Do I need new rear shocks?

[Rick Lee]

I think my rear shocks are original Boges with 83k miles on them. This weekend, while driving on bumpy country roads in NJ, I noticed a lot of bad sounds. On particularly bumpy surfaces it sounds like someone's doing a drumroll on an empty 5 gal. water bottle. It seems to be coming from the left side of the car, though I can't be on the right side to listen when I'm driving. I jacked it up on Sunday for a few minutes. I did not notice anything loose. Sway bar and trailing arms all felt snug. Since the engine's coming out next weekend, it's probably a good time to replace the rear shocks. I put Bilstein Sports up front in September. What other test should I perform or what should I look for? I did the bounce test and it did bounce one more time after coming up the first time. But I couldn't get it to make that noise except for when driving. Thanks.

[dickster]

rich

i was looking for a thread and found your unanswered one. so not wanting you to get a complex i thought i'd give you mho.

take one or both of the old shocks off. if you can depress them easily they need changing.

btw - if they've done 83k they need changing!

and if you already put sports up front, they need changing

[KTL]

When I put Bilstein sports on the rear of mine two winters ago, the new dampers could not be compressed by my 170 lbs. The old Boges (at 63k miles) needed very little coaxing to compress. At 83k, i'd say they're toast if they're originals.

They're super easy to change. Just make sure you lift up the trailing arm a tiny bit with the jack. With the car on stands, this allows you to remove the bottom bolt without it binding in the arm and damper itself. Bottom bolts can be a little stubborn, but they'll come out. Should be plenty of anti-seize on those bolts.