So my current dilemma is that my rear end is stiff with what feels like 0 give.

I hadn't thought if it before but after measuring my rear shocks my 23.84" extended length bilsteins are at roughly 23" sitting normally.

While i understand short shocks are bad for articulation, I'm having trouble believing that my ride is so stiff due to the shock length. There's plenty of travel left for the shock to compress over bumps and therefore return to its current resting position.

Am i missing something here about shock dynamics or is the fact they're so close to max length causing my stiffness problems

 

Well you obviously need new shocks if sitting in your driveway they're maxed. How is your shackle angle? A leading cause of poor ride on leaf springs.

 

I doubt it's the shocks length, but I'd bet hard cash on poor shackle angle.

Pics of leafs would help.

Did you leave the hardware loose when replacing leafs (assuming you have other than OEM leafs of course) or did you tighten the hardware before getting the weight back on the wheels?

 

Had vertical OEM shackles, installed liquid sliders, gained a hair more lift, now it's noticeably stiffer.

This is on a 3.5" RE full pack that's a year old.

 

I'm running liquid irons rear sliders so no rear shackle and didn't tighten the through bolt linking the rear eye to the bearings until weight was fully loaded, and only tightened to 30 ftlbs.

Ive heard of loosening the clamps or even removing a leaf to soften the pack.

 

remove the shocks and see if your ride softens up. if the shocks have no downtravel left then it cant control the spring oscilation and you will get a bottoming out feel when the spring wants to extend. When i lifted my jeep to 4 inches on stock shocks it felt like i was running on no suspension.

 

That was going to be my next course of action. Right now it feels like i just have solid struts in the rear that have 0 give