Chevrolet Silverado 1500 Shocks & Struts

Choosing a strut

Silverado 1500 shocks: check for electronic damping

The first thing to establish on a Silverado 1500 is whether the truck has electronically controlled shocks. Those trucks run a wire to each corner, and fitting a conventional passive damper in their place will light the dash and leave the system looking for something that is no longer there. Several listings name that setup as an exclusion for exactly that reason.

On a truck without it the decision is the ordinary one. Twin-tube shocks are the comfortable default; monotubes hold their damping when the truck is worked and cost more for doing it. Height matters as much as construction — a unit built for a stock truck is fully extended on a lifted one — so the listings quote a ride height range as well as the years and drivetrains. Rear shocks are sold separately from front shocks. The list comes to 57 items.