Hi, I'm new here and have learned a lot of good info regarding my 04 avalanche. I decided to join today and saw your post. It just so happens that I installed Monroe Reflex shocks on my Av this morning. I'm not a trained mechanic but I do a lot of my own work, not so much to save money (which is always a good thing) but because I've had some incompetent "mechanics" work on my cars over the years. Anyhow the job was pretty straight foward. I didn't have a repair manual to help me out but what I did was jack up the corner I was working on and removed the wheel. I used the jacking locations shown in the owners manual. Use a jack stand for safety. You don't have to take the wheels off but I think it makes the job easier. I drive in alot of snow so rust is a problem so I sprayed the nuts and bolts with liquid wrench. The front were real easy. I used a vise grip on the upper mount to hold the shock shaft from turning and a 15MM open end wrench to remove the nut. I also used a second jack to keep the front end from dropping after the shock was removed. There are several locations to place the jack. The bottom bolt came out very easy and then I installed the new shock. You won't need to use the vise grips on the install since the shaft won't turn. Also the new nut is 9/16. The rear were a little different since when I cut the wire on the shock it expanded to full open position. Maybe the wire was supposed to be cut after the shock was installed but I doubt it. Anyhow I jacked the rear up according to the manual and removed the rear shock. I installed the top of the shock first. The new shock was about 3 inches too long after expanding so I had to use a second jack to jack up the frame to fit the shock into the bottom mount. It took a little work with a round punch to line up the bottom hole but it wasn't too bad. I used lock-tite on the bolts. Don't know if I need it but I like the stuff. Again I used jack stands and was very careful, if you have doubts bring the Av to a shop. You don't want the truck falling off a jack. I'm sure there will be some mechanics saying that I did it all wrong but everything seems fine and I'm real happy with the way the truck rides. The comfort is about the same if not better than the original shocks but what I really like is that the nose doesn't dive when braking and there is less body roll when cornering. I hope this helps you. By the way my 04 Av has 58,800 miles and the left front shock was leaking at about 54,000 miles, thats why I made the change. PS - I called Monroes tech line when I had a question and they were very helpful! Good luck, k-rag.
to CAFCNA, k-rag!
i replaced my fronts first because...welll they were in desperate need put the rears in the garage as i have been not really intimidated but don't want it to take forever 
