What kind of airshocks fit a 1969 521 Pickup

[candygreenmonster]

can anyone help i cant find the right airshocks for my pickup truck to lower it i would like to know if anyone has a solution or knows of any air shocks that can be compatible that would fit my pickup truck.

 

thanks

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

The front of the truck uses torsion bars, which can be dropped easily. Generic air bags can be fit to the rear, but you'll need to build a link setup or remove a couple of the leafs from the spring pack, and then you introduce the possibility of axle wrap.

 

There's no easy solution.

[wayno]

Datsun/Nissan 720 4wd rear leaf springs will lower the rear at least an inch and a half, on a 1969 Datsun 521 it might be more as they have fairly stiff leaf springs.

 

It gets tougher the lower you want to go, there is a point where the cross members that hang down below the frame rails become an issue.

 

I lowered a 720 frame 6" in the front and 7" in the back, it took a lot of time and modificatoins to get it that low and have it be safe on the road, parking lot speed bumps became a major issue, a must be avoided with no exceptions, even gas filler covers in the ground at gas stations are a hazzard.

Edited September 28, 2023 by wayno

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

16 hours ago, wayno said:

Datsun/Nissan 720 4wd rear leaf springs will lower the rear at least an inch and a half, on a 1969 Datsun 521 it might be more as they have fairly stiff leaf springs.

 

It gets tougher the lower you want to go, there is a point where the cross members that hang down below the frame rails become an issue.

 

I lowered a 720 frame 6" in the front and 7" in the back, it took a lot of time and modificatoins to get it that low and have it be safe on the road, parking lot speed bumps became a major issue, a must be avoided with no exceptions, even gas filler covers in the ground at gas stations are a hazzard.

That's pretty low.

[wayno]

6 hours ago, Stoffregen Motorsports said:

That's pretty low.

 

Yea, I would never do it again, as I recall I raised the front a half inch so it would quit hitting the pavement when diving off them large/wide speed bumps, it did not hit when going up the bump, but when the back wheels hit the up part of the bump the front was going down the other side and it would dive into the pavement and the cross member below the oil pan would hit, that half inch fixed that issue plus I quit dragging my frame getting into my own driveway.

 

It was terrible to drive when I first built it, the tension rod mounts on the front of the frame were hitting all the time, I had to relocate them to the rear of the lower control arms, I actually somehow pushed the radiator into the fan by hitting a parking lot curb, I am still scratching my head on that one, how did hitting the frame cause the radiator mount sheet metal to move back towards the fan, it did not hit hard enough to bend the frame, too me it seemed like the cab would have moved forward moving the radiator farther away from the fan if it moved at all.

 

I do not drive that truck much anymore, I have to be so alert/cautious when driving it that it is not that fun, it is stressful.

[datzenmike]

Engine and transmission shoved forward and back on their rubber mounts.

[wayno]

On 9/28/2023 at 6:37 PM, datzenmike said:

Engine and transmission shoved forward and back on their rubber mounts.

 

No, the fan stayed/kept hitting the drain plug in the bottom reservoir of the radiator, I was lucky the fan did not hit the core itself!

 

I used a pry bar and bent the sheet metal forward holding the bottom of the radiator, I do not recall doing anything more to stop the fan from hitting but that seems unlikely, this happened very early when I first started driving it, I likely made some kind of modification to stop that from ever happening again, after that is when I relocated the tension rods from the front to the rear and I cut off the front tension rod mounts welded onto the frame, so far I have never had an issue with that modification, of all my mods to that truck I liked that one the least.

[mrbigtanker]

Sooooooooo, back to his original question about air shocks. Did they not make a short air shock for the Pinto or Camaro ?

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

Air bags, yes, but shocks...?

[Crashtd420]

Has he even been back to comment? 

[datzenmike]

OP last here 28 September. You guys didn't spoon feed him fast enough.