Inherited a 93 Pickup with a Trail Master lift kit on it. I believe it's a 4" lift, measuring from mid bolt to mid bolt on the IFS brackets. 3 1/4 inch tapered blocks in the rear. I want to replace the shocks with Bilstein 5100s as I have 4600's on my 23 Frontier and they're killer. The Trail Master shocks are beat to hell and have dents from the bump stops by what I can see. Is this common with this style of IFS lift? Is the lift missing something or either control arms? While the existing shocks lasted close to 30 years getting dented, I want to avoid beating on anything new needlessly. The gap is minimal and seems odd it'd be designed that way. Any help would be appreciated.

 

1st, can you post pics of the Suspension system? Its really healpful if you can post some pics.

Its not common for these IFS systems to damage a shock because of the bumpstops
If the Shocks look like they have been hitting the bumpstops, it may mean the shock locations has been altered (POORLY).

Maybe what youre seeing is damage from the shock getting forcefully bottomed out, possibly during a jump or a hard impact.

Check to see if the torsion bars are still on the truck. They connect to the Upper control arm and give it lift, acting like a spring. If theyve been removed, it could lead to that situation.

Again, pics would be helpful. Hope this helps.

 

I see the pics and the shock body looks to be resting against the bump stop which isn’t right.

 

Images were included with original upload and loading on my end. Not sure why you didn't see them. Cashmoney00 saw them after you at least. Either way, sorry about that mate.

 

The contact with your shocks is due to the installation of the lift, with stock suspension there would be no contact.
From what I see the bump stops are not doing anything now that your truck is lifted, either grind away enough to clear the shock or remove the stop altogether.

 

ITs because of the lift like others have stated. There is supposed to be a bump stop extension to lower them down so they hit the lower arm.

 

Thanks! That makes sense. I just noticed looking at some Rough Country lift examples that there were these long Bump stop extenders. So I see what you're talking about and can't believe I missed it before. There's not much info for Trail Master left to compare.
I'm a noob to this stuff so excuse my ignorance, but wouldn't extending the bump stop that much like my example photo substantially reduce the flex? But I guess you'd need equal length extenders to match your lift height for them to work...
I guess in the interim, I'll grind down the outer ring of the stop to avoid any issues with the new stuff going in.

Bump Extenders

 

That system isn't made to give more articulation or travel. It's made to just give room for bigger tires.
Right now, something else is acting as the bumpstop so until you get extensions for the bumpstops, just take them off.

 

looks like I can see the pics now… hmmm. Yeah, that lift is really too high for the stock suspension. Guess you’ll need to grind off a portion of the bump stop that is touching the shock, and those extenders look goofy as all hell, I wouldn’t use em.

I know there’s hydraulic bump stops you could us, but you’d have to fabricate a way to mount them.

Check Durobumps or SumoSprings for a replacement bump stop that may solve your problems

ultimately the kit you got isn’t a long travel setup with LT shocks and coilovers, so it’s pushing the stock suspension geometry past its limits.

 

They do look goofy as hell. I want to avoid them so I guess I'll be grinding.
Anyone have good info on threads or videos on converting to coil over setup? Lot of lift kits when I search are these rear block and IFS brackets for this gen. I see people have done it, but not good info on how or what products they use.
It'll be a future project, but I'd be down to getting a better lift kit and getting better offroad performance. Maybe one day I'll roll it on the rubicon. Nice to have goals...

 

A solid axle swap will get you a lot more travel and will do much better if the Rubicon is your goal

 

Grinding? Can’t you just unbolt? If you had the bumper extension that’s what you’d do.