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When I purchased the truck it had a pair of NOS front shocks in the belly box. In spite of their somewhat questionable damping characteristics we put them on the truck last week just to see if I could tell the difference. They had more damping than what came off the truck but were not closely matched, but we had them... Turns out I could tell a difference so I decided to bite the bullet and purchase some new shocks. After a bunch of reading on this site and others and some cross referencing I decided to try a set of adjustable shocks. Here they are:
They are not on the truck yet, but once they are I'll post my impressions. I'm hopeful that these will be a nice improvement. We'll see.

Andy

Are these close in size to the oem shocks? I like the massive look of the originals, but mine are shot too.

Did you use these front and rear? same part # ? The front and rears are different, don't know by how much.

Bob,
The same P/N will work front and rear according to their dimensions and cross referencing in the Gabriel catalog. I figured with the adjustable damping I should be able to sort out a combo that works quite well.

As far as the damping adjustability, they have 3 settings that cover a rather wide range. I was able to find limited data on the original front shocks, but what I found is within the range of these dampers. I did not find anything on the rears.

We're going to install them next week and I'll on post my impressions.

Andy

Here's a picture of the front and rear shocks off my 1951 M37, notice that the fronts are about 1" shorter than the rear shocks. I noticed that the Gabriel shocks are adjustable... by how much i wonder? or what do they mean by adjustable!

Which shocks are which in that picture?

Ashyers,
Have you got them mounted yet? Pictures when you do please!

I also found out that the 5 ton shocks (#7409617) are the same as the Gabriel #85303. This crosses over to the 89422 that Ashyers is using. So... if you find some 5 ton shocks for sale (ebay) they will work on our trucks.

Bob,
Dampers aren't on the truck yet. We've been doing some dyno work to try and sort a vibration problem. We should have 'em on next week and I'll update the post. From my experience with my front shocks I'm expecting good things!

Andy

Evening All,
We mounted the dampers today and had no issues, other than the normal herding of high school kids. They actually did a good job and nothing was destroyed except for some cotter pins.

Here's my impressions from the 11mi ride home which includes city streets, freeway, curvy/hilly rural roads, a few driveways, and at least 6 speed bumps. I know it's not the Rubicon or Baja 1000, but it's a data point . Prior to the ride the dampers were set to the softest setting and all tires were aired up to 40psi. The truck was empty except for troop seats and full canvas. The gas tank was nearly full (I'm not sure they are ever full at 9mpg...).

* you now only feel the bumps once, this is NICE!
* normally I run 35psi in the tires, but with them at 40psi the ride did not degrade, this was NOT the case with the old dampers
* believe it or not the tailgate chains/troop seats/lazy backs rattled less, chatter bumps were virtually eliminated.
* overall there's just less "activity" of the chassis/suspension

Granted this is only one test ride, but I feel the shocks were worth the $. The incremental improvement seen when we swapped the well used front dampers in favor of NOS dampers I had lounging around was surpassed by the new dampers. I'm looking forward to playing with the adjustments, but as they are I have no complaints, yet...

If any of you guys have thoughts on adjustments chime in. There's R- Regular, F- Firm, XF- Extra Firm. I'm thinking of leaving the rears set to Regular and increasing the damping in the front. I know these are not Koni's, Penske's, or Ohlins, but seems I should try and get them as close as possible to right for my use.

Andy

I got some 5 ton shocks to use. Here is a pic of one next to a front shock and a rear shock. All are compressed.

I read that the 5 ton shocks have a heavier valving rate is this true?

I can't find any info on the oem shocks as far as valve rates goes, these 5 ton shocks are valved the same as the Gabriels that Ashyer is using- in the "firm" setteng.