Could someone explain how air shocks work to a newbie? And possibly how to adjust them?

[#41]

Got it! Makes sense. Sounds like I might need to replace these sooner than later. I get the valve stem under the bumper is to take air in/out but any idea what the nipple is near the license plate is used for? I was thinking it looks like if I was to loosen it air comes out?

As I mentioned before, air shocks can be set up in different ways. You just have to put air in and out and see what happens. While air shocks typically last a long time, they can wear out or blow air lines.... so if they are older you may be due for new shocks. You'll find out soon enough as you experiment putting air in and out.

 

[Jeff K]

Tony,

It looks like you have some leftover hardware on that car. The air fitting by the license plate goes into a tee fitting and from there two lines branch off, one line goes to each shock. You can follow the lines to confirm that.

The corroded fitting under your bumper looks like it did the same thing at one time, but there is nothing hooked up to the tee fitting anymore. As Remcharger said, maybe someone replaced the air shocks with a second set and left the old fitting in place. Or maybe someone re-plumbed it because the fitting leaked, or they got tired of fumbling around under the bumper to air up the shocks.

 

[WileE]

Air shock inflation works just like a tire, hit the valve let air out, or push the inflator to add air. They could be set up in unison, or separately with individual lines to each shock. You inflate/deflate pressure to your preference with an air pressure gauge. And the old wives tales about busted shock mounts are just that. As with anything else, as long as the metal is structurally sound, it will be fine.

 

[Curiousyellow71]

Lifting the car "a little" w air shocks likely won't tear anything up. But.... Back in the day they jacked them up as far as the shock would lift the car. Our 69 bee was from that era..taller shackles and air shocks..resulting in the previous owner ripping the whole shock cross member out of the car.
When the rearend twisted the shock ran out of travel and it tore the whole member out. That damaged both rear frame rails. It was a mess.
You can use a lowering block on the side that is high to get the rear of the car level. I've had lots of car w air shocks. They all leak down over time. Trying to use them to level the car will be a temporary fix. You just as well put hydraulic shocks on then to get all 4 corners independent.

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[WileE]

Lifting the car "a little" w air shocks likely won't tear anything up. But.... Back in the day they jacked them up as far as the shock would lift the car. Our 69 bee was from that era..taller shackles and air shocks..resulting in the previous owner ripped the whole shock cross member out of the car.
When the rearend twisted the shock ran out of travel and it ripped the whole member out. That damaged both rear frame rails. It was a mess.
You can use a lowering block on the side that is high to get the rear of the car level.

Never in 55 years have I encountered anyone who tore the shock x-member from air shocks. We did these installs routinely back in the day, even on station wagons. In your case, please educate me how the rear end twisted. How did the air shocks cause the rear axle to twist ? The rear end is mounted to the leaf springs, what happened to the u-bolts and the springs ? Your scenario makes no sense.

 

[eldubb440]

my shock crossmember had damage, and a hole ripped through the trunk floor some time before 1985, someone stitched it back together before I bought it ......... I assume it was from air shocks?

 

[j-c-c-62]

I see one aspect that would concern me he (curiousyellow) notes. The hit from an air extended shock might generate repeatedly as it bottomed out on extension would be intense. However that would be abusive to the car and rather dumb to allow.
I think he is also addressed axle wind up regarding twisting (rotating).

 

[toolmanmike]

Lifting the car "a little" w air shocks likely won't tear anything up. But.... Back in the day they jacked them up as far as the shock would lift the car. Our 69 bee was from that era..taller shackles and air shocks..resulting in the previous owner ripping the whole shock cross member out of the car.
When the rearend twisted the shock ran out of travel and it tore the whole member out. That damaged both rear frame rails. It was a mess.
You can use a lowering block on the side that is high to get the rear of the car level. I've had lots of car w air shocks. They all leak down over time. Trying to use them to level the car will be a temporary fix. You just as well put hydraulic shocks on then to get all 4 corners independent.

---

View attachment 1890781

Yep, back in the day.

 

[Curiousyellow71]

Never in 55 years have I encountered anyone who tore the shock x-member from air shocks. We did these installs routinely back in the day, even on station wagons. In your case, please educate me how the rear end twisted. How did the air shocks cause the rear axle to twist ? The rear end is mounted to the leaf springs, what happened to the u-bolts and the springs ? Your scenario makes no sense.

Maybe I didn't describe it well enough. The air shocks did not twist anything. The car was so high the shocks themselves were completely out of travel. It really didn't matter what shocks it had at that point. Normally the shocks are just absorbing.. slowing the rearends reaction..on this car it was a direct pull on the upper shock member when the rear end twisted from acceleration. The pinion snubber was so far from the floor... the rear end twisted enough that it pulled the whole cross member out.
Rarely would anyone nowdays jack the rear up like they did back in the day so we could get our reversed wheel on w L60s.

 

[RemCharger]

Maybe I didn't describe it well enough. The air shocks did not twist anything. The car was so high the shocks themselves were completely out of travel. It really didn't matter what shocks it had at that point. Normally the shocks are just absorbing.. slowing the rearends reaction..on this car it was a direct pull on the upper shock member when the rear end twisted from acceleration. The pinion snubber was so far from the floor... the rear end twisted enough that it pulled the whole cross member out.
Rarely would anyone nowdays jack the rear up like they did back in the day so we could get our reversed wheel on w L60s.

Thanks for bringing information out for the sheltered in your 2 posts. Air shocks can hammer the **** out of your car in serious situations. . Not talking grandpa's town+ country going to a picnic.

