Question for The Air Ride expert guys

My Dad had an air ride suspension on his 37 chevy 2dr sedan. Now i don't know any specifics at all of what kind of system it was but i do know that the car rode like ****.

It rode like a damn import honda with the coils cut, every dip or bump and the damn thing would bounce you to death. My question is what would you suspect made the car ride that horrible?

Does all air bag systems have that characteristic? One more question i have is what is a ball park figure for a system installed on a F1 truck with a camaro front and rear end on it?

 

Sounds like it had to much air pressure in the bags.

 

the car had gauges inside so you could adjust the air to what ever pressure you wanted and i remember only finding a pressure that was the least annoying. But really no matter what pressure it was at it still rode the same.

 

I would guess temper_mental is right, too much air. What pressures is he running?

 

Did it have shock absorbers on it? I am looking for some universal shock mounts to use on a bagged S10 frontend under a '51 Ford. You should contact some of the vendors on here for help with specific costs of air system install.

 

What kind of suspension set-up was under it? Who did it? Could it have been installed wrong? My car rides great with bags.

 

what other suspension components do you have besides the air ride,is it notched?,4 linked ,2 linked,leafs,etc?

 

sounds like the air ride system was installed wrong, or had no shocks.
how about more details or pics?

 

i rewrote and said that no matter what pressure we set it at it still rode the same. I don't remember what pressure it was but he is now p***ed away and the car is sold now.

I don't remember what suspension set up it was but it was a modern front and rear. I guess it could of been installed wrong. I've thought about bags and was hoping that isn't how they usually ride.

 

I'm sorry guys cause it looks like i should of known a lot more to be able to ask this question. Im sorry i don't know anymore about the car and can't get any info since it's now sold. I think i get that it isn't usual.

How much do systems cost in a ballpark range? I would just be interested in a system that gets the truck lower(not on the ground) and raises is for crusing down the road?

 

How about this ? need help with tracking on a bagged ratrod im building panhard will bind up with over 7 in. of travel in suspension

 

I'm putting my $$$ on SHOCKS (or lack of) being the problem.


**** BAGS
(pussies, let it SCRRRRRRAAPE)

OLDSCHOOLYOUNGSTER:
Do an intro ***STAIN

 

Parallel hairpins like that are bad and bind. You need a parallel 4 link or angled 4 link (triangulated). And since you're new and have not done any intro, I'll tell you we don't do rat rods here.

 

" hey I have a vague question about a fairly complex system. I'm not giving any details, please fix the problem with no input from me"

 

Wow the greatest rodders in the world here are a bunch of sweet hearts aren't they! Guess i should stick to towing the big rigs and forget tryin to build a rod !

 

X38 -thank you ! have any sugestions for stopping side to side movment of the axel?

 

look again ****wipe! shocks are there! i dont know how to do a "intro" except the one i'd like to give me foot to you smart ***!

 

He said Rat Rod. And some cuss words. Man Ive got to get some sleep.

 

Either a watts link or panhard bar would be fine, panhard would obviously be easier. A triangulated 4 link centres itself. If you use the search function, I'm sure it's been discussed here before.

 

We have used air ride on almost every car we have built and have always had a great ride. Our 39 Chevy sedan rode better than my daily driving Jaguar(sold it and bought a 58 Ford) and handled better. there are a lot of things that need to be addressed when building a car on air ride, what size motor? Big block requires different load rated bags than a small block or Ls1 motor. What style of rear suspension? Triangulated four link,watts linkage,leaf spring with a slide link. What front end? How much does the car weigh? How low do you want to ride and be comfortable? How do you want the car to sit when parked? My old 1st Sgt used to tell us Jarheads "Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance" and ask a lot of questions and then sit down and plan how you are going to build your platform for your next sweet *** hotrod.

 

man, air should ride nice, or something is wrong..

even all the way air'd up in front and air'd all the way out in back my ford rides near stock on a decent rode.. if i wanna set the pressure right, it will float like a ****in caddy

cant help on what was wrong with no idea of what was there..

 

what have you guys paid for an installed system?

 

lets get some photos of the set up if possible then we can help...BTW lets not get all pissy here people its only an airbag set in question!...no need to make it a big deal.Its about the build and the ride not about the testosterone.Lets be civil and help this guy out,we may all learn something....maybe.

 

some of these ol coots don't have anything better to do than play Keyboard tough guy, i appreciate it though. Like i said my dad p***ed last year and the car was recently sold so i don't have pics of it. I really started the question to see if its common for that characteristic.

 

having no info its really hard to figure out your problem.
but as mentioned before it should have rode nice.
not having shocks as mentioned before actually do the opposite, and make it to spongy feeling, not harsh.
id guess the problem was too small of a bag in the front or a cross member install that was done before air was around and tried to adapt to run bags.meaning it was stepped up to run a full coil and still lower the car? the rear was probably run right over the axle and needed allot of psi to get that heavy car at a high ride height.

 

The picture posted in the previous post is probably why your dads car rode like ****.....there is not enough leverage on this setup to provide compression and make the air bag work....A lot of people mounted the 2500 or 2600lb airsprings like this and they dont work correclty.

 

the cost depends on how much fabrication is required and what type of components you are using. It's kinda like asking how long is a piece of rope
I would say, an air ride system would start at about $5,000 if a shop installs it for you.
I am sure there will be people saying I am way too high in my estimate.

 

ok i have a bag question how mich can they bend my jag frt end in a 51 f1 has them. they are even when down, but up, one side is skinny and one side is fat like its balloning. now if i make a base that is at a angle then when its down it will be the other way around.....which is better?? thanks ahead of time

 

What did you just say?????

 

Sounds like some bad engineering on your dads car. You have to match the bags to the car, and as Glenn said leverage on the bag to make them work. It's not real hard to do but some people just want to order a bunch of stuff and put it on. There is some thinking and math involved.

can go from $2500 and up from there... depends on what you want. and what car/truck it's going on.