I restored a 69 recently.....I went to put stock shocks on the car but found they were 6" too short.....I wanted the car to sit slightly higher in the back...I found the only thing I could do to keep it fairly stock was to put air shocks on it.....the problem then is the ride.....it wants to sway when going around turns.....The back has a stock 12 bolt possi and stock leaf springs....the car sits a little low in the back with no shocks on it....but like I said....stock shocks come up 6" short !!! Any thoughts on fixing my issue....has any one else experienced this problem ??


LeoJ

 

Are you still using the stock upper and lower shock mounting points? If so, then there's no way the shocks can be 6" too short, unless you have the rear jacked up by more than that much, or you have the wrong shocks.

 

This is what is driving me crazy...everything is together and the stock shocks are short of the mounting points by 6" !!??

 

Are they gas shocks? If so, did you remove the retaining strap? lol Did you try extending them all the way by hand?

 

A couple of pictures would go a long way on "seeing" a possible cause.

There would seem to be no way that the correct rear shocks would be 6" too short. Are you sure you have the right shocks? I just measured the rear shocks I removed from my car. They are 23.25" long fully extended.
Are you sure you have the correct leaf spring mounts for the springs? Deep mounts for multi-leafs. Does it have the correct shock mount for the spring mount? check out Mary Pozzi's web site for some excellent pictures and information on 1st gen suspensions. FIRST GEN SUSPENSION
Do you have the correct rear spring shackles? Stock shackles are about 4" long. The fad back in the day was to jack the rear end up with longer shackles.
If the spring bolts were tightened with the rear end hanging down, it will load the springs and keep them from sitting flat. Loosen the bolts, sit the car on the ground, bounce it up and down a few times, and re-tighten the bolts.
Air shocks are terrible. If after everything it still sits too high, replace the springs and/or try shock extenders.