510 Wagon Short Body rear shocks

[Benzo]

Wanted to share on the channel for the wagon folks. I have been using the T3 leaf spring kit but wanted a short body shock as I felt the stock dimension ones were bottoming out. KYB support was helpful with dimension and mounting points so ordered a couple of choices to compare. Got them installed. Here are some pics and part #'s for any that want to know. The KG5519 is for a Ford Thunderbird and the KG4616 is for a Suzuki Samurai front. Since I am using the Technotoytuning leaf springs this did change the shock mounting location or moved it up compared to a stock leaf spring. I decided to go with the Suzuki shocks as based on my measurements this shock will give the car full stroke. The Thunderbird model would work too and may be more heavy duty in case you carry more stuff or want a stiffer suspension. I am using at the moment the 2" lowering blocks as well. The shocks fit with no modification and initial feeling is it smoothed out the ride. I can tell I was probably bottoming out the stock dimension Tokicos at times. Since I am using the 2" blocks that did move the axle closer to the differential/drive shaft tunnel so if the road is rough or big dips it does hit or bang hard. I may go back to the 1" blocks or try a 1.5" block to see how it is but so far the short body shocks are working. If you live in an area with smooth roads or not too bad you will notice the difference. I chose KYB as these were inexpensive to test ( about 30-40$ each) but if you want to go Koni or Bilstein or QA1 sure those will be great!

[yenpit]

GREAT info for slammed Wagons!

[edekalil]

Cool

[datzenmike]

Using drop blocks does not change the shock absorber length. Re arching the leaf springs will compress a shock absorber to some degree and make bottoming out easier to do so always increase the springs rate to compensate for this. I can't see a car maker designing a car that would bottom out the shock absorbers before it bottoms out on the bump stops. If the new shocks improved the ride it's because they are new. Shocks loose their compression and rebound slowly but after 6 months they are not new and have lost some of their dampening effect. New shock absorbers will always feel better than the ones they replace.

[Benzo]

@datzenmike You are correct blocks don't move the shock mount point or change the shock length but I am using the T3 spring kit and that did change the mount point hence I went with a shorter stroke shock. When i used the 1" blocks it was ok and the differential didn't hit the tunnel but now with the 2" blocks it does on some harsh roads and taking turns hard on those harsh roads.