Recently I was working on the ranger. I needed to remove the shock absorber to get the cv axle out. As I was doing that, I snapped the bolt that holds the shock to the shock tower. I really need to get the truck back on the road for work, but I do not think I can get a replacement shock in time. I went to Autozone, and got a duralast shock to put on. My question is, if I put the duralast shock on while waiting for the new shocks to come in, will It majorly damage anything? I do not know what brand of shocks are on the truck right now, but I am guessing they are made for a lot more travel. When I have the temporary shock on, I will not be doing anything extreme, just driving around 60 miles a day. pics are below for the difference in shocks. Also, If anyone knows what brand shocks those are, please let me know.

 

Hard to tell from the pictures

The new shock is at full extension in both pics I assume

Is that full compression of the old shock in 2nd pic, if so that looks like a problem
If that not full compression then it should be OK with no hard bumps

You don't "need" a shock to drive, it doesn't hold any weight, its there to slow the spring down during compression and then to stop "rebound" effect so spring doesn't continue to bounce after hitting a bump

So you can drive it without a shock on one corner, mighty be a little bouncy on that corner

There are more than a few vehicles on the road with 4 "blown" shocks, lol, so no shock effect at all

 

The old shock isn’t at full compression in the 2nd pic. It could be compressed further, but it would spring back to that length.

 

just leave it out bud. return that duralast today. problem solved.

 

I think it would be dangerous to drive a vehicle without shocks. It is bad enough with bad shocks and Rangers usually use the shock as the extension bump stop. You would have to go very slow to be reasonably safe.

I looks to me that you could press or knock out that pressed in remainder of the broken bolt and just use a new bolt and nut. You could drill out the hole if it is too tight for a bolt replacement. That would work fine until your other shocks to come in.