front shocks

[Bens340]

hey all. so i while back i decided to change up the stance of my charger. i lowered the rear 2 inches with blocks from mancini. brought the front down just by backing off the t-bars. naturally it rides pretty terrible since theres not as much tension in the bars.. any recomdations with front shocks that might help? currently running kyb's. was looking into some adjustable qa1's.. but $600.00 for front shocks without knowing if theyll help me is a gamble.

[Mike DC]

         
KYB shocks are already too stiff.  I'd suggest changing them to something better just for the ride quality alone. 

If you are hitting the bumpstops a lot then you really need stiffer torsion bars.


         

[Bens340]

do big block bars slide in or would i need control arms and keys as well?

[Mike DC]

 
The torsion bars can be changed without replacing other stuff.  You will wanna undo some ball joints or unbolt the UCAs at the chassis to get all the preloading off the torsion bars.  There is also a special tool used for clamping onto the torsion bar and sliding it backwards. (You need to grab onto the T-bar without nicking or gouging the surface of it, to avoid long term cracks in the T-bar.)     


But changing T-bars can spiral out into a front end rebuild.  You take out the T-bars and then discover that the rubber LCA bushings are also shot.  And the LCA mounting tubes in the K-frame may have metal fatigue cracks where they are welded into the K-frame . . . and then you start eyeing the rest of the bushings & ball joints . . .

[Kern Dog]

KYBs are to shocks what Wal Mart is to the fashion industry.
Have you ever seen the website "The People of Wal Mart"? They show some hideous people. KYB shocks are just as bad. Why?
There a few ways to design and build a shock. Good shocks for street cars have an equal amount of resistance to extension as they do compression. This gives the car and driver a predictable response when going down the road.
Drag race front shocks are different. They are really fast to extend but slow to compress. This is to allow the front to rise quickly (For weight transfer to the rear) and to return to the standard ride height slowly.
Better shocks like Bilstein and some others are a progressive design. This means that when going down the road, the further the shock travels, the firmer it becomes. This allows the suspension to absorb small road defects without you feeling them but when the suspension moves more and more, the shocks tighten up. This is an excellent design.
KYB Gas-A-Just shocks are the opposite of progressive. They are digressive which means that they are stiff initially but as the suspension travels further, they soften up. Roads with bumps and dips will make you think the car is rattling apart because the shocks are way too harsh. Once the suspension gets swinging, the shocks loosen up.
I don't know what the engineers were thinking in the design of that shock. It sucks. They are barely tolerable with small torsion bars and only worse with larger ones. For years I ran 1.0 torsion bars and KYB shocks. In 2014 or 2015 I switched to 1.16" torsion bars and Bilstein shocks. Yeah, HUGE increase in torsion bar size yet the car actually rode better. It was the shocks that made the bigger torsion bars livable.
To your point though, you'd be smart to dump those KYBs and buy a decent set of shocks. I run my car below stock ride height but I never bottom out the K member on the pavement, I rarely scrape the headers on speed bumps. I even shortened my lower bump stops.

[Bens340]

great shock explanation! but yea, i went with kyb only because they were on the shelf at the parts store and i needed something asap back in 2013. i know front shocks for these are somewhat limited and just hadnt known if i was missing something under 200 per shock, but still better than what i have,before stepping up to qa1. not looking for a drag shock, i like to rip the car around town and around corners. and if i can get it to ride better while being at the ride height im at then its a win.

[Nacho-RT74]

Thicker T bar will help to a lower stance without miss the spring rate. I personally have FirmFeel 1.06" bars, but could have gone with 1" bars without problem (stock Big Block T bars is far I recall 0.96", small block, 0.92" but after 35 year when I changed those... well ). Think on that upgrade which with stock shocks will keep the "stock" handling. Fortunately I got those T bars so long time ago what were more affordable LOL.

Long time ago KYBs Gas-A-Just were typically adviced, now are discarded. Is funny how things change along the years. However IMHO they are still a good option over the stock ones.

Unfortunately there is no fronts KYBs Gas-A-Just for 73 and lates but the Excel line which is not more than a stock rate but good quality replacement (I have those with my 1.06" bars). Gas-A-Just could be a good option for 73 and lates having the isolated frame system which reduces the harshing these shocks could get. If they just exist I think they are still a good option for the price, still with the lately bad opinions.

Has been told MonroeMatics are the next good option and they are available for 73 and lates on a stock price rate.

The actual new advice by everyone are the RCD shocks which are Bilstein inner gutters. But they are into $400-500 rate for all 4 corners. When times and money match, mostly sure will go with those.

Although still undecided on rear if adding one leaf on springs or using the spring loaded Monroes.