caddy air bag questions

I am looking to put bags front and rear on my 55 caddy and several people mentioned getting a 4link off of something else to put in the rear instead of using lowering blocks or removing leaf springs. does anyone know what would work? or if there is an easier way to put bags all around?
any input is appreciated

 

hey, there was a guy on here who did a 55 caddy. do a search.... i think the title was 55 caddy on ground floor. from what i remember the post was very detailed hope this helps............................john

 

yeah I saw that...I was hoping to not have to get into cutting the wheel wells or anything. basically looking for a way to throw them on easily

 

i think that might be the only way. i had a 55 that i lowered the normal way and when i did i noticed there wasent much room between the tires and the inner well. also the frame in the back is close to the top of the rear. but im not an expert...hopefully a few of the guys on here may be able to help....................john

 

i just did a 59 caddy,got it to lay on the rockers,i will post pics when i get home,,,i used the stock suspension,,,

 

You can use airbags with leafs,it depends on how low and what you want out of it,the 59 caddy i just finished has the stock suspension front and rear,but i raised the front suspension,inner wheel wells 4 inches to make room,i also removed the 3 inch fender brace for room,the rear i had to modify the wishbone and move the bags to the axle,the rear wells where notched to the quarters,,,

 

prost34, that caddy is gorgous...i hoping that mine looks that nice when its done in 30 years

 

hotrodj did you just cut the coils and use lowering blocks? if so what size lowering blocks did you use?

 

on my 55, i used 4 inch blocks in the rear and cut 2 coils off the front

 

Was it still driveable at that drop? What was the ride liike with cut coils?
Any pics?

 

yeah it was drivable...road like shit but it was ok....i sold it to a friend of mine and he was driving it all over the place with no issues other then it rides bad.

 

on a 55 you might as well just static drop it.theres no use for bags when you air out and the axle hits the frame and the front tires hit the inner aprons and your still 4 inches of the ground.unless your going to run like 13 or 14 inch spokes then it will look lower.

 

I used 3 stock leaf springs and fliped the springs over so they arch upside down on my Kaiser the bags push against them and they lay almost flat when the bags are full. I lost about 2 inches of height because it pushes against the springs. It was alot cheaper and easiser and works just fine for me.

 

Personally, I dont like air over leaf. Most setups end up with the single main leaf left that has a tendency to "wrap" when you get on the gas, and the leaf tends to crack after a while of so much movement. Will readily admit I don't know the underside of a Caddy, but in general terms, a 2 link or trailing arm setup in the stock leaf front brackets, and a panhard bar isnt that much work to fab up, and I think the results would be much better. If it is a torque tube car, it may not handle the pinion change that a 2 link causes as the ride height changes, so then you're stuck with either really long lower bars to minimize the pinion change, a 4 link setup, or run the leafs and keep an eye on them (though the torque tube would minimize the wrapping effect, you're still left with the potential for cracking from excessive travel)