I need new shocks and i need some help
 

Okay so i need new shocks and i just bought 2 bilstein shocks that were meant to fit on a stock 2007 ford ranger 4wd w/torsion bars and they came no where close to fitting. they were way to small. so i took those back and now i'm desperately trying to find a shock that will fit my truck.

currently my truck is sitting on maxed tbars and belltech shackles in the back. right now i am trying to replace the front shocks only. i will get to the rears another day. i took the old shock off the front driver side and i measured the distance between the two places that the shock bolts onto the truck. it is 18.1 inches give or take a tenth of an inch. this is while the truck is sitting on the ground (not jacked up). the old shock that i pulled out has an extended length of 18.1 inches.. i was under the impression that a shock needed to have room to travel down and AND up. with those shocks i see no room for it to go up.

now the bilstein's that i bought were 14 inches fully extended... is it possible that they just sent me the wrong shocks? now at this point the only possible option i have found is a Gabriel Max Control shock that Autozone sells that has an extended length of 18.09 inches... it would barely fit but it would fit... the only other option i can think of is the Superlift Shock that is designed for use after a 4" lift is installed. does anyone know the extended and collapsed length of the 4" superlift shock? the way i look at it, i need a shock that's extended length is ~20 inches and collapsed length is ~16 inches. if i am wrong about that please tell me.

so with all that being said does anyone know of some shocks that i can buy that would properly fit my truck?

Thanks, John

Yeah they were probably the wrong shocks. The FX4 and regular 4x4 use the same length shocks.

In what way did the first shocks not fit? If they came from another 4x4 torsion bar Ranger, they should fit yours.
If your torsion bars are maxed out, of course you only have room for travel in one direction.
You need to be replacing your shocks with STANDARD replacement shocks, NOT lift shocks. This has been covered here hundreds of times. Longer shocks are going to let the front suspension droop beyond design, binding the ball joints, tie-rod ends and CV joints. If you're not happy with the amount of travel in one direction, don't max the torsion bars out.

they were new. they didn't come from another ranger.

thanks for the help but i got it all figured out. bilstein i guess just sent the wrong shocks because they were far from fitting but the gabriel's i got fit perfect to where i only had travel in one direction because my torsion bars are maxed. it all makes since now and i got it sorted out. thanks for the help though.