Your once perfect truck now bounces along the street like a ball. Even the smoothest back starts a continuous jerking motion. Your passengers ask if you have any motion sickness medication. These are all signs that you need new shock absorbers. Now you have to make a decision: send it somewhere, or do it yourself. You can save a lot of money by doing it yourself, and it doesn’t require special tools or a lot of time, so the choice should be simple.
Front shock replacement
Raise the front of the truck and support it on jack stands. Removing the front tires will increase the space you have to work with.
Using a 14-millimeter wrench, remove the nut on the top of the shock absorber. It may be necessary to hold the shock body with a large pair of bowed joint pliers. If the nut is too rusted to remove, use the nut cracker tool to break the nut off the shock.
Using the socket wrench and 18 millimeter wrench, remove the bolt from under the front shock absorber. Move the bolt through the shock absorber with the punch and hammer.
Install one of the metal washers provided with the shock over the top bolt of the new shock. It will be installed with the curved side up. Then install one of the included rubber pads over the bolt.
Compress the shock and install it to the mounts. Install another rubber pad, a washer and a new nut over the top bolt. Tighten the nut until the pads are compressed to about one third of their size.
Install the cross bolt through the bottom of the mount and the shock. Tighten snugly.
Rear shock replacement
Remove the upper nut the same way the front shock nut was removed. The nut is on top of the mounting bracket so you will need to reach in with your wrench.
Pull the lower bolt out and remove it from the shock and mount.
Install the steel washer and pad over the top bolt and install the shock into the mounts. Add the second pad, washer and nut and tighten until the pads are compressed to about one third of their thickness.
Press the shock into the bottom bracket and replace the bolt. Tighten snugly and the job is complete.
Warnings
Always support a jacked car with jack stands or other secure support.