I am in the process on installing some tower notches on my '50 chevy along with air springs with about 7.5" of lift. I am trying to figure out what shocks I should go with, any advice?
Go to your local auto parts store, see if they'll let you glance over their book, you should see most of the dimensions, compressed and extended, I'll tell you what worked recently was late seventies Cordoba shocks...maybe I spelled that wrong, anyway..I think full travel was like 10+ inches!!! *****in'. P.S. They probably won't know what that is, Chysler/Plymouth product. Hope that helps.
You need to figure out what your total suspension travel will be to make sure you pick shocks that have that much travel. You might have to sacrifice some amount of lift if you can't find shocks with that much travel that will fit. Unless you have check straps to limit how low the axle can dangle underneath the frame, your shocks will be what limits them. You want to make sure the shocks stop the downward travel of the axle before the air bags over-extend or you'll ruin the air bags. Monroe shocks has a specifications catalog that you can download online that shows all of their shock part numbers giving specifications for closed and open lengths, and specifying what type of shock end mounts they have. There are hundreds of different part numbers. What I did was figure out what sort of end mounts I wanted first, then highlighted all of the shocks with those types of end mounts, then went through all of those and picked the ones that were the closest to the travel and maximum length that I was looking for. You want to make sure that the axle hits some bumpstops BEFORE the shocks bottom out, or you'll hammer the shocks to pieces or break the shock mounts if it bottoms out too hard. Also make sure the axle hits the bumpstops just before the air bags bottom out, because most airbags get ruined if they bottom out too hard. If you tilt the shocks at an angle, you can fit longer shocks in a shorter space, but the length of shock travel decreases some too. Once you get the Monroe part number, it's easy to order them or pick them up at a local store. From what I could tell, most of the shocks that have long travel and the types of ends that I needed (eye/eye) were the stock shocks for things like older full sized Chevy Blazers and Ford Broncos and some older pickup trucks. The (stud/eye) type shocks are more common on most cars though. The gas charged shocks probably give the nicest rides. Good luck
see if your bags have a built in bumpstop if so you will only have to worry about the entented position of the bag...
I used a carrera roundy round dirt track shock on mine.....mega travel and adjustable, granted I did get em at a swap meet....I'd imajine they are pretty pricy new....
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