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Wed Jun 10, 2009 10:38 am

Well ithink I am going to bit he bullet and put some air shocks on my 69 ghia. I know this in the bug forum but does anyone know if the Monroe MA 750's will fit in the front and 756's in the rear? Or is there a better model of air shocks to go with. Thanks for the help.

Matt

Wed Jun 10, 2009 4:46 pm

read the 30 pages - don't do airshocks in the rear. it's a waste of money.

yes - go for the MA750's in the front

Wed Jun 10, 2009 5:22 pm

westcoast-paul wrote: read the 30 pages - don't do airshocks in the rear. it's a waste of money.

yes - go for the MA750's in the front

Thanks for the help. No one has ever explained why they are not good for the rear. I am not looking to raise or compensate for a sagging rear. I am looking to lower it. Will it not acheive my idea? Will that put too much pressure on the torsion bar? Sorry to beat this topic to death but no one has given me a reason why, just that I should not.

Thanks for everyones input and help.

Wed Jun 10, 2009 5:43 pm

just by adding air shocks alone you are not going to lower your car. air shocks are installed to lift a lowered car not lower a stock car. air shock with no air presure is just a shock. when you add presure you increase the carrying capasity of the suspension or if no extra load was added you raise the vehicle.
does that help you out at all?

Wed Jun 10, 2009 6:04 pm

hill climber wrote: just by adding air shocks alone you are not going to lower your car. air shocks are installed to lift a lowered car not lower a stock car. air shock with no air presure is just a shock. when you add presure you increase the carrying capasity of the suspension or if no extra load was added you raise the vehicle.
does that help you out at all?

Thanks. Are only referring to the rear?

Sat Jun 13, 2009 3:26 pm

an air shock is just a SHOCK with a air bladder attached to it. wheather it's for the front or rear it doesn't matter. with NO air in the shock (bladder) they act like normal shocks. when you add air to the bladder it will raise the car. air shocks will NOT lower your car. if you don't believe me, go out and remove the shocks from your car. did it lower itself? no. the reason you see people running them on the front ends of there bugs and such is because they have already LOWERED the car, and are using the air shocks to RAISE the car enough for driving. most of the time for speedbumps and such obstacles.

Thu Jun 25, 2009 6:41 pm

I have a '67 that recently got on the road. When it's parked on a flat surface I noticed the passenger sits about 1.5" lower than the drivers side...which is also throwing my front end off a little bit.

I don't want to have to take apart my springplates and stuff right now. Do you think if I got the correct air shocks I can raise the passenger side more than the drivers side to even everything out for the time being?
It would only be for a few months, until I put the car away for the winter and don't care about taking it apart.

Thu Jun 25, 2009 9:07 pm

iaccy wrote: I have a '67 that recently got on the road. When it's parked on a flat surface I noticed the passenger sits about 1.5" lower than the drivers side...which is also throwing my front end off a little bit.

I don't want to have to take apart my springplates and stuff right now. Do you think if I got the correct air shocks I can raise the passenger side more than the drivers side to even everything out for the time being?
It would only be for a few months, until I put the car away for the winter and don't care about taking it apart.

you'd have to run two airfill valves on the rear so you can raise one end up higher than the other. why not just take your rear suspension apart and fix it the right way.

measure the ground to mid fender and see what the difference is, then use this chart to fix it:

Thu Jun 25, 2009 9:59 pm

thats an awsome chart that lets you know how low your gonna go.

Fri Jun 26, 2009 4:35 pm

59eurobug wrote: why not just take your rear suspension apart and fix it the right way.

b/c now that I can finally drive it and enjoy I don't want to have to take it apart again...Plus I've never done it before and I don't want to mess it up when I could be driving it.
I'll fix it the right way when it's put away for winter

Fri Jun 26, 2009 7:59 pm

I might be way off base here (considering your car is a swinger, and all I know is IRS) but this is a late model section of the forum, so here it goes: First time out (this past monday), it took me about 3 hours to do my rear. I was lowering a stock, untouched IRS 2 outer splines. Granted my rear wings were off, but I spent a good deal of that time fighting seized threads on the way out, and chasing them with tap and die before reassembly. Also I had some thoughtless quarter panel repair which required some "massaging" to get the springplates off. I highly doubt I could have put airshocks on there in half of the time. I saw your build thread. Your '67 deserves better than that, and you obviously have the skills to do it. What I'm trying to say is that I anticipated the job to be more difficult than it actually was. Don't cut yourself short. You can do this in half a day or less like I did.

That said, I'm going to add the air shocks so I can take my car from two notches to one when I need to traverse obstacles. Wise people have warned me against this, but I'm going to give it a shot. I might fail miserably, but at least my car is level to begin with.

Fri Jun 26, 2009 7:59 pm

iaccy wrote: b/c now that I can finally drive it and enjoy I don't want to have to take it apart again...Plus I've never done it before and I don't want to mess it up when I could be driving it.
I'll fix it the right way when it's put away for winter

You'll need an air fill valve for each shock, or an air management kit for control of each wheel

Fri Jun 26, 2009 11:24 pm

yeah I know...I want to do it right the first time, but my dad always pushes sh*t back and says there's nothing wrong with it now. But he doesn't see stuff how I do. I myself, want it done teh right way b/c it looks stupid how it sits now. Even my neighbor who did his a couple times said it takes less than a day to do it.

I was just looking for a "temporary fix" but I might as well try it myself now and learn for next time. I'm just uneasy about it b/c I've never done it before. So I'm gonna give it shot soon :wink:

Thu Jul 09, 2009 4:38 pm

the bottom sleeve doesnt fit, im trying to put the 756's on a 75 bug. anybody have an easy fix? can you get the sleeve out without a press?

Thu Jul 09, 2009 4:47 pm

yes - press out the ones from your old stock shock and put them in the 756's.

it's going to be tricky as it's a tight squeeze.

I had to use a long/narrow socket and the long wide socket (1/2") in a vice to get them out.

i do remember swearing a lot. Oh ya - i greased them before i pressed them in the 756's

Thu Jul 09, 2009 4:57 pm

damn, ive been trying. dont have a vice, just a c-clamp. i was gonna drill them out, but the drill bit i have is too big for my small drills chuck :roll:

Thu Jul 09, 2009 8:15 pm

So, tommorrow i think im just gonna fin a shop with a press and have them press it out. my socket extension became stuck in it lol. Anyway, i had 1/4" NPT female bung welded in because i didnt want the little aquarium hose bung that the 756 came with. It was pressure/leak tested and passed. The fluid however is slowly leaking into the cylinder and when i tip it upside down comes out the bung. Will the air shocks still work as air shocks without the fluid?

Fri Jul 10, 2009 12:04 pm

SO got 756 installed in front and 803s in back. Took it out for its first ride, cruising at 80 PSI. When POP, the car drops. I think an 803 blew, anybody blow their 803? I didnt do any mods to fit them on.

Fri Jul 10, 2009 3:01 pm

Back in 1995, we used to put Rancho air shocks on the rear of our vw's all the time. I think we kept that dept in business for a while. Because of the strain of twisting the torsion bars up along with the amount of weight the car is suspended on, the shocks will not last at all. We went through shocks on average every 2 weeks.

If you remove the torsions all together, they will not lift as easy but they will actually last another week or two. Installing air shocks on the rear of a beetle is a money pit. Save your cash. Set it and forget it or do air bags.

Sat Jul 11, 2009 6:54 am

im putting some on the back of my bug
i only need to air it up to get about 2" lift to get out of my driveway and the occasional speedbump or deep spoon drain
so 99.9% of the time there wont be any air in them