your shocks will get peppered with stones when mounted infront of the diff much like the landcruisers, .i would look at putting some sort of shield on them.

don't know, a sierra person should be able to help.... what is your current set up?

:?

Pic's of said smashing??

mate it looks like ur diff has been moved back but the top shock mount hasnt changed, making the shock lean forward (towards the front). i dont own a sierra so cant go have a look, but im sure someone else will comment.

do u know if the diff has been moved back?

just chop the outer steel upper dust boot off the shocks, it has been damaged by the brake line bracket.

Even a bit of angle or rubber or something, actually rubber would be best because it wouldn't do damage if it bottomed out onto the shield.

Is it doable though?

where are they made? lol

hitting the fuel tank?! wtf? lol

looks like you got longer leaves - the shackle angle is quite shallow and like shandy92 said, the diff moved back. Not a bad thing for driving, infact its a great thing - but yeah, the shocks fouling kinda sucks.

you can take the u-bolts, rotate 180degrees and swap sides with them - this would put the shock on the front of the diff, but then you have a new problem in mounting the top end as theres no crossmembers up there.

EDIT: I spent so long looking for those pics you beat me to it Fatzook!

I had the same problem with mine (even thought its SPOA). The fact that you have fatter then standad shocked and that the lifted springs will move the diff back abit further under compression makes the diff and shock closer together, which causes the brake line mounts to damage the shock when the axle twists under load.

To fix this i
unscrewed the little mounting clips on the copper brake line,
then cut the lower weld on the little steel mount (on the diff), folded them over so they were more on top of the diff
then welded the mount back on
and screwed the lines back to the brackets.

This give about 10mm more clearance from the diff, which was enough for mine. you might need shocks with rubber shrouds instead of the metal one you have.

Hope that makes sense, i can take some photos of the finished result is ya want.

Took me 5 mins

id take the shock and hold it in place where you are thinking of mounting it. Just try to see if its going to foul up on anything and where you might have to install the brackets.
As long as its clear of your exhaust etc i cant think of any reason it wouldnt work.

Doubt it will change much. Another option is to get some Doeschtech Shocks from Low Range Off Road and just run them upside down. I havent done it myself but you can run them inverted and they only have a stem on the upper end, no metal shroud to get mashed up.

Shoudnt cost too much with the US Dollar the way it is.

Yeh but you knew what you were looking for :p

Either way thanks for the info, is there any reason you know of that I can't just use the lower mounts I already have?

cut the shroud off and turn the shock upside down. the shock wont work properly but
luckily it wont make a difference on a sierra.

The problem with the current position of the shock mount is that its behind and below the axle tube. Due to the springs you have, the upper mount is above the axle tube. So when the suspension is compressed, the bottom shock mount is moving up and back, causing the shock to strike the axle housing.

You can't move the top mounts back, because the shocks will then hit the fuel tank.

But if you move the lower mounts up, this will place them above the obstacle that they need to clear ( axle tubes).

Sorry if thats not the best explanation, but you will need to do some work to solve this problem.

Alternatively, if you are keen to try running them in front of the diff, just take off the sandwich plates (plate with the shock studs welded to them) and swap them from left to right.