69 Camino Shocks over extending.... help!

[Dayzedandkonfuzed]

So we have a 69 El Camino, just put RPC tubular lower control arms in it, now it seems like the shocks are too short. We can bolt the bottom on to the control arm, and only have about an inch of thread sticking through the frame when its jacked up. Now these shocks will work just fine for driving it around, but as soon as the car gets jacked up, the shocks over extend because they're carrying the weight of the suspension, puke all their oil out and seize up solid. Everything on this car was brand new 3 or 4 years ago when it was restored. What gives?

Not that it means much, but the car sits at stock ride height with these arms.

[raustinss]

You just need a slightly longer shock....longer by the same amount that the lower control arm is lowered...1,1.5" ? If everything else is stock or close to, I'd say keep the values the same

[hotrodalex]

Do the control arms have a dropped spring pocket?

[Dayzedandkonfuzed]

You just need a slightly longer shock....longer by the same amount that the lower control arm is lowered...1,1.5" ? If everything else is stock or close to, I'd say keep the values the same

lol thats the first thing I tried to find.... but somehow I missed these kyb 4550's for a 60's corvette. Bolt spacing is 1/16th wider but we can work with that, and they're almost 1.5" taller. We'll see how this works.

And yes they have dropped spring pockets, but a thick coil spring isolator which is restoring the ride height.

EDIT: KYB seems to make their shocks shorter than their Monroe equivalents... so when I looked this up on Monroe's size chart, then crossed it to KYB, I actually got a shock that was only about 3/8" longer. Now that I've found KYB's size chart, I've ordered KG4515 at 1.5" longer.

[Dayzedandkonfuzed]

I think I figured it out. These control arms fit 64-70something Chevelle. In 68, Chevelles got shorter shocks, by almost 2". This is why the guy I was talking to with these same control arms in a 66 didn't have any issues. KG4515's fit a 64-67 Chevelle, and I think they will solve our problem.

[Josh@Ridetech]

Have you measured your shock, while at driving height, yet?

If you take your ride height dimension, just make sure that you find a shock with a dimension, that allows enough compression and extension.