I think he's talking about that shocks that you air up for "extra load carrying capacity".



Yeah, those suck, and you'll break shock mounts with them.

 

yeah, i thought air shocks wouldn't be what I needed for my application. I'll look into some air bags, saw some on CL a while ago for like $75. may be a while though, have a new job, new baby, doing the coilover swap in a week or two, have an OHC on the way and am looking into an in dash nav lol.

 

I'll let you know how my air bags work out on mine maybe do a write up

 

That would be awesome!

 

my dad has em on his 98 silverado 1500 for towing his 93 collins 25' 5th wheel and no problems to date ... the silverado is a stock 2wd with a 351, and has probably towed the 5th wheel 7000 miles or more (many sierra nevada trips, fresno once per year, beach a lot, canada / montana last 2 years)

 

Here they are from summit....

Monroe MA769MM - Monroe Max Air Shock Absorbers - Overview - SummitRacing.com

I qoute... "These Monroe Max Air shock absorbers are ideal for vehicles that haul heavy loads or tow trailers. They are designed to maintain vehicle height and can be inflated or deflated as needed, from 20 psi to 150 psi with the vehicle loaded."

They are only 69 each, not to bad. I have never heard of them breaking the shock mounts, but that is a distinct possibility with the added stress being placed there. However, if you drop the pressures during when you travel off the pavement, I can see the chances of breaking a mount lessen.

Then again air bags aren't much more money....

Air Lift 59516 - Air Lift Ride Control Kits - Overview - SummitRacing.com

 

the air bags have 2 bolts holding them in top and bottom, make a new top and bottom plate, swap them in and out. piece of cake.

in probably 90% of your driving you could just leave them in.

 

Those were on my El Camino when I bought it, and I was replacing shock bolts constantly. They did help it carry a load, but the shock mount isn't designed for a lot of weight.

I have the AirLift bags on my truck now, and if y'all remember when I had the Jeep on the trailer behind it, the rear wasn't squatted at all, though the front was lifted a bit.

 

If I put the monroes on i would beef up the shock mounts so that wouldnt be a problem. how did the el camino ride when the bed/hitch was empty? since you have had both how would you compare the two (air shocks vs. air bags)?

the air shocks seem simpler and cheaper, I'm just afraid of a sh!tty ride when I dont have a load.

 

Once you air down the shocks, it didn't kill the ride, but the shocks aren't that good of a shock to begin with. And comparing the ride of the Elky to a Ranger is apples and oranges. The Elky is a triangulated 4 link coil spring car suspension. The air shocks didn't ride good at all when aired up though. Personally, I prefer the bags, and install, other than drilling a few holes, is dead simple. The bags also have a much higher rated load capacity. Also, even when aired all the way up, they ride nice.

 

well, my install of airbags would be more complex since I want to keep my suspension travel but thanks for the input. looks like bags is the way to go.

 

Or if you got really bored and went crazy with it, you could get heavier duty bags and build a custom 2:1 cantilever setup for them. lol

 

That would be sweet but a little more involved than I want to do right now lol

 

So i got the air lift kit went to install it and wasn't happy with the air bags that were supplied, and with my stock wheels and 285/75/16 bfg's the tire rubs the top bracket when i flex. i also had just found a set of Firestone air ride bags much better quality and design in my opinion. If i was going to do it again I would just come up with the money to get the Firestone's in the first place. so as of right now I'm going to see what i can do about my clearance issues. I'll find my camera and get some pictures for you

 

What air lift kit did you get that you weren't happy with? Pics would be awesome. Did you do anything to the mounting system so it wouldn't hurt your flex?

 

Air Lift 59516 - Air Lift Ride Control Kits - Overview - SummitRacing.com

Basically what i got, bags are really small in comparison to the brackets that are used to mount them. You need at least 8" from your frame to the wheel/drum. we were still trying to figure out how to set them up so i didn't lose up travel or down travel. sorry i haven't gotten pictures its dark when i get off work and i haven't gotten my camera back from the camera shop.

 

No hurry on the pics. this is basically a project to give me something to do when bored, not something I NEED to do.

Yeah, thos bags look sh!tty compared to the firestone ones.

 

yeah i paid way to much for them imo. i need to measure the length of the bags compressed and extended the firestones have way more travel than the air lifts do so from an off-road point of view those would be the way to go.

 

I may pick up some this weekend. found some firestones used on CL, gonna check them out.

 

well my upper brackets are off and on the floor of my buddy's shop. i just need to buy a replacement 9000 firestone bag, cut up and reinforce the top bracket so my tires clear it upon travel. good luck with your set!