suspension

I have a 94 caprice that sits lower on the passenger side. When parked, it looks uneven. When driving, sometimes I hear a noise under the front end when I hit bumps and turn sharp corners. I thought it might be a busted shock but I read it could be the bushings or spring. What would make a car sit lower on one side?

Shock absorbers do only that - Dampen wheel movement. Springs hold the vehicle up against gravity. I suspect all the springs on an older vehicle, especially a 4,500 pound one.

Shock absorbers do only that - Dampen wheel movement.
you may be supprised. gas charged shocks support a suprising amount of weight.
my car rode about 3" higher after i put gas charged shocks on vs the old nongas charged ones.
of one was busted, it would sit lower on that corner.

I know that gas charged shocks and struts do offer a minor spring effect, but that's not their primary purpose. Even teh "high pressure" monotubes only have about 100-140 PSI of nitrogen, and can offer maybe 100 pouns of spring force.

You may be correct that some sag is due to a lost shock charge, but I presumed that it was more noticable than 3/4" or so that might result from a blown shock charge. Maybe I was mistaken.

The older Caprice/Impalas were notorious for a passenger front spring sag. I had 3 of them that had it. As far as your noise goes, you might have a broken shock, but it should be obvious if the outer cover is loose or the rod itself is broken. Look at your sway bar links, those break often enough.

Bob

i guess it is just more noticable on the old cars that were not designed with gas shocks in mind.
i'm positive my car rides about 3" higher now that i put KYB gas-a-just shocks on.
before, the bottom of the fender was lined up with the top of the White line on my tires. now, with new shocks, there is 2-3 inches between the top of the tire and the bottom of the fender.
the pic in my sig is after the change.

Gas shocks will lift a car a little. They tend to be harder to install than normal shocks as their initial static compression is higher.

Bob

the bottom of the fender was lined up with the top of the White line on my tires

Wow, your suspension must have been shot. Did you bottom out a lot, especially over things like speed bumps?