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Air Shocks


Ron1200

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I have a lowered 620 KC. I like the look, but I need to use the truck 'as a truck' from time to time. I was thinking that air shocks would allow me to have both the lowered look and the ability to carry sacks of cement when needed. Anyone have any experience with them?

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I have them on both of my lowered 620s..I think they work great. they raise my truck enough to drive around without scraping every where.. i get about 3 to 4 in lift on mine...It does stiffin the ride though..But if you haul stuff in the back then that is what they are made for...And I got mine at Les Schwabs...But I am sure any auto part store will have or can get them...

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Lowered the truck in the back!! :D

 

IMAG0291.jpg

 

Only took nearly a pallet of brick to do it! ;) about 300 of them.

 

IMAG0292.jpg

 

Also had 100psi in the monroes, unloaded she stands back up.

 

IMAG0293.jpg

 

Figured to use da Pumpkin as a yard stick. ;)

IMAG0295-1.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

I am almost positive EFP is running air shocks...he has air compressor wired into truck..

 

Not sure what weirdo in last picture is doing but ..may not be appropriate for work..laugh.gif

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Alright, I have Monroes on my 79KC and I had to put them on because of the lowering in the back. My rear end was bottoming out on the rubbers between the frame and rear end. They work just fine. I actually took the tension load spring off my truck as I feel I will never use it as a work truck again and installed the air and have quite a smooth ride with all the support that I need.

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air shocks are great!!

 

since my truck is so low though, i had to section my lower rear shock mount.. the truck being so low would bottom out the shock, thus blowing them out.

 

now i have a lot of travel even when they're not aired up, and i still get like 3-4 inches of lift like 1lo620 said.

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air shocks are great!!

 

since my truck is so low though, i had to section my lower rear shock mount.. the truck being so low would bottom out the shock, thus blowing them out.

 

now i have a lot of travel even when they're not aired up, and i still get like 3-4 inches of lift like 1lo620 said.

 

Interesting... to be clear you added a section to the bottom shock mount (to make it longer)? You have pics? :)

 

I run them on my truck too, 3" blocks in the back, carried 1300lbs of quikcrete with the shocks fully aired up.

Thanks, that's exactly what I had in mind.

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Installed the Air shocks today

A before pic, with the overload springs
idRq4Jx.jpg

An after pic...
EtwB8NT.jpg

Put the air filler valve behind the fuel door... I don't have to bend over to add air. smile.gif
4oCyunE.jpg

Now a ride report... These shocks suck. sad.gif
The ride is like those little pick-ups where they cut the coil springs. Very much a pogo type ride. This is with the 20lb minimum recommended air pressure and nothing in the bed. The gas shocks on the truck, that I just removed, were much better at controlling the ride.

Any suggestions???????

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well what kind of ride height are you looking for?

 

lowered or stock?

 

if your gonna be keeping it moderately lowered lowered, id hit up the junkyard and find a set of leaf springs from a 4x4 720 pickup.

 

they arent as arched as a stock 620 leaf. theyre more flat, but have a whole pack of leafs giving you that solidity back...

 

thats gonna be your cheapest bet.. other than that, get a set of stock leafs and have them re-arched...

 

and then to answer your question, heres a pic of the lowered shock mounts...

 

DSCF0061.jpg

 

you can see how i sectioned them... now bare with me, they are very low to the ground.. i kinda over did it on mine, but the same concept could be done a smaller scale to get an inch or 2 more travel on a lowered truck...

 

best of luck to ya..

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Air shocks are designed for carrying variable loads, not for replacing your springs or your shocks. They are a spring supplement.

 

Not inteneded to improve the ride of an non-loaded vehicle.

 

Like the guys said, they work well in a Truck to carry loads.

 

And I want a good ride and occasionally more load capacity all with a lowered 620. I know... not possible without extensive changes.

 

 

well what kind of ride height are you looking for?

 

lowered or stock?

 

if your gonna be keeping it moderately lowered lowered, id hit up the junkyard and find a set of leaf springs from a 4x4 720 pickup.

 

they arent as arched as a stock 620 leaf. theyre more flat, but have a whole pack of leafs giving you that solidity back...

 

thats gonna be your cheapest bet.. other than that, get a set of stock leafs and have them re-arched...

 

and then to answer your question, heres a pic of the lowered shock mounts...

 

DSCF0061.jpg

 

you can see how i sectioned them... now bare with me, they are very low to the ground.. i kinda over did it on mine, but the same concept could be done a smaller scale to get an inch or 2 more travel on a lowered truck...

 

best of luck to ya..

 

I want moderately lowered. There are a couple of 720s at the local pick-a-part. I'll check them out to see if they are 4WD. If they are not 4WD, could they still be used? I didn't receive any of the remaining original springs with the truck.

 

Thanks Farmer and GGzilla :)

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It'd be cheaper to just flip a leaf. it'd make it more stiff, and drop the truck another inch or so. And if your truck is too bouncy, air them up a lil bit, if they're too soft it's just like having blown shocks. Somebody on here said that 40ish psi is a good pressure for an unloaded truck.

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I am almost positive EFP is running air shocks...he has air compressor wired into truck..

 

Not sure what weirdo in last picture is doing but ..may not be appropriate for work..laugh.gif

 

Yep, ran air shocks on my last 3 trucks and both trailers, it takes some figuring out what your sweet spot is as far as psi goes but keep trying it out.

