Quote:

I,m looking at shocks for my car. I'm in the prosess of installing ladder bars. Would a 7" travel shock on the rear be better than a 5" travel? I am looking at Afco #3875 or #3855 single adjustable.
The car is a four speed,for now, about 3000#.
SK



When thinking about shock selection with regards to stroke, remember that most cars will only use about 3-4" of travel total, up and down combined.Many will use less..Some cars carry the long shock to allow the housing to drop out further making swapping tires easier..

Most back half cars use a 5" stroke shock. Consider if you plan to mount the upper cross shock mount BELOW the trunk pan, and use adjustable lower shock brackets, you will be able to set the shock in the middle of it's stroke, set ride height and be fine....If your plans are to mount the upper shock mount ABOVE the trunk pan in some trick config, a longer shock can be used.

On a shock dyno, if the valving package within the shock is the same, shocks of varying lengths will perform the same. It just comes down to packaging for the vehicle.