nitrogen for some reason is used. main purpose is to somehow reduce foaming of fluid,better than air, when "busy". this helps stabilize operation but valving controls rate or "stiffness"
as long as theres a hole in piston,,,no lift!

 

My truck did the same thing, u think it would settle down but it settled up, I don't remember how much though.

 

I'm thinking the shocks should have been installed before adjusting the torsion bars. If the torsion bars were adjusted to the end of the shock travel, the new shocks now have room to extend; therefore, the new height. Since the alignment was adjusted for the "set" height before the new shocks were installed, it shouldn't have any bearing on the alignment after the new are installed. Just readjust the torsion bars down to the measurement when the alignment was made.

 

i dont think that ever happens.

shocks dont affect height you could leave than off,change them next week.
you can however push down or lift up on one side and see a 1 inch change.
ya gotta bounce it around and average it

 

a shock is only a damper to stop the truck from bouncing all over the place and holds absolutely no bearing on actual ride height. spring length and weight will change the ride height but only putting a longer stroke shock will just cause the shock to ride deeper into it's travel. they work best in tandem - longer springs / longer stroke shocks.

my theory on why people get a different measurements is because the front end settles more under stopping power with stock shocks so it appears that the aftermarket (slower/stiffer) shocks are adding height but in reality they're just not letting the nose settle as much when you stop to measure.

 

Shouldn't we be installing the shocks of our choice before cranking the torsions, followed then by an alignment? I've always left the suspension alone on any vehicle once the alignment is done.

 

+1 on that, last time I checked alignment is the last thing on the list. And make sure they understand in advance what has been done to it.

For what its worth thats why I only let two people work on my Hummers, me and my mechanic.