anyone know the amount of travel on airshocks?

[sammyvelvet]

Im thinking of using air shocks to adjust the rear height of my Rancherita ... I dont wanna bag it cuz I only need to drop her 2" more ... I have 3 inch blocks in it now.. wanna put in the 5" blocks.. but I cant ride around at that height cuz it will hit the exshaust and the lakes ... so I am wondering if the air shocks will do it ... I dont wanna spend all that cash to bag it for only 2" more.... what do you think?

[DrJ]

They will lift the car enough to clear driveways etc but you need to consider your upper shock mount strength. Shock mounts were never intended to cary all the weight of the car and many aren't up to the task.
Back in '65 there was this cross country no-road race called the African Safari where the HOTROD juornalist ran a '65 Comet and they kept having rear shock mounts break on the car, and they were just running heavy duty socks. Yours are probably the same design mount. If you do run the air shocks, (I would, with a small on board compressor) re-engineer the shock mounts to carry weight.

[CruZer]

I used them on the back of my '40 coupe and they would raise the rear about 3 inches @ 50# max. On my car ,I ran them at 30# and it raised it about an inch.
But I would ask the parts store where ever you buy them.

[Smokin Joe]

Gabriel Hijackers. Cheap, they work, and they're at Autozone. Been using them since we used to jack everything up nosebleed high in the rear in the late 60's/early 70's. I've got a set on my Chevelle.
Doc has a point. Make sure you have good solid upper mounts. We used to bust the upper mounts out of rusty camaro trunks all the time. Welding in a chunk of plate to spread the load fixed that.

[53SledSleeve]

I use Monroe air shocks on my 53 right now...they work pretty good....real slow though. But for the cost factor, they're cheap.

Which reminds me...I need to get a hold of Kustombuilder to set up somthing about bagging my car. I'm impatient....I want to car to air up FAST..and drop FAST...or I'd leave the air shocks on it.

[mikes51]

I only got about 2" on Monroes. Now I'm running the simple bags. I've also heard the Gabriel's will lift higher.

The only part I didn't like about the shocks was the compressor had to pump through some very small diameter line to fill the shock. If I saw a driveway coming up, from one quarter of a block away, I couldn't raise the car in time.

With the bags, I had a storage tank full of air that would fill the bags faster than a compressor. The bags also use a larger diameter line than the shocks.

Never tried hooking up a air tank to shocks. Suppose it could be done with some reducer fittings.

[daddylama]

in the late 80's we used to run airshocks on our mini-trucks... front and back. Monroe was the choice, because they'd handle 100psi without a problem... Gabriels tended to break. At like 80psi on the back a good 6" of lift was possible... used to pump the front up to like 120psi for about 4" of lift. Yes, airshocks on the front, as the only suspension. Yes, they broke a lot, and was a really bad idea.
Had two compressors running to an air tank, and larger lines... still took a LONG time to raise it up. Cheap, though... and did the job.