School me on Air Shocks...

[Avery4jc]

I've seen a few buggies lately that are running air shocks with a 4 link front and rear...thats it, no coil-overs, no leaf packs, etc...

So when they run Air Shocks is there a nipple on them to air them up, then a regulator to let air out until you reach your desired ride height or how does this work? I can't imagine an air shock being a universal application sort of deal since each vehicle has such different sprung weight characteristics...anyways, if ya' know something about air shocks toss it up

 

[Hogback Fabrication]

Air shocks are different than most shocks in that they actually support the weight of the vehicle and damp the suspension.

They are charged with nitrogen, not air.

The pressure of the nitrogen and the valving in the shock determine the ride height, stiffness, etc.

Air shocks can't support much weight, so they are pretty much left to the buggies. Even the bigger (2.5") air shocks are more for better cooling than higher weight capacity.

Then there is the argument against them that their characteristics change with pressure changes in the atmosphere and that you don't have the tunability of a coilover (multiple spring rates, etc.)

Airshocks can be good and they are very tunable, but IMO they are left only to very lightweight rigs (4000 lbs and less) and even then coilovers are better (just more $$$).

 

[lectric80]

There are air shocks that run on standard compressed air. They have some serious downsides that I have seen. First the lines that lead to them always leak. Second, they don't seem to provide a lot of suspension dampening on heavy vehicles like ours. The can adjust the height a bit, but are limited by application, and most that I have seen do not run any type of solenoid to allow on the fly adjustment.

 

[Avery4jc]

hmmm interesting... thanks for the info...

 

[chalet2506]

I'll go ahead and come out of the closet here. Yes, I have air shocks that run on compressed air (Monroe I believe) and I'm tired of being ashamed of it. My Dad ran them on his 94' suburban that he used to pull their travel trailer and he'd air them up when he was hooked to it and air down when he was d driving. No problems for him, and I think he got about 3 years out of them. My truck still had the 30 year old factory shocks when I got it , and I was looking for something to replace them, stiffen my suspension and pick the butt of the truck up a little.

I've got no complaints so far. They do lose a little pressure, but I don't run the truck that much. I just check the pressure when I'm gassing and checking my tires. I run them between 40#'s and 80#'s depending on how much beer, I mean gear I've got in the back. Looking at it now, I realize they're just a bandaid til I get my zero rates and new springs installed in the rear. Then I'll probably go with some Rancho adjustables. About 80% of miles in the Chalet are highway, and offroading is pretty light, so that might explain the luck I've had so far.

 

[GEORGIA GABE]

Avery, we are building a stock mod jeep right now.... we are using Walker Evans air shocks mainly because of weight.... the lighter the rig the better it will perfrorm on the rocks... If you will notice in the picture were even using aluminum links to cut weight. Like the rest of the guys were saying they dont perform very well on a full size, but on a light jeep or a toyota they work like a champ...
gabe

 

[6.2Blazer]

I believe the original post is inquiring about the stand alone, long travel, air shocks that could be compared to coilovers...not the replacement shocks by Monroe and such that just supplement the existing springs that the old-school hotrod guys used to jack the back of the cars up. There is a HUGE difference between these two groups of shocks.

 

[Avery4jc]

Yeah I was implying the stand alone air shocks... What some of you are talking about is using them like a helper bag out back for heavy payloads...

Exactly like the truck Gabe is building in that link...

Thanks for the info. guys...