Monroe Air Shocks

[cab57]

Ok, now I understand what they said :

Kits named 'SML' - 'MED' - 'LRG' - 'XLRG'
SML : Just shocks 800€
MED : Incl. Adapter 949€
LRG : +Fixed dropped springplates & stahlflex 1139€
XLRG : +Adjustable springplates & stahlflex 1269€

Thanks again
Chris
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Beetle convertible built 06/66
Beetle ragtop built 28/04/59

[Buggeee]

[xzener]

The tires. Haha! My bump stops have been removed, so yeah... The tires.
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My 70 beetle was totaled Now to build the Ghia I always wanted. Rest in peace Ruby, I will miss you. Hello <insert Ghia name here>!

[Buggeee]

[cab57]

Hi xzener,

Do you have an air tank ? If yes what is the capacity ?

Chris
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Beetle convertible built 06/66
Beetle ragtop built 28/04/59

[xzener]

Yes. I only have a Viair 20008, which is a 2 gallon tank with a single Viair 480C pump. I recently bought a 5 gallon and another Viair 480C. Had the tank painted the same color as the car, and plan on installing soon. Trying to get my interior finished, so I pushed it to the back burner. Hoping to do something similar to this eventually. More than twice the tank volume with two pumps...

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My 70 beetle was totaled Now to build the Ghia I always wanted. Rest in peace Ruby, I will miss you. Hello <insert Ghia name here>!

[cab57]

Nice setup !

Is your 2 gallons tank can lift front and rear without starting compressor ?
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Beetle convertible built 06/66
Beetle ragtop built 28/04/59

[xzener]

Wish it were mine, it is a nice setup. Hope to have something similar.

After the car has been sitting (0psi in tank), and the bags are aired out... It takes the compressor about 5 minutes to air up the bags and the compressor. After that, I can probably get away with airing out completely, filling once without the compressor kicking back on. Will be much quicker, and have less compressor starts once I have the bigger tank and more compressors installed. I have my Accuair ECU set to air up the tank when it lowers to 165psi, and kick off at 200psi. My regulator is set to 150psi, as that is the maximum the shocks/bags will allow.
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My 70 beetle was totaled Now to build the Ghia I always wanted. Rest in peace Ruby, I will miss you. Hello <insert Ghia name here>!

[dubsteez79]

Was there ever a consensus on rear air shocks? My IRS beetle is fairly low but not laying beam or anything. I just read through this whole thing again and it still seems that ma803 is what several have used for the rear. I bought those last year and the compressed length is 2-3 inches higher than stated because of an internal bumpstop(according to monroe). Therefore my bug was sitting mad high in the back. I believe the ma756's up front will be fine for my beetle since the compressed length is much shorter than what I need. MA785 shows to be an inch shorter in compressed length than the ma803's so maybe those?

[Chris333]

Curious if anyone with air ride has to drop the passenger side a hair lower to make up for sitting on the driver side?

[Serpent7]

I have a '73 Thing and bought Monroe MA756 air shocks. My question id mounting the lower part of the shock. How are you guys doing it to avoid the body of the shock rubbing? Pics would be fabulous! Spacers? parts of the old shock? etc??? When I mount my air shocks they seem (the body of the shock itself) too wide and hit/rub. Please advise... and Thanks!
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2019 Audi Q5
2014 Volkswagen Touareg X
1997 Honda Shadow
1979 Kawasaki KZ1000
1979 Volkswagen Transporter
1973 Volkswagen Thing

[kennydd0815]

[cab57]

I had the same issue and if you search in this thread you will find some pictures.
You can grind your arm but I didn’t do this.
When my beetle was back on the ground, the shock was close but didn’t rub the arm.

Find the link below
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...start=1260
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Beetle convertible built 06/66
Beetle ragtop built 28/04/59

[Mike-O-Rama]

Just wanted to say thanks to those who contributed to this topic. I was able to gather the knowledge to complete the install on my bug.

The toughest part was grinding the upper trailing arms to make room for the larger diameter shocks. I left the marks on the arm in the video where I clearanced the arms. I didn't grind all the way to the lines in the photos just a guide to see past the sparks from the grinder....