 

[AR67GTX]

When I was a dumb (dumber anyway) kid in high school I had an equally dumb friend (who incidentally tied for the highest GP in his HS graduating class of about 300 and he never cracked a book out of class) decided he wanted to hike the rear of his Mom’s Olds 67 Cutlass a little. She let him drive it most of the time and he hot rodded it a little with mags, blue line tires, a 500 cfm Holley and dual exhaust. So we sat there pondering this one afternoon, probably browsing a JC Whitney catalog and suddenly he said - shock extenders! That must be what they do to make the shock stem longer and hike the *** of the car up. And they are cheap to - what could be better?

So he finds a pair somewhere locally and one afternoon we screw them on and drop the car down. It does seem just a tad bit higher - but to our disappointment, not much. Oh well, let’s go for a ride and see how it does. Of course it rode like it almost had no springs and made terrible sounds. When we got home we peaked under the car and of course the shock rods were bent over in a radius from the beating on them from being bottomed out. At that moment the light clicked on we then understood what an air shock was for and what a shock extender wasn’t for. A set of air shocks were up next and the car survived that.

I would not be surprised if those few instances of damaged shock mount members and punched trunk floor pans on Mopars weren’t from similar hi-jinks by kids or airing air shocks up to like 120 psi.

 

[j-c-c-62]

The problem though remains, the case has not IMO conclusively been made that air shocks punch thru anything by their use. The case has been made that air shocks can damage a rear cross member by over extended repeated bottoming out cycles with a pulling apart failure. I could see that eventually leading to an air shock "punching thru" a trunk floor after the airshock has become unsecured from its upper mounting, but I can't see it happening to any non-drugged gearhead driver, unless they were driving on a rough road while stranded in the desert in 100F heat and out of drinking water 100 miles from help, and hearing the loud/obvious clunking sounds resulting from a shock becoming looser with every bump rebound by over extension.

The shock extender recount above is likely a fluke and rather dumb solution with a predictive outcome. Second takeawy is, GPA is not by itself a great indicator regarding creative design problem solving IMO.

 

[GiantRobo]

Those were the days. If you were a rich kid you could afford Gabriel hi Jackers, Uni-lug Cragars, set of Jensen 6"x 9's", and maybe some fur on the package tray.

I sure miss all the good times and the simplicity of that era.

Tom

View attachment 1890248

Yeah I was reading this thread remembering a buddy in HS, piling 8 or more of us in his 72 Newport and just pumping up the air shocks to compensate for the load on road trips. Good times.

 

[davidplymouth1@]

I have a 72 RR that is new to me. I can tell that the left side of the car is a little higher than the right side. I was thinking it’s possible how the air shocks are adjusted. I just have no idea how to adjust them. I only see one nipple that maybe I could hook up my compressor to but how would I adjust each side? Or how would I let all the air out to them start at level before raising them again? Also I’m just assuming this is for the air shocks I guess I don’t know for sure. It is right by the license plate

View attachment 1889528

I'm no expert, and I have never given any advice to anyone here before now. I'm still running air shocks on my 72 satellite. And there's a few things I didn't see in the comments, that I felt worth mentioning. 1# - its easy to over tighten the nuts on the plastic air lines (in effect - partially pinching off the air flow to the shock) - causing one shock to NOT get the same air pressure as the other side which in turn will cause the car to sit on a slant when using the w/two lines and only one air valve stem (like you have now) Also, there's a cornering issue with air shocks - using the two lines into one valve stem system. What happens while cornering (especially during hard cornering) is the air will transfer from one shock into the other causing a roll effect, temporarily causing an uneven or slightly tilted ride, and then equalize again shortly after the corner is complete and the car resumes traveling in a straight line again. I've been using the "two valve stem" system for over 40 years because of those issues. And I don't know if you noticed while adding air to your shocks - but the more air pressure given to the shocks doesn't just raise the car - it also makes the car ride stiffer as the air pressure is increased. I guess in a prefect world - stiffer, or a more heavy (curved) leaf spring would be the best solution. For me - I went with extra-long rear shackles combined w/air shocks in order to take some of the pressure off the shocks and get a softer/more stock ride. (it was the cheapest solution that I felt comfortable with) But the MOPAR purist guys still give me a hard time about the shackles too. I never heard of air shocks busting through the floor before. However, I believe it has happened the way someone mentioned earlier. But maybe that car was very rusty - or the shocks were fully pumped up (making them very stiff) with a heavy load in the trunk. Maybe that caused it. Not sure of the particulars on that situation. And again, I'm no expert - but I think you'll be fine if the shock mounts aren't rusted out. My last piece of advice - I always wipe a little bit of grease on the rubber "o" rings on the air line seals and give a quick squirt from the DW-40 straw into the air hole on the shock itself. It's been about 3 1/2 years since I installed this current set and I haven't had to add any air to them at all. Been doing it that way forever. Post a pic of your car if ya don't mind. Take care and good Luck bro. PS I used the existing bumper jack slots in my rear bumper for the two valve stems. No drilling needed. Fast install.

 

[j-c-c-62]

I believe your contribution above was sincere, extensive and is appreciated. However, two of your points IMO were addressed in reply #3 in the second and fourth paragraphs. I will admit those points have not inspired any specific responses so far, maybe because they were simply ignored or unable to understand. As for as the suggested time delay in returning to level, that would be dependent mainly on airline size/internal air flow resistance, easy to correct, would be at worst case in an autocross slalom course with switchbacks, and believe it would be a rather minor impact, since it would resist(delay) initial leaning as much as it would delay return. A point worthy of mentioning nevertheless.