Shock absorbers are vital to protecting a vehicle's suspension, especially if you drive your Silverado on rough roads, or off-road. You need to change the shock absorbers as soon as you feel excessive banging on your Silverado. Replace shocks in pairs, either both front shocks, both rear shocks, or all four at once.
Raise the truck on its appropriate end with a floor jack and then support it on jack stands, then remove the wheels. Loosening the wheel lug nuts before raising the jack will help.
Raise the floor jack to support the lower control arm on its outer end if you are working on the front shocks.
Remove the upper mounting fasteners for the shock with a wrench. For a front shock, these are accessed from under the hood; don't remove the center nut. On the rear shock, remove the top fastener and skip to Step 4.
Loosen the nut connecting the L-shaped tie rod end to the steering knuckle using your wrench, then connect a separater/puller tool to the balljoint and twist it to separate the tie-rod from the knuckle. This is only for a front shock.
Unscrew and remove the lower fasteners; these connect the shock to the lower control arm on the front.
Lower and remove the shock from the vehicle.
Install the replacement shock absorber and install the upper mounting nuts. On a front shock, insert the mounting studs up through their holes. Don't tighten the nuts yet.
Connect the shock's lower mounting fasteners with your wrench
Reconnect the tie-rod end to the steering knuckle if you replaced a front shock, tightening a new nut on the ball stud.
Tighten the upper mounting nuts for the front shock.
Reconnect the wheels and lower the truck after replacing both shocks on that end of the truck.
