Air shock question

covdubguy · Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2014 8:58 am Post subject: Air shock question

So I was reading, some place not sure where, about running air shocks instead of coil overs. Is this a good idea? I would love to get rid of my torsion bars. Would this work? I know that I would have to run a set of shocks with them to remove/ control the bounce. Basically I'm looking to get rid of the torsion bars on my rail on the cheap. I found a set of 14 inch stroke fox air shocks on the cheap locally. This is just an idea, now let the flogging begin......
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74 bus
Berrian warrior
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Brian · Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2014 9:13 am Post subject:

PhillipM · Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2014 9:32 am Post subject:

To be honest, you need to strip and rebuild them to give any meaningful spring rate change, so not particularly.

covdubguy · Posted: Sun Aug 17, 2014 11:08 pm Post subject:

Thanks for the enlightenment. Not what I want to hear but sometimes the truth hurts... Thanks again
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74 bus
Berrian warrior
Some other rail
Dirty hippies give busses a bad name

Brian · Posted: Mon Aug 18, 2014 12:01 am Post subject:

Unfortunately, so is life. But remember, you can F up once and do it again or do it once the right way.
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I Ride Sand · Posted: Mon Aug 18, 2014 3:40 pm Post subject:

wait, do you mean the fox 2.0 air shocks? If so, then actually they are build for exactly what you wanted to use them for. they are for light loads where heat buildup will not be an issue, such as a sandrail. its what the redline revolt uses. if you are using it in rougher stuff, then look at coilovers. foa builds some decent yet cheap coilovers that are not much more expensive than the fox 2.0 air shocks. With that said, if you are looking at the car shocks with the airbag thing on them, then no, don't waste your time.

covdubguy · Posted: Mon Aug 18, 2014 5:53 pm Post subject:

I am building the rail to tryout some off-road racing here in colorado. It is not full on desert racing but the suspension will be working pretty good. I also want to take it up in the hills on some of the 4x4 trails. The shocks I am talking about are fox 2.0's 14" stroke and the came off a rock crawler that is being parted out. I will look at the FOA to see what they have to offer.
_________________
74 bus
Berrian warrior
Some other rail
Dirty hippies give busses a bad name

Brian · Posted: Mon Aug 18, 2014 6:21 pm Post subject:

oooh yea, those would be nice. I thought you were talking about the small ones you get at the flaps.
_________________
Wash your hands

'69 Bug
'68 Baja Truck
'71 Bug
'68 Camper

Only losers litter

I Ride Sand · Posted: Mon Aug 18, 2014 7:19 pm Post subject:

yeah, then you will want a coilover with a remote res. the heat buildup will really screw with your dampening.

covdubguy · Posted: Mon Aug 18, 2014 8:29 pm Post subject:

Cool.... Thanks for the input
_________________
74 bus
Berrian warrior
Some other rail
Dirty hippies give busses a bad name

GreasyCV · Posted: Tue Aug 19, 2014 4:27 pm Post subject:

Also if your car has a decent amount of wheel travel and no sways bars you will get a ton of body roll with air shocks.

PhillipM · Posted: Tue Aug 19, 2014 4:30 pm Post subject:

No more than the same rate setup with coilovers or torsion bars.

Fade and ride height creep may be an issue for desert racing though.

Dunegoon · Posted: Sat Sep 13, 2014 9:11 pm Post subject:

I've been running gas shocks on my sandrails since the 1980's. Love them, obviously. If you get a nitrogen bottle and a regulator, you can make changes pretty easily.

Basically:
Gas pressure is the spring rate. Change dampening by disassembling them and changing internal shim washers. Change ride height by changing mounting points, not via gas pressure if possible. The spring rate is very progressive and naturally so due to gas law: P=(constant x Temp)/Volume. At mid-stroke the volume is 1/2 that of fully extended and the pressure is 2 times, 4 times at 3/4 stroke, etc. In a sandrail, you will likely never see temperature come into the equation because with all the airflow, they will stay close to ambient.

They are great for jumping, landings are smooth! Gas shocks have mostly replaced coil-over designs on monster trucks for some reason.

I doubt that you can just bolt them in and be happy, because you need to figure out travel, travel limit straps (maybe), dampening settings, gas pressure and clearances.

Nitrogen is much lighter than Iron as a spring material. You can save a lot of weight with four of these babies.

PhillipM · Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2014 8:57 am Post subject:

Gas pressure is mainly preload, for ride height changes, etc - oil fill height has magnitudes more effect on changing the actual spring rate.

winchin73blazinbaja · Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2014 11:32 am Post subject:

the new style fox air shocks are a lot better than the old type that were made mainly for the use of helping while towing.

http://www.race-dezert.com/forum/threads/fox-air-shocks-vs-coil-overs.40981/

http://www.fourwheeler.com/how-to/suspension-brakes/131-0606-air-shock-technical/

read these the second one is more informative where the first is more people just rambling on and arguing about them

Dunegoon · Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2014 7:27 pm Post subject:

PhillipM,

I think you may be right about the oil. In order to get repeatability if nothing else, most of us always adjust the Nitrogen pressure with the wheels off of the ground. Pressure is sure easier to change than the oil quantity, so I just have the standard amount of oil and change the pressure.

This guy probably has all that figured out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNqpqPc7qEA&t=1m25s

Sorry about the monster truck link Shocked

PhillipM · Posted: Mon Sep 15, 2014 8:40 am Post subject:

For an easy analogy, the charge pressure change is more like just winding the spring pans up/down on a coilover.
Where's changing the oil height is like change the springs out for different rates.


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