Guys can anyone tell me how i would know if a shock was good or bad without it being on the truck?

I am looking to buy a set of struts and shocks for my 07 that i am being told only have 10K miles on them..being mine are wore out and have 46K for 75 bucks vs 350.00 for new i thought i would try.. but wanted to know how i would know if they indeed were better than mine.

thanks for the tips:o

 

If they only have 10K on them, odds are they're OK. But, if they're the stock ones someone took off and selling, my recommendation is to move on. Spend the money on new, quality shocks...you'll be glad you did. There's really no way at all to tell if a shock is good or bad on the shelf. Your truck also doesn't have struts.

 

I have a 2007, and it does have struts. he took them off because he lowered his truck and put something else on. I just thought maybe you could try and compress or something maybe to tell if they were weak.. mine are bad, about to make my truck fall apart when i hit any thing bigger than a ant hill. Cant afford $350.00-$400.00 right now to put new ones on. Doing major renovations around the house and it is taking all my extra money.

thanks

 

With 46k on your stockers, they're probably not completely shot, but then the stock ones aren't great (once you've had a really nice set) when new anyways. Guess you're at a point where you'll just have to pull the trigger and see. There is no compression test to tell...I recently removed a set of shocks from my truck that had 60k on them and I knew for a fact they were shot. Once off the truck, they were as stiff to compress by hand as my brand new ones. So, no indication there at all. Your '07 has what's called a coil-over. It's a standard shock with the coil spring affixed to the body of the shock then mounted to the truck as a single assembly. Struts are what used to be on the old cars that didn't have an upper control arm (your truck still has an upper and a lower control arm) and the top of the strut was moved around to control/adjust front end alignment. The body of the strut actually served as a component holding the front end in place so-to-speak, and not just mounted to absorb shock. Best example I can think of off hand is the '97-'03 Mustangs...those were struts.

 

well this site says strut front shock rear, and everywhere i have read says 04 and up now has struts on front.

http://www.shockandstrutwarehouse.co...Struts&mode=PA

I am not saying you dont know what your saying because i appreciate the response..but you are right about one thing i do need to pull the trigger because if i keep driving it like this, everytime i stop at a light i will have nuts and bolts falling off my truck from it being shook and rattled loose hahah..

 

Yes, all the generic sales websites say strut because it's a generic term for them, but it's incorrect. Look it up in a service manual for a reliable source. Look at what they're called on a quality website like Rancho, FabTech, King, SAW, Fox, etc...coil-over.