Rear shock length-sedan vs wagon

I have both an SS and a stock height wagon. I put a QA1 suspension on the SS and have the old Bilstein performance shocks I removed from the SS sitting in the garage. I was thinking I'd install them on the wagon as the wagon shocks are shot. My concern is the rear shocks. Has anyone done this swap? Do they interchange alright? I looked up shock lengths for each body, both compressed and extended… looks like the sedans are longer in both collapsed (.5") and extended (1.5") dimensions. I can't imagine I'll run into issues as the suspension likely won't ever get to those extremes except when on a lift.
Thanks in advance!
Dunc

I have had the too short shocks in my wagon previously but KYB. For KYB at least, the shocks they list for the wagons were too short to get the right side wheel out without removing the shock bottom to get more drop, the next length longer of KYB worked fine.

I now have the Bilsteins in it and they are the ones Bilsteins lists for the 96 RMW wagon. They are the right length and the same as the longer KYB I had.

Thanks for the info… good to know about the right side wheel. I'll give my SS Bilsteins a shot and see what I end up with.

Just check the application chart and see if they call out the same part number for the wagons and the SS or our other sedans. IIRC when I got ours the wagons and sedans used the same Bilstein.

I looked on the Bilstein site and it didn't appear to have a wagon designation unfortunately.

I think you will be fine with SS shock as only the Buick.

In the Roadmasters they show the same AK series rear shocks as the SS, Caprice, and Roadmaster base sedan and wagon, but in the wagon they show a B6 version also. I can't find any spec sheets on the Bilsteins anymore that show the lengths like they used to. All the other brands show a longer shock for the sedans than the wagons, maybe because the wagons could ride a lot lower in the rear than the sedans because of the rear seats and big cargo area.

The body on my car is crooked, it appears, so the right side is tighter than the left so the tire hangs
up on that side. Not all of them are like that it appears, but some are. That might explain why I need the longer shocks.

I wonder if I could just loosen the body mounts and shove it over or if I would have to the weight off of body off the frame to get it to move.

There may be some technique to removing the wheels. It seems that they can be turned in at the front to bypass the issue with the fender. It does depend on the size of the tire.

Fred Kiehl wrote:

There may be some technique to removing the wheels. It seems that they can be turned in at the front to bypass the issue with the fender. It does depend on the size of the tire.

I had problems on the right rear only. Right side rear quarter panel is a bit over 1/2" closer on the right than the left. Even the stock 225-75-15 tires did it.

""Right side rear quarter panel is a bit over 1/2" closer on the right than the left.""

Varies from Wagon to Wagon. Assembly tolerances and rubber body mounts can make each Wagon body sit a bit different on the frame.

Every Roadmaster (sedan or wagon) and every Fleetwood I have ever owned has the right rear wheel closer to the fender than the left.