I have this same problem at the moment. Just a hair over 50k and my back end wobbles all over the place when going over semi-rough roads.

After removing the rear wheels and inspecting all of the pivot points and other connections, finding nothing out of the ordinary, I put the tires back on and did the old 'bounce the rear end' trick. The back end of my car didn't stop bouncing for roughly 30 seconds (not kidding!)...

So yeah, I'd say my rear shocks are toasted. Do I need to have an alignment done after swapping out the rear shocks?

I can't understand why the shocks would be gone at 50K, mine maybe as I have about 130,000kms on her but still, I have only replaced shocks on any car I have ever owned once maybe, all the others seemed to last forever. I have 190K on my Suburban and they are great. I would think the pounding they take on such a heavy truck would have toasted them long ago, I had 166K on another car, shocks were great when we sold it, 186K on my T.A. when I sold it and again shocks were great. CAN ANYONE recommend a good set/brand for both preformance and reliability that I can buy?
Thanks

I cannot find any reason for them to have gone bad on my car either. My Intrepid still had the original struts all around until I changed them at 10 years old and 154k miles.

I did just have to change all of the shocks on my Bravada right after purchase and that was only 5 years old and 75k miles... The Bravada had factory Bilstein shocks too...

wug-

Curious. Do you have signs of leaking rear shocks? Oil? Dead giveaway to bad shocks. If no evidence of leaking then could be your upper shock mounts. About $25-$30 a side. Mine did the mini rebound thing too before I replaced the upper mounts. They were pierced through at 55k. Common problem I hear. The shocks were not bad.

I tested my ELC last night and it was working perfectly fine.

Now, in my mind, worn or faulty upper mounts should have some noise associated with them if they are allowing the vehicle body to move independant of the shock, correct... Mine is still dead silent when going down the road as well as when just bouncing the rear in my driveway. So I'm fairly confident that the shocks are gone.

I'm going to get it all apart tonight and determine what needs replacing. Shouldn't take me but 30-45 minutes to get it all apart. I'm thinking about ordering all of the parts I think I'll need tonight so they'll be ready for me to pick up tomorrow.

One other quick question. Do the replacement air shocks come with the same clip-on fitting that the stockers do?

[Thanks Ted, I will have them checked, yours was swaying as well beforehand?

Mine do make a creaking or squeeking sound when I push down on them in the drive (which is on an approx 15-20 degree grade, they bounce more than they should but not to the extreme (such as 30 seconds!!! )
Bill

When the mounts went on mine, I did not experience any of the kicking out of the rear end, just lots of noise from the back. By the time the mount went, I no longer had that problem, though.

If the shocks are being replaced, I'd suggest new mounts due to the number of times we have seen failures. When mine went, I couldn't get the old mount off the shock shaft, even with a small sledge. If given the choice, get the better mounts as some of the cheaper ones do not isolate noise very well.

Thanks. How do I know what to look for as far as mounts are concerned? Just the more expensive ones or could they just be more expensive? ANy brand to look for?

Much of it will depend on where you go for the parts. Moog, for example, is good. The ones that I got when I ordered my shocks were about $15 each, if I remember correctly. They made almost as much noise as the bad mount.