 

The weirdo is a common known height, thus size reference.

 

 

It'd be cheaper to just flip a leaf. it'd make it more stiff, and drop the truck another inch or so. And if your truck is too bouncy, air them up a lil bit, if they're too soft it's just like having blown shocks. Somebody on here said that 40ish psi is a good pressure for an unloaded truck.

 

That is about the norm for my trucks, 45 with the dogs.

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Yep, ran air shocks on my last 3 trucks and both trailers, it takes some figuring out what your sweet spot is as far as psi goes but keep trying it out.

 

 

I'll try a few different pressure settings and find my 'sweet spot'. Thanks

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  • 2 years later...

This Is What I Have:

541078f4.jpg

 

Their Monroe Shocks That Get Stiffer When Applying Load

And When Unloaded They Still Provide A Smooth Ride Without Changing Ride Height

 

e438e6cd.jpg

 

 

are you using any lowering blocks? I want these but i fear that lowering blocks will add "simulated" load and ride too stiff

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Suspentions working logic is simple:

A. springs hold the weight of the car and still allow movement of the axels/wheels. No mater what type they are, coil-, leafsprings or torsion bars. They are free to move around - get loaded and unloaded without anything restrikting the movement.

 

B. Shocks dampen the movement of the axels/wheels - read springs. With out these the car acts like ---- on well ------ springs. Bounces around and moves to much. 

 

C. Anti-roll bars, Swaybars what ever you want to call them - these things are used to keep two sides of the same axel moving in the same manner. When one wheel moves these things pull or push the other wheel in the same direction. They are good on road to keep the vehicle from leaning to much in the corner. 

 

 

First you need to figure out what type of ride you want from your truck and where are you useing it. I'm using my truck on gravel roads, so I need the suspention to be soft, but with hard damping to keep the truck from bouncing around to much. I've learned the hard way that the rear overload leafsprings are realy bad on gravel roads. The rear when empty just jumps around way to much and loses traction to easily. No anti-roll bar for me - cos I need the wheels on the surface as much as possible on uneven ground.

 

If you drive your truck most of the time on paved roads and need to hall loads you can go with hard springs and hard tamping. But the harder the springs the harder the ride. To keep it comfy and still handling the loads you but on airsystem to take the weight. But you removed the shocks and springs. Airbags only do not work as a suspention as they don't have enough of damping force. Our work truck in here (Citroen  Jumper) uses airbags in the back for additional loads, but it also has regular springs and shocks.  

 

But on soft springs to take the weight when the truck is empty, the "air-Shocks" take the weight when you but on a load + regular shocks to keep he suspention dampened if it feels to bouncy. That should work.

 

Still its your truck so do what ever you want  B)

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are you using any lowering blocks? I want these but i fear that lowering blocks will add "simulated" load and ride too stiff

Lowering blocks don't work that way, the suspension will be the same unless you start sitting on the overloads/bumpstops, blocks just lower the frame closer to the ground and the rearend housing closer to the frame, 3 inch blocks, 3 inches lower, 3 inches less suspension travel before hitting the bumpstops or frame if you have removed the bumpstops.

It's the same for the front on torsion bar vehicles, the lower you go the less travel you have before hitting something like the bumpstops or frame, it's not stiffer or less stiff till you hit the bumpstops or frame.

Now if you start removing leafs, that's a whole other can of worms, it may look cool, but it rides like shit, and can cause a whole bunch of other issues, but it looks cool.

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if I have angled 4" blocks on the rear of my 521 can I use air shocks to raise it up so that In case i can load it up on a uhaul auto transport trailer w/o getting caught or stuck on the inner trailer railings on their uhaul trailers, cuz last time I tried to load it on 1 of those trailers but It was getting stuck on my frame and the inner trailer railings with the 4" angled blocks

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Lowering blocks don't work that way, the suspension will be the same unless you start sitting on the overloads/bumpstops, blocks just lower the frame closer to the ground and the rearend housing closer to the frame, 3 inch blocks, 3 inches lower, 3 inches less suspension travel before hitting the bumpstops or frame if you have removed the bumpstops.

It's the same for the front on torsion bar vehicles, the lower you go the less travel you have before hitting something like the bumpstops or frame, it's not stiffer or less stiff till you hit the bumpstops or frame.

Now if you start removing leafs, that's a whole other can of worms, it may look cool, but it rides like shit, and can cause a whole bunch of other issues, but it looks cool.

 

 

but wouldn't the lowering blocks put more tension on the leaf springs and in turn, fight against the shocks?

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If wanting to haul weight is your concern & you don't want to sacrifice ride quality. Hellwig overloads are the way to go....

 

ez-1000-medium-duty-helper-springs.jpg

 

MOST all new trucks are set up this way from the factory.... why?.... because most people want their new trucks to ride smooth like cars. This style of over load helper ONLY "kicks in" when the truck is weighed down. Otherwise they sit on the leaf spring in a static position.

 

They have different styles for different weights... 500#, 1000#, 1500# & so on. You will need to keep in mind that the style pictured above (1000# rating) will be what you want because you've got lowering blocks that would cause interference with the style pictured below (2500# rating)...

 

lp-25-load-pro-helper-springs.jpg

http://www.hellwigproducts.com/products/load-control/medium-duty-helper-springs/

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