Air shocks are not the same as an air ride suspension. Air shocks are meant to help when towing a trailer, or as a band-aid for worn-out saggy springs. They are not designed to support the full weight of the vehicle in and of themselves...
dont use those i used to stock them when i worked in an auto parts distrobution wherehouse and they are mor for extra support for heavy loads in a truck and i took them out of the box and looked at them (cause i thought of this too) and they didnt look to be good quality anyways
I am useing them right now, my ride was leaning, and longer shackels didnt do the trick...since they were pretty cheap, I gave them a try and it corrected my lean, and I have some adjustment with them as well, I actually was able to gain and inch when fully inflated. As far as how long they will last, time will tell...
The only thing I would use them on a rod or custom for is to "return the car to it's static height when loaded". I had a set on my old 51 Merc for a while so that when we loaded the trunk full of all our stuff for a 2000 mile road trip I could air it up enough so that the car sat at the original lowered height that I had it at. Get to my Mother-in-laws house in Texas and unload it and let the air down until I got it to sit right again. But no it is not a stand alone suspension setup by any means although I think there have been a few T buckets that ran just air shocks instead of a real suspension.
Of course, there are always going to be a few examples of somebody who gets away with, for a little while. Few ever admit to the disaster this might end in in the event that it does. Quality and safety cost money. You should not sacrifice either one. Save up, school up, buddy up, and build it right.
Sorry, this is an older thread. I used monroes as a stand alone suspension for my VW Beetle in the front (very light) and in the back. The back ones blew out pretty much right away because the weight of the engine, so I would never trust these alone on a car that actually weighs something. I also has the torsion bar suspension set so if the fronts or the backs blew out, the torsion springs would tighten up and keep the car 1/2" off the ground until I could pull over and reset where the torsion springs start to twist. This is the car fully lowered:
my old 50 Chevy had air shocks in the rear when i bought it.. the springs had been seriously dearched so the air shocks where the only thing holding the rear up off the tires. it ended up ripping the shock mounts right off the car. bottom line. neither the air shock or the shock mounts are designed to carry that kind of weight.
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