Shock length. Spacer or not?

[SpareParts]

So if anyone was watching my RC 4in lift fail, I have a question for anyone really.
I ended up putting a 2in lower spacer on the front struts. I found it was a little low looking in the rear. So i made the rods longer using the auto level air shocks, making the rear sit just a hair higher than the front.
Using that much air pressure made the rear ride stiff so reducing the air pressure was needed as more weight on the spring's would help a lot.
To that end i put 1.5in rear spring spacer's on the rear spring's that should help to lower the air pressure i would think.

So now you know what's going on.
My stock shocks fully extended measure 23in.
With the full weight on the rear springs the measurement on the truck from mounting eye to eye is 21in. That only leaves 2in of downward movement.
I think i need to use the 2in RC shock spacers?. That would make the center to center 19in and make the shock running closer to the center of travel.
Sound about right?

 

[SpareParts]

From what i can find there is 7in between fully extended and compressed. With the 2in RC shock spacers it looks like i have about 3in up and 4in down travel.
That should put the shock close enough to it normal ride height i think.
The rear shock airbags are now soft when squeezed and have just enough air to keep the bags from rubbing together.
Driving, The ride now feels great with all new shocks and struts.
It sits just a little higher in the back than i like and i think a 1/4in more spacer on the bottom of the front strut would make it sit perfect. i can live with it the way it is for now though.

 

[Dustin Jackson]

Based on your description I can't tell if you should run them but when I used a rear spring spacer with 81069 rear springs (a little taller) my bilstein 5100 shocks suffered until I put that kit on and then after that it made a huge difference because of that. You are on the right track. Things to also consider at that height are longer rear swaybar endlinks and correcting the centering on your rear axle I bet at ride height one of your rear wheels pokes out more than the other.

 

[SpareParts]

With a 1.5in spacer i did not think it was enough to be off center but as luck would have it, I did put an adjustable track bar on a month or so ago.
The sway bar end links are a little short for sure but usable for now. I do have longer ones but they are too long. I need to measure and find some adjustable ones i guess.
It does ride 100% better with the springs doing the lifting and not the rear shock airbags.

 

[Joseph Garcia]

With a 1.5in spacer i did not think it was enough to be off center but as luck would have it, I did put an adjustable track bar on a month or so ago.
The sway bar end links are a little short for sure but usable for now. I do have longer ones but they are too long. I need to measure and find some adjustable ones i guess.
It does ride 100% better with the springs doing the lifting and not the rear shock airbags.

Did you remove the electronic shocks and replace them with passive shocks?

 

[SpareParts]

No. I used GM Z55 shocks.