Short KYB shocks

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slowpoke17

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 6, 2018
Messages
50
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Location
MA
My Car
1973 coupe
Purchased new front KYB 4504 shocks and after trying to install them they seem too short. I still don't have the engine in the car and its on my lift now. The stud barely reaches the shock tower cap. If I jack it up under the ball joint will it come up enough to install the rubber and hardware? Its about 1 1/2" too short.

 
I just went out to the workshop to check mine. The Koni shocks on mine are just long enough to get the threads started with old bushings, with no engine. So when I tighten the shock nut it pulls the car down about 3/8".

 
Do not install the caps and upper bushings until you have the car at or near ride height. The bushings are not designed to bear the weight pressure of the suspens for any length of time and will eventually fail. Ford service manual shows how to make an upper arm blocking tool designed to keep the pressure off the shocks when servicing the front end.

If you want to read an eye-watering dissertation on the upper bushing and a bunch of  forest-for-the-trees blindness by the OP, here ya go...

https://www.7173mustangs.com/thread-71-mustang-front-shocks-are-destroying-top-bushings

 
After you install the engine/transmission the front end will drop about 2 inches, mine did and all is good!
Thanks for all the replies and reading suggestions! Interesting to see how it works. I'll wait to finish this work, as it is now the stud doesn't even poke through the cap. Hopefully this summer the new engine goes in.

 
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