Shocks

[boggers]

So im loking to stiffen up my ride alittle and get better dampening characteristics, im wondering if changing the stock oil filled shocks to gas filled shocks will do the trick.
My Hoe does not have airride and is completely stock..

Can annyone elaborate on the differences between the two??

Regards

 

[boostaholic]

Hydraulic shocks (oil filled) dampen the truck throughout the shock travel by resisting the flow thus controlling the weight of the vehicle more effectively. Most nitrogen or gas charged shocks will do the same but have a charged canister that applies constant pressure that will cause the vehicle to rebound quicker in most instances. For a gas shock I'd recommend either the bilstein 5100 (silver shock body) or the new rancho RS9000XLs (ranchos are 9 way adjustable). Either will be slightly stiffer than you current shocks and are easier to predict, once I wear these stock autoride shocks out I'll be switching to either the bilsteins or some foxes if I feel like being a baller lol.

 

[pincusa]

The gas is in the shock to prevent the oil that's used to dampen the piston movement from foaming. Since the oil has some air inside it, when it's stirred up by piston movement, it will foam. The foam doesn't provide good damping, and the performace of the shock is degraded. The gas charge, usually through a floating piston these days, is there to prevent the foam from being formed.

Because there is gas pressure is in the shock, it will want to extend the shock when compressed. This adds a little bit of spring rate, but on a Tahoe, you'll never notice. On my race car, I can change fine tune the wheel rate (force to move the wheel) by changing the charge in the shocks. Bumpy tracks vs smooth tracks need different wheel rates.

General rule: gas shocks are better than non gas charged shocks. And usually the more you spend, the better the shock...

 

[boggers]

Gas charged it is then...

Thanks....