Slightly over 400 for everything Air Shock Related

My Ride
69 bug
2 inch Narrowed Beam- Urethane Beam seals
2-1/2 Inch Dropped Spindles w/disc brakes
Extra offset camber eccentrics
Extra caster shims on lower beam tube
Ball joints for Lowered bug
175/65R15 Tires on stock rims all around

*************Video of Air Shocks ***************
https://youtu.be/CmBpCTIQtLE

Thanks Again

[evillrdnikon]

Can I ask this community for some assistance? I have blown two front air shocks now. I bought my initial airkewld air ride setup and got it installed. Everything went well except when i was in a round about i blew my passenger air shock October 30 2019. i believe it was my training arm that put pressure on the ring clamp and push it off the shock since i saw silver metal between the shock and trailing arm exposed from that rubbing action.
My bug was down until two weeks ago when i bought another pair of air shocks from airkewld and got them installed. Everything was great and i drove it home and parked the car. Over the weekend i blew the same passenger air shock and i wasn't even driving. I was trying to raise up the front so i could get under the front for maintenance as i have am redoing my fuel delivery.

when i parked my bug the front air shocks have full clearance, we not maxed out with air and i have the rear on jack stands. the left filled with air just fine, but as soon as i touched the fill button for the passenger front shock it blew. Looked underneath and i can see the bag blew out of the shock. No clue why. I want to ask my the guy the put it together but also want to know if this community has ever run into that issue. This is my 3rd pair i have to buy... =/ shitty thing is i wasn't even driving the car. I am also looking at replacements shocks and after reading and looking at what i have i think the front shocks i have are MA750s.

any advice greatly appreciated since i cant keep buying shocks..

[evillrdnikon]

I got some replacement MA750s from my local o'reilly parts store.about 50% off what i originally paid for them. hopefully these work and i do have any more issues.

[Mike-O-Rama]

[Mike-O-Rama]

Update- I switched over to a 1 gallon tank, much quicker to fill and obtain enough PSI to raise the front end. With the 3 gallon it was taking 5-6 min to get enough pressure to lift the front end if the tank was empty, kinda sucks sitting there waiting for it to build pressure. The one gallon takes about 2 min.

If you like demonstrating the shocks at shows, cars and coffee, or just have a kid who loves the psshhhh sound like mine does, keep the 3 gallon and upgrade your compressor, or add a 2nd compressor.

[xzener]

Upgrade and a second compressor.
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My 70 beetle was totaled Now to build the Ghia I always wanted. Rest in peace Ruby, I will miss you. Hello <insert Ghia name here>!

[TDCTDI]

While ordering parts, I tripped across the Monroe air bag shocks, since they were stupid cheap, and this project needed shocks anyway, I decided to score a set so I could join the cool kids with air ride.



Upon the first trial fit, I found that not only was the lower eyelet was too small a diameter to fit over the stud on the lower trailing arm, but to was also too long.

Well, I remedied this by pressing the lower collar out of the old shocks...

And stuffing them into the new ones.

I was then able to install the shocks onto the trailing arms but I then found that the shock bodies were too large in diameter & were fouling against the upper arms.

After a bit of research in the late model Beetle forums, I found that this was a common occurrence & that quite a few grind away on the upper control arm to gain the necessary clearance. This has got to be the stupidest fucking idea ever.


Knowing that there had to be a better way, I came up with my own solution.


With a bit of adjusting, I determined that the shock needed to be moved inboard roughly 1/2” and the hole in the beam needed to be opened up about 1/4” and the shock body would just clear the upper trailing arm. However, there is not enough length on the lower stud to slip enough washers on before there aren’t enough threads to install the nut, so I made a longer lower shock collar that was also the nut.


First, I welded a nut to a washer...

removed a collar from another old shock, slipped it onto the trailing arm, tightened a nut against it & welded them together.

Not having a lathe, I threaded a stud into the collar & chucked it into the drill & turned the weld & nut down with a die grinder.

Once it was ground down to size, I then welded the other side of the washer to the pared down nut & turned it down too.

After applying a bit of SilGlyde, I then pressed it into the shock.

Then, using a carbide burr on the die grinder, I opened up the hole on the beam a bit to the rear & towards the inside & after mounting the shock in place, I checked for any clearance issues throughout the range of motion.

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Everybody born before 1975 has a story, good, bad, or indifferent, about a VW.


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Do something, anything, to your project every day, and you will eventually complete it.