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I recently swapped out my 2 year old Edelbrock IAS shocks with Belltechs new Street Performance shocks. Part numbers for my 2005 Extended cab Short bed with torsion bar front suspension are as follows, for the rear the number was 2212FF and for the front the number was 310400.
I took mine to my friend Matt’s shop, AAS Tuning located in Ridgecrest California, that’s where I live, for installation because I figured it was much easier and quicker to do it on a lift but as it turned out it would have been just as easy to do on the ground with a couple of floor jacks and a creeper.
The installation was very simple and straight forward. For the rear shocks there are just 4 nuts and 
bolts, 13/16 or 21mm that you have to deal with. Remove the nuts and bolts, remove the old shocks and reinstall the Belltech Street Performance shocks. Piece of cake.
The fronts were not quite as quick and easy, but still was no dig deal. By the way, you don’t really have to remove the front wheel to swap out the shocks but it does give you more room to work if you do so the choice is yours. Use a 5/8 open end wrench to hold the bottom of the upper collar so it does not spin and a 17mm deep socket to remove the top nut of the Edelbrocks. On a side note, if you are replacing your stock shocks the top nut will be a 15mm. Bobby at AAS attached the wrench from inside the wheel well and I held it in place as he went in from under the hood with the deep socket with a long extension on an impact wrench so this went very quickly. The bottom nuts and bolts were just like the rear ones were, both a 13/16 or 21mm will work fine.
Installing the Street performance shocks up front was just a reversal of the removal with a couple of exceptions. First off, the new supplied top nut is not a 15mm like the stock nut would have been, it is a 17mm. just like the ones removed from my IAS shocks. Secondly there is a second nut that is used to lock the main nut in place, like I said, nothing tough at all. I read on an online forum where someone said to install the bottom part first and this will automatically cause the shock to compress when you tighten up the top nuts, great advice!
As far as tightening the nuts to the torque specifications go, there is not enough room to get a torque 
wrench in so Bobby just tightened the nut down until the bushing squashed to approximately the same size as the washer then he installed the secondary nut to lock the nuts in place to avoid them backing off.
Total install time was just a little over 30 minutes for all 4 corners. Mind you this was in a shop, with an experienced mechanic with power tools. In my opinion I figure if a person who knows absolutely nothing about suspensions but they had the ability to follow instructions, they could do the complete swap in their drive way with regular hand tools and a floor jack in no longer than 2 hours total. That would include finding the right tools, going to the restroom, answering the phone and helping the wife unload the groceries if she came home while they were in the middle of the install.
On to the important stuff, how do ya like them Mike? If I had to describe in one word how I feel about the Belltech Street Performance shocks that word would have to be NICE. The ride is a little more firm than my Edelbrock IAS were, then again they were over 2 years old so that might not be a really fair comparison. I would however like to believe that seeing how they were just 2 years old they would be at least close to what they were originally but who is to say for sure.
The town that I live in does not really take very good care of their streets, lots of bumps and pretty rough roads. I thought the ride I had previously was not bad but in comparison there is really no comparison. The Street Performance shocks handle the roads very nicely making the ride pretty darn smooth. They take pot holes very well making them less jolting when you cant help but hit them from time to time.
On to how it handles while cornering. I believe this is where the engineers at Belltech did their home 
work. The Street performance shocks excel in this department. I have yet to really put them to the test but I did take a drive, in spite of the high fuel prices, on a semi windy road to try them out and I was very surprised with them. Slow turns at 55 are not any issue at all, very, very little body roll at all. While it is true that I currently have a Hellwig rear sway bar, which by the way I will be swapping out with a Belltech one, I do notice a difference in comparison to the IAS shocks I had on previously.
Does it handle and corner as well as my 2005 Monte Carlo SS? I know, wish full thinking huh? I can however honestly say that for a full sized Extended Cab truck with a camper shell it handles exceptionally well. Allot better than I would have ever imagined a truck could handle. As of this writing I have not yet hooked up the bass boat to see how they handle hauling it but I feel very assured that there will not be any issues.
I highly recommend the Belltech Street Performance shocks to anyone out there that is wanting to upgrade their stock suspension to achieve a smoother ride and much improved handling performance. Not only do these shocks perform fantastic they look great while doing thier job.
Thanks for visiting my site. Be sure to tell all of your fishing buddies and come back soon!
Until Next Time, Good Luck and Tight Lines To Ya!
