After Nearly 45 years, my tail is Dragging, Can you recommend a brand of Air-shocks?

[Plymouth71]

I'd like to find some air shocks that I can easily adjust. Any recommendations?

 

[WileE]

The title of your thread can aptly describe myself in the auto business. Seriously though, why not get the springs re-arched ?

 

[Plymouth71]

I think it would be way more work. Plus If I feel like it, I can raise or lower the rake on a whim.

 

[Hemi Rebel]

 

[coloradodave]

As has been said many times on this site, shocks are not designed to hold the weight of a car. The springs hold the weight, the shocks control the compression and rebound. When you install airshocks you put a lot of added pressure on the top mounting points that are not designed to hold it. Sometimes bad things happen, especially if the mounting points have 40 -50 years of wear and corrosion. Another negative is the ride quality, which suffers because you basically are 'solidifying' the suspension somewhat.
A better choice is to replace the springs with new ones or re-arch the old springs, as has been said. At a minimum I would just add a 'helper' leaf to each side.
BTW, all airshocks are easy to adjust. A nylon air tube from each shock connects to a 'T' that you mount in a convenient location. The 'T' is a shrader valve, just like your tires have. IMO airshocks are like putting a band aid on a problem instead of fixing it. To each his own...

 

[Bb70charger500]

Don't bother with air shocks there nothing but a pain in the azz ,as a kid I thought they were great gets the car up nice and high. But the lines blow easily or the shock gets a good bump and starts leak ing ,ride quality sucks also . Just order a set of springs from summit also there's a shock with a coil spring attached witch is helpfull too. The new leads aren't a lot of money and you can get a little bigger set why your there . My car has a custom ordered set were the mounting points are higher by like 2-3" so I won't have to mod anything for tire Clarence. Good luck in your choice

 

[monaco66coupe]

When those air shocks rip your shock towers out, and pull the metal from one side to the other side, you will wish you never had those air shocks. That is a dastardly repair to do.

 

[mopar 3 B]

When those air shocks rip your shock towers out, and pull the metal from one side to the other side, you will wish you never had those air shocks. That is a dastardly repair to do.

I have over 40 years drive time and over 700,000 miles on this combination and have yet to do the above but I have not used them as trucks either or drive like a complete idiot. Please do not get offensive but some people are capable of distroying just about anything if given the chance.

 

[Plymouth71]

Truth be told, I just need to lift the rear a few inches. I don't have the ability or equipment to work on my car at home, so i'm trying to do the easiest fix for now. I only put on a couple thousand miles a year if that, and I don't carry heavy loads.

 

[Coyoteduster]

They will be fine for a quick fix, but chances are pretty good that you won't like them worth a damn ...

 

[72Fourspeed]

Truth be told, I just need to lift the rear a few inches.

Wish that would work on the wife's rear. It's sagging a little too.

 

[Coyoteduster]

Wish that would work on the wife's rear. It's sagging a little too.

She don't have your password to this site I hope? :whip2:

 

[Roger63]

Bag it

 

[Cranky]

I've also used air shocks but not for 3" lift....at least not regularly however I've had good success just going 1 to 1 1/2". If you're sagging 3", I'm thinking very worn or bent springs. Anyways, I've used Monroe and the Gabriel. They are usually a 50/50 heavy duty shock with the air bag for load leveling. Now I've also abused some of my cars with them just for the hell of it and that includes using a 67 Dart as a truck and hauled a 383 long block in the spare tire well 35 miles to the other side of town. Was almost able to shut the trunk lid! Only did that one time since I bought truck shortly after that. On a 67 Coronet, I jacked the rear up as high as it would go and lowered the front all the way down just for S & G's and drove it around for a couple of weeks. It drove wicked bad too lol. Do check your shock mount cross member before raising it 3" with air shocks. Doing 1" isn't going to hurt it anymore than a heavy duty shock will. Think about the stresses that a HD shock creates with the push/pull effects when the car jousts up and down and then add to that with lifting it. Another thing you can do and stand on a bath scale with your back to the bumper and lift your car 3" and read how much more the scale reads and subtract your weight. That will be how much more pressure you will place on the cross member. One more thing....use a separate line kit for the air shocks. That will keep them independent and not affect how much more roll you'll get in a turn. When one shock compresses, it forces air into the other shock in a turn when you use the T valve. And with a separate line kit, you can put more air in the right shock to help plant the ride side tire for drag racing I'm serious about that too. It's a cheap way to preload the chassis.

 

[72Fourspeed]

View attachment 255878


She don't have your password to this site I hope? :whip2:

Not computer literate ! Besides, she's old. I can outrun her.

 

[SublimeSixpack]

Truth be told, I just need to lift the rear a few inches. I don't have the ability or equipment to work on my car at home, so i'm trying to do the easiest fix for now. I only put on a couple thousand miles a year if that, and I don't carry heavy loads.

As already mentioned Air Shocks aren't the best way to go, but considering your situation they'll probably be okay, especially if you only lift the rear 1 to 2 inches. That is, if your frame rails and cross piece that the shocks mount to are in good and solid condition.
Cranky's advice is good in my opinion.
FWIW I've used air shocks on a few different Mopars through the years temporarily with out any issues. I know a couple guys that have had air shocks on their B-bodies for 15 to 20 years and they've experienced no structural damage (so they say).
It's not a Mopar but I still own an '84 AMC Eagle that I put air shocks on clear back in 1992 because I was using it to pull a 5'X8' utility trailer that I hauled equipment in for my second job. I even hauled gravel, soil, and rocks with it for several years and experienced no structural damage to the cars unibody. Broke a rear axle shaft one day but no damage otherwise. All these years later and the shocks still hold air.

With that said, new rear leaf springs aren't all that costly, maybe you can find someone that'll help you install them since you're not set up to do the work yourself?

 

[747mopar]

Have to agree with the majority here, there's just not much structure there to be adding weight to in my opinion. Springs aren't by any means a hard job to remove either and the local shop here only charges about $90.00 to re-arch springs with new ones from Summit not being much more than that.

 

[wannadrag]

Buy some coilover shocks for a late 60s B body wagon they will gain you 2" and still give a decent ride.Same price as air shocks and will last a lot longer.