always so helpful. I am not sure what he is tightening up back there, but it must have been loose.

It feels good to make these minor repairs on my truck by myself. Next I need to call all the tire shops in town and ask how much it would cost to change my shocks. Then I will feel even better knowing how much I saved.