Air Shocks

[marlabuck]

...For those of you that have them...what psi do you normally run? I cannot get mine above 45 psi...just curious...Marla

 

[Cranky]

No need to run that much psi but I have put 90 in them before . Used a 67 Dart as a truck and delivered a complete 383 to this guy once. He couldn't believe I stuck it in the trunk and the car was level when I drove up lol. For the most part, all I ever really needed to do was raise the car an inch and 15 psi usually did that but another thing I used them for was to dial in some preload into the chassis for drag racing. I could also get an open rear end to act like a Sure Grip by putting 20psi in the right, almost 0 in the left and cranking up the left front torsion bar a bit. That usually kept the right rear wheel from performing a smoke show.

 

[FU64RY]

your trying to raise the car with the shocks.

Jack up the car at the center of the rear BUMPER or use two jacks then add air, they will go way above 45 psi. Do not jack with the center of the rear.

 

[marlabuck]

your trying to raise the car with the shocks.

Jack up the car at the center of the rear BUMPER or use two jacks then add air, they will go way above 45 psi. Do not jack with the center of the rear.[/QUO

Actually if you let the air out and then fill them back up the car does raise about 3 inches...I was just curious as when we had our 1966 Malibu those air shocks could totally raise up the rear end...65 psi and the Malibu was doing a nose dive...Marla

 

[Dako]

I had similar problems when I 1st installed mine.

FU64RY is correct. That is what I did to 'cycle' mine. Once I stretched the suspension all worked well.

If I remember correctly my shock instructions stated to not run them empty...to maintain a minimum of 20-25psi? Up to 25psi they do nothing.

As for pressures, I run mine between 25-55psi depending on my 'load' (gas, passengers, etc.) and seem to have about 2 inches of range in that pressure window. Also, anything below 50 doesn't seem to effect ride quality...even when I am light on gas and by myself.

Am I worried about shock mounts cracking? Not at all. I think the horror stories of years past were attributed to the 'stink bug look' popular in the `70s with cracks showing up after 30-40K miles. At my current driving rate I will barely get 10K miles on this set up in the next 8-10 years...and I've got just enough pressure to give it a slight rake.

 

[Someotherguy]

I run mine about 30-35psi all the time...raises the rear about 1 inch

 

[Ron 73]

your trying to raise the car with the shocks.

Jack up the car at the center of the rear BUMPER or use two jacks then add air, they will go way above 45 psi. Do not jack with the center of the rear.[/QUO

Actually if you let the air out and then fill them back up the car does raise about 3 inches...I was just curious as when we had our 1966 Malibu those air shocks could totally raise up the rear end...65 psi and the Malibu was doing a nose dive...Marla

I may be way off base Marla but it may be because the Malibu had coils and your RR leaf springs...

 

[69clone]

I can get 2-3" out of mine when I jack it up to about 80-90psi. I drove my "old" pair without air in them once and they wouldn't hold air after that...

 

[Cranky]

Are you running separate lines to each shock? Doesn't have anything to do with psi but cars will usually handle better if they are set up that way.

 

[marlabuck]

Hi Ron...I didn't even think of that...yep yep...thanks Ron...Marla

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Are you running separate lines to each shock? Doesn't have anything to do with psi but cars will usually handle better if they are set up that way.

Yes....two lines...happy with the 2-3 inch the car goes up to at 42 psi...I was just curious...thanks Cranky...Marla

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I run mine about 30-35psi all the time...raises the rear about 1 inch

So @42 psi...I get maybe a 3 inch lift....cool...that is what I'll run him at...Marla