Who has used air shocks at one time or another?

[Cranky]

I only want ones that have actually used them to reply. I'm not condoning their use but I will say that I have used them on numerous cars without any adverse incident...nor have I ever had any minor incidents with them. Back in the late 60's and and well into the 70's there were a ton of cars running around with that jacked up 'funny car' look using AS to achieve it. I never did like that look but used AS for various other reasons. I've used them on a 67 Dart because I used that car to haul a bunches of stuff before I got a truck, used them on a 66 Belvedere, 67 Coronet, 65 Mustang and a few others. I used a separate line kit with all of them but one. That's how I learned not to use a single line kit. I've even used one shock on the right for some suspension bias in drag racing. I've heard so many horror stories by so many and don't understand why I'm the only one that never had issues with upper shock mounts tearing loose or ill handling etc. Now none of my cars were rust buckets either...so, who all have used them and what condition was your car in when using them? I don't want any hearsay....just actual experience. Thanks.

 

[70rr-brian]

When I bought mine it had them on it...That lasted until I got it home and promptly threw them in the trash. Was the very first wrench I turned on this car. Drove it home 200 miles and just hated the way it felt when hitting bumps.

 

[sawdoff]

My 69 notchback barracuda had them. No problems in 4 yrs. They were on the car when it left here last fall

 

[darkhorse]

I had them on my 69 mach1 for years. never could get the rear to plant, so they didnt last.

 

[Finallygotmine]

I have a pair on my 69 roadrunner. They came on the car. I have to say that it was nice when I went to the bigger tires in the rear, just give it a shot of air and up it came for the clearance. I don't do any racing so I guess they don't make that much of a difference to me. Course, when I get my new front end kit on, I might be driving it a little harder.

 

[Cranky]

When I bought mine it had them on it...That lasted until I got it home and promptly threw them in the trash. Was the very first wrench I turned on this car. Drove it home 200 miles and just hated the way it felt when hitting bumps.

How long ago was that and how much air did they have in them when you drove it home? Air shocks are usually a heavy duty 50/50 shock and ride kinda firm even without air. IIRC, I've only bought one pair for my first car and all the others came with them. All the cars I bought with them had a single line setup and I changed that right away. I raced my first car and it didn't have a Sure Grip but with only about 5psi in the left and 15 in the right, it acted like it did plus having the battery in the trunk on the right didn't hurt either. I also slalom raced that car too and did pretty well with it placing 1st in C/Stock in my first competition....and no, I wasn't the only one in C/Stock that day

 

[64BEL]

My '70 GTX had them back in the early '80s. One late night the air line sprung a leak on Main st. and set the car down on the L-60s - carved up the sidewalls a little bit. I had to get a ride to the shop and get some skinny tires and swap them on to get the car home. I ended up putting new ones on after that and never had a problem from then on.

 

[7ate9]

My girlfriends Roadrunner had them on it when we bought it. It rides real smooth and nice without any air, with air it's a bit too much of a firm and harsh ride for my liking, but it's not unbearable. Around the shock mounts was torn when we got it, but who knows how bad the previous owner abused it... I just hammered it back together and welded it up, haven't had any problems yet.

 

[Ron 73]

I only had two cars that had air shocks the first was a 63 Impala SS and it rode like a truck and handled bad, I took most of the air out and it road fine but still handled bad. The second one was a 70 RR and it had a set on and one broke about two months after i had it and i replaced them with stock. It also handled bad but both these cars only had one line per set, Now i wonder if a two line per set may have changed the handling. I do live in the rust belt but at that time the cars were not very old and ive never myself broke a shock mount.

 

[SUPERSTOCKRACER]

Thats all we used back in the early 70's. I believe mine were gabriel air shocks. i needed them so my L60-15's would clear my wheelwells.
but after spinninfg the tires at the track weekend after weekend , i realized i had to go to 50/50's in the rear. it took me 3 years to realize that airshocks suck for the strip.

