Air Bags for Towing

[Z Long Bed]

Nice! One more thing to look for on my regular visit to the Pull a Part. G Body parts are hit n miss so this will open up a new avenue in the GM section.

 

[borahshadow]

Man I did this in the 80's. I don't even own the El Camino anymore. I've been doing some checking. The air shocks for a 88 Cadilliac Brougham & my 94 Silverado are the same. Looks like I may be going to the u-pull it tomorrow. The compressors are pretty good. It raised the Elky up fast with a 16 ft boat attached to it.

Did you say your 94 silverado had air shocks? I'm going to have to do some checking around. I already checked and the closest junk yard doesn't have a Brougham and so I'll have to call some of the other ones in the area and see if I can find one with the compressor and stuff.

 

[fun4me]

No I don't have air shocks on it right now. I was saying the shocks for a brougham have the same part number as the air shocks that will fit my truck. But I maybe going to the u-pull it & buying a compressor & sensor. Then use new air shocks.

 

[borahshadow]

No I don't have air shocks on it right now. I was saying the shocks for a brougham have the same part number as the air shocks that will fit my truck. But I maybe going to the u-pull it & buying a compressor & sensor. Then use new air shocks.

Please let me know how it goes. Make sure to link to your install thread here. I haven't priced out air shocks so I'd be interested to see how much yours cost you and if they change the ride for the better or worse.

 

[ancho]

I don't understand why you'd want to mess with 20 year old junkyard parts, in an inferior system, instead of using an air spring kit. Air springs are superior to air shocks in versatility and overall usefulness.

 

[fun4me]

You can use the compressor & sensor for air bags. Tha compressor from a salvage yard will only set you back $10 to $20 & they last forever.

 

[borahshadow]

I don't understand why you'd want to mess with 20 year old junkyard parts, in an inferior system, instead of using an air spring kit. Air springs are superior to air shocks in versatility and overall usefulness.

Are you saying the compressor and sensor are inferior or that the air shocks are inferior.

I haven't really done any research into air shocks vs air springs. Could you explain why the air springs are better?

 

[fun4me]

Airbags will support more weight than air shocks.

 

[borahshadow]

Airbags will support more weight than air shocks.

I can see that but air shocks have their advantages too... You can rip an airbag when frame lifting the vehicle or with large suspension travel situations like off road... Air shocks don't have that problem.

At the end of the day it's still a 1/2 ton and so air shocks would probably be sufficient.

Yet I will probably end up with air bags anyway because it will probably be cheaper for me and I don't ever do much wheeling so I don't think huge suspension travel is an issue.

 

[ancho]

Shock absorbers are not supposed to support weight, they are there to dampen the oscillations in the suspension after contacting a bump. I just never liked the idea of trying to support weight with shock mount brackets that weren't intended to support such loads.