[Bob Carriere]

Hi Mark

Shocke wise....... you are probably better find a good used set ........make sure it is complete.....clean it up on the outside and make sure there is fluid in the chambers and free to move.

At least it will look complete. Personnaly I have my doubts if these shocks were that effective in the first place. In fact when you consider the stiffness of the spring packs... the amount of natural friction between the spring leaves you could probably drive your C8 with and w/o shocks and would notice very little difference.

I can stand on the bumper of my Ford p/u....yeck dirty word... and bounce the suspension up and down..... I could not drive my pickup truck without shocks.... on the other hand try bouncing your C8 or a C15 for that matter.

On your C8 I suspect your front shocks are probably smaller than the rear ones..... I ran into the same problem with my C15 cab 11 has smaller shocks in front than the regular Cab 13......... than by coincidence while looking at a part manual for a Dodge 1/2 ton...... D15 I believe I noticed that they had the small shocks also. Goes to prove that early in the war the trucks were designed/built with whatever was easily available off the shelves.

Unless you plan to run slalom with your C8 I do not beleive that having "working" shocks is a critical element.

As a point of interest I have a Dodge Power Wagon...1956 ...4x4 of course...... the rear shocks were optional...... apparently there is little difference in the ride because it has similar multileaves spring packs that tend to absorb and reduce the bouncing motion. One has to remember that these trucks were not meant to be driven at 120kph on curved off ramps of major highways......

Hang in there...

Bob C.