New shocks longer than OEM?

[Anthony]

Decided to throw a set of front shocks on my beater 95 Nissan truck.
The new shocks are a bit longer. I installed them anyway. Is this a common thing with the aftermarket?

Another weird thing I noticed is that one of the new shocks is significantly stiffer than the other new one. They are from Rockauto so no runs back to the store for exchanges lol.

 

[measureman]

Rock Auto?
Counterfeit shocks?

 

[slacktide_bitog]

does the old one go up completely as it should? Sometimes blown shocks don't come back up the way they're supposed to

Did they ship from the same warehouse? Same brand? Same date code?

Rock Auto?
Counterfeit shocks?

nobody is counterfeiting Gabriel

 

[measureman]

does the old one go up completely as it should? Sometimes blown shocks don't come back up the way they're supposed to

Did they ship from the same warehouse? Same brand? Same date code?


nobody is counterfeiting Gabriel

Ya never know.

 

[Anthony]

Rock Auto?
Counterfeit

does the old one go up completely as it should? Sometimes blown shocks don't come back up the way they're supposed to

Did they ship from the same warehouse? Same brand? Same date code?


nobody is counterfeiting Gabriel

Yes same warehouse and same date code of 2015 lol. I pulled both old ones out as far as I could.

 

[slo town]

The fact that the Gabriels are longer will mean you'll get more droop in the suspension when it's unloaded. This is not necessarily a problem unless the spring pops free or there is some kind of interference with a tie rod, anti-roll bar, suspension link, etc.

The real problem could be the longer Gabriel will not compress as far as the OEM shock. If so, this would cause the suspension to bottom out prematurely - and probably bottom out in the shock itself. Not only will this destroy the shock, it could ruin shock mounting points or other suspension pieces.

Scott

 

[Passport1]

Shocks can do things like that because they have been laying horizontal for a time. Once they get vertical and the oil gets settled this will change.

 

[The Critic]

https://gabriel.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/SPECS_BY_PART_NUMBER_2022.pdf

Do some measurements and check them against the part # in this guide. Perhaps you received a misboxed part.

 

[Cujet]

I've never liked Gabriel shocks. I find them harsh.

 

[vw7674]

does the old one go up completely as it should? Sometimes blown shocks don't come back up the way they're supposed to

Did they ship from the same warehouse? Same brand? Same date code?


nobody is counterfeiting Gabriel

I was going to 'like' this, but up-optioned to my home-spun Up^Vote.
So here it is. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

 

[bdcardinal]

Dumb question: do they list a shock for a lifted truck? When I was getting the Bilsteins for my F-350 that was the big issue since they list the same one for 250 and 350 all models so I wanted to make sure that even though my F-350 is a 4x4 DRW at stock ride height, it wouldn't need a lifted shock compared to a 2WD F-250.

 

[IndyIan]

That's a pretty big difference, I think you'll have to send them back.