Thx SierraDan & ZookFan.
Being fresh to Sierras, I have noticed that there are a number of users on here rolling with the Gabriels- aside from being a cheap replacement, what are the pros of them? Perfect swap out for a 2" lift? Performance wise, most of you guys out here consider the difference between the two brands negligible in the grand scheme of things?
Living in the city & using PT 90% of the time, the zook's merely going to be used on weekends for camping, a small amount of running about the place & generally getting out bush so if there's an absorber that is a happy compromise between value, performance & compatibility with my dakar springs then would love to get zooker's opinions.
At the end of the day our new Sierra's got great bones & I'm wanting to give her the love she's probably been missing out on over the last few years- she hasn't been neglected but it's clear to me that the guy I bought it off didn't have much of a regard for the finer points of a good little work horse like the Sierra, nor appreciate the good things the previous owner to that had done to it. Truth be told, buying this thing felt like taking an under loved & unnurtured dog from a slightly inept owner.
There are a few items to me that stand out as things that she'd benefit from if I overhauled or stripped out of the vehicle. Growing up tinkering on series 1 & 2 Landies, I've always wanted to get another little 4cyl project vehicle & when this one came along it ticked a lot of the boxes for my girl & I. I don't want to pour money into it because as we all know, 4wds (& cars in general) are black holes when it comes to "small"home car projects & we'll always find something to spend it on, but I do want her to be a super reliable little mule that will happily crawl through 90% of where we'd like to go with her.
While I do all the shackle & front end bushes, figured I might as well replace the bushes on my absorbers too. When I pulled one out of the front end I noticed it has a bit of stiction happening in its return stroke- which to me indicates that replacing the absorbers mightn't be such a bad idea. Is it paranoid on my part to think that if on its returning stroke it wheezes like an old man trying to squirt a fart & slightly grabs on its return it might be time to change them?
My experience with the modern gas charged absorbers doesn't extend beyond the performance tuned nitrous charged rear shocks found on high end MTBs. While the performance tolerances of those is extremely high & tuned for a silky performance with variable compression & rebound tuning, I'm unsure as to whether I should expect a similar stroke performance from the linear compression curve & return/rebound found in a car's shock absorber.
Open to ideas based on your experiences.
*If anyone has the specific type & part number for the Gabriels that will fit my 91 lifted Sierra then I'd be grateful*
Just found this link-
http://auszookers.com/index.php?name=Ne ... cle&sid=33
These part numbers still obviously apply I'm guessing?