 

[70rr-brian]

How long ago was that and how much air did they have in them when you drove it home? Air shocks are usually a heavy duty 50/50 shock and ride kinda firm even without air. IIRC, I've only bought one pair for my first car and all the others came with them. All the cars I bought with them had a single line setup and I changed that right away. I raced my first car and it didn't have a Sure Grip but with only about 5psi in the left and 15 in the right, it acted like it did plus having the battery in the trunk on the right didn't hurt either. I also slalom raced that car too and did pretty well with it placing 1st in C/Stock in my first competition....and no, I wasn't the only one in C/Stock that day

That was about 3 yrs ago now. As far as how much air I honestly don't know. This set definetly had a single line setup though. Although I doubt it had a ton of air in it since switching to gas shocks made no noticable difference to the rear end height.

I bought it in Pennsylvania and drove it back to Cincinnati. If you are at all familiar with driving through Columbus, OH on 71 south you are no doubt familiar with all the twists and turns 71S takes as you wind through the city. Loads of interstate spaghetti. So lots of merging and interchanges. Everytime I would hit a bump on one of the ramps/interchanges that was banked in any fashion whatsoever it felt like the rear end would jump about 2 ft.

I doubt it was actually jumping 2 feet but it sure felt like it. As soon as I put the gas shocks on it life was good again.

 

[Cranky]

It's been 38 years since being anywhere close to that area lol

 

[70rr-brian]

It's been 38 years since being anywhere close to that area lol

That's probably a wise policy.

 

[1badgtx]

My car had them on it when I got the car...The left upper shock mount was also broken..It also had 7or 8 inch long shackles on the rear too...Car was an ex drag car...Maybe it was beat up on for way too long with flat springs..
Petty Blue 67 gTx

 

[ChgrSteve67]

I have them on my Charger to stiffen the rear end when I pull my trailer. Without them my Charger will drag ***. With the trailer on I run around 90psi and without I run around 30psi.

After I sell my trailer I will probably take them off.

-Steve

 

[696pack]

Back in the day we used to get cars traded in that had them on the cars. Performance cars that the owners put on for tire clearence and for the "look." I drove these cars and as stated above the rode hard with an ample amount of air. We often had to remove them and repair shock mounting points that were damaged. These were cars that were only a few years old.

The problems come when the cars were beat on or driven on rough roads. The air shocks with ample amount of air to raise the car for big tires/wheels is attempting to do the job the springs are supposed to do and this is when the damage occurs.

The real INTENDED purpose of air shocks is to be a HELPER for raising the rear of a car that has too much tongue weight in a trailer towing situation. When the springs are compressed they are used to bring the back end of the car up to a level position and are not intended to over ride the springs job. Trailer towing vehicles are not dumping the clutch and bouncing the weight of the car on the shock mounts. This is even a cheap fix over what SHOULD be done with an equalizer hitch set up.

Sure, you can get away with using them with big tires if you are not subjecting the car to big bumps, speed bumps, or dumping the clutch but who drives on perfectly smooth roads or doesn't abuse their muscle car?

 

[Cranky]

Don't know how old you are but by the sounds of it, you're up there with me and I'm 60. Do you remember the Gabrial High Jackers commercials? They still have them and advertise them as adding up to an additional 1100 lbs for the pair. I never had any of those but had Monroe shocks. Not sure but maybe they rode better than the Grabrials did? I beat on all my cars but we have pretty good roads down here. I've seen people do some pretty crazy stuff to cars and I was/am one of them but man, for some reason, mine stayed together lol

 

[rlsbee]

Never had a problem on the Super Bee. I don't run much air in 'em though. Maybe 30lbs. I don't beat the car or race it. They ride decent, and it handles decent so I don't see any reason to change 'em. Back in the 60's when I had my first Bee, I put a set on. That was a new car at the time and I had seperate lines. That car got occasionally raced. Had the front end raised some also (with the torsion bars) which was the 'look' around here. Kept that car for nine years and no problems. I've put 'em on several pickups and only had one problem with an air chamber that leaked.

 

[383man]

Had them on my 63 when I got it. It really helped because it sat to low in the rear on the 40 year old springs. I left them on the car for 3 years until I bought new SS springs. Never had any issue's at all. Ron

 

[Propwash]

Put a set of Monroe air shocks on my Coronet a while back. The ride went down the toilet compared to the previous gas shocks. No damage occued to the shock crossmember while they were on (which wasn't long). I tossed on a set a set of Edelbrock IAS and my ride quality improved along with the car doing a better job of putting rubber to road.