whats your take on air shocks?

Edited: 11/28/2005 10:27:45 PM by lit phuse

i have a 96 ford ranger with 16s and i am going to put a 5/6 drop on it. I know with this small a wheel and this drastic of a drop, the frame will be pretty close to the ground. I went through the owner profiles and i noticed that alot of people are using air shocks in the rear. I don't have a lot of money so thats why i was thinking of doing this. All i need them for is to lift my truck up a little when i go over speed bumps and such. Do you think i will be able to get enough lift from air shocks to clear speed bumps and stuff? I will probably get a little tank and some 1/4" line. I don't need a compressor right now i will just fill it up full every now and then. I have 2 electric valves allready so i could have a fill and dump. I just want to be able to ride low without spending an assload of money which i don't have. and be able to lift my truck up a little when i need to clear things. Also which shock is better and holds up better, the ones with the internal bag or the external. Can you run air shocks in the front?

BACK IN THE DAY THATS HOW THEY ROLLED AIR SHOCKED ALL AROUND SO IM SURE U COULD MAKE SOME MOUNTS TO GET THAT TO WORK

well i found some air shocks on ebay, brand new the design i would need in the back and the design i would need in the front. I jus need to know how much they will lift my truck? I had planned to pull all but the overload spring in the back

whats the best air shock as far as lifting power and travel?

i had air shocks on my bodydroped mazda for a year make mounts

how did they work out for you? why would i need to make mounts when i can buy them allready for my truck?

Originally posted by lit phuse



how did they work out for you? why would i need to make mounts when i can buy them allready for my truck?

because:

the stock mounts arent made to support the weight of the truck. only to help the springs. If you are dropped low static, you are counting on the shocks to hold you up.

and the angle in the stock location may cause a problem when trying to lift. I had an air shocked isuzu once and you had to get people to lift the bed a little to help the air shocks start to lift the truck.

i hear the shocks work and lift better if mounted in a vertical position?

I had air shocks on my s10. They wouldn't lift for shit. I had to put somewhere around 120 psi to get about 3 inches of travel. and they would never lift with a gas statition compressor. I had to have one on the tank. They were mounted to drop leaf spring that was mono leafed. and they were in the stock location. I tried the ones they used to sell from M.I.C. with the external bag and 2 sets of ones with the internal bag. All the money I wasted on them I could have bagged the back of my truck. Now a friend of mine had them on his truck with the mounts welded to his notch and a stock mono leaf and he had no problems. But he eventually switched to bags. If you have valves and a tank, buy a compressor, some bags and make the mounts it shouldnt be that much more than using shocks. Thats my $.02. Sorry for the long post
Later
Ben

The air shocks won't work on the front of your truck.They only work on trucks that have torsion bar front suspensions.