The great debate

[mod5v]

Just my 2cents worth.LOL I went to the junk yard and bought a pair of springs out of a dart. took them home. took the springs out of my duster and made a 6 leaf per side spring pack from the best of the 2 sets. You may(will) need to get a longer center bolt. use a grade "8" from the hardware store. Round the edges of the bolt head untill it just fits the hole in the spring perch. Just use some common sense and look at how the spring packs are assembled befor you take them apart. Try to duplicate the original design. By the way u don't have to get a spring pack out of the same model of car just a mopar so the front segments are shorter than the rear. If you get them out of a diffrent model you will have to reuse your main(the ones with the eyelets)leafs. In essence you can build your own "SS" springs for under 50$. When you don't have much money you need to get a little creative. Mine has been togather for over 6 years now and none of the springs are under 30 years old. I'm running 255/60/15 tires on 7" wheels but there is room for 275's easy.

 

[1973dusterkid]

I guess I just have to wait There's a small chance The wheels/tires will fit as it sets now

 

[clhyer]

I agree with the low buck advise that mod5v has given. I used one leaf from an M body to bring my car back up where it's level. Visit Doraville Springs up your way for a new set of leaf ties that you will need. I think they were around $3 each. You will need four of them.
C

 

[RustyRatRod]

That's the problem...they don't teach the kids anything anymore! They are lucky to get out of school with being able to spell or read which many can't! :cry:

Yeah not only that....but he had Google at his fingertips and STILL asked. LMAO.

 

[RustyRatRod]

I guess I just have to wait There's a small chance The wheels/tires will fit as it sets now

I see you are in Georgia. If you decide to build your own springs (I am about to do that myself) I will have some Mopar A body leafs left over that you can have when I get done if you would like to have them. You're welcome to come get them. In fact, if you can bring your springs with you, I will even help you build your set.

 

[AdamR]

watch the insults

 

[Oldmanmopar]

If its all you can afford at this time go for it. Every one on here in there 50's had to have used them one time or another. I did when I was younger. they stopped my big tires from rubbing on my GTO's and RR and R/t's. Use two shrader valve so you can pump up one at a time. Otherwise putting pressure on one extends the other and makes the car lean more in turns. I saw pics of cars on here that are using coil overs on there cars using the factory shock mounts. Thats even worse no leafs at all. Be sure to use the correct shock mount extensions on the top. I have some if you need them. sometimes the shocks don't come with them.

 

[mopardads67]

Yea I use em so what.Have the dual shrader valve set up and run about 25 psi in them.Now I don't race my car or anything so I don't have any problems,but I guess if I did race I would do things differently.So I say go for it then.

 

[69B-Cuda]

I agree with Mod5V. I have built spring stacks for a couple of my rigs to get the ride height and stiffness I wanted. (60 Willys wagon, and 59 Suburban). You can actually do that without taking out your leaf springs... You will need longer center bolts in the springs and probably longer U bolts. Also, if you just want some lift, for cheap, you can use longer shackles in the rear, but that creates a different set of handling issues.

 

[Bulldozer]

the typical air shock(gabriel ,monroe)is not going to give much lift with 150lbs of pressure if you have sagging springs. back in the day,we would take the old rear shocks off,cut the bottom 4 inches off and slip them over the bottom shock eye ,and then weld the "sleave" onto the new shock,thus giving it 3 inches of lift on the shock,and then only putting around 50lbs in the air shock,giving it a nice stance and a good ride. lift shackles are a nightmare because they are going to move around however they feel like it,plus they look ugly hanging down with a leaf spring sagging down in the back.i would just have your leaf springs re-arched... imo

 

[pishta]

Air shocks are fun if you want to pull the shock mounts out of the rear seat floor. Hyper-extension over every bump rebound. Boom!

 

[Bulldozer]

Air shocks are fun if you want to pull the shock mounts out of the rear seat floor. Hyper-extension over every bump rebound. Boom!

lol- exactly why we would "extend" them,to keep that from happening and to get away from the rock hard ride you get with them fully extended.they actually arent that bad with them about half extended.

 

[67Dart273]

Air shocks DO have a purpose. I ran them on my 70 sixpack car, mostly to offset high trunk weight occasionally. I often had two large and VERY heavy clamshell tool boxes back there, and I've carried everything from transmissions to !!!! AN ENGINE !!! in the back.

When I bought the low miles 340 from a junkyard in about 72-3 or so, I had no pickup nor access. I could have rented a trailer I spose. I simply measured it up, got a bunch of cardboard for padding, and removed the trunk lid. I padded around it with LOTS of cardboard, and ran two rope harnesses around it, tied to the hitch receiver. Had a REAL easy drive up to Miramar.

The day I sold that car, it had 140,000 on the body, and the shock mounts were just FINE.

I did NOT however, use them for ride height for tires.

 

[kevindahle]

The Dart I'm working on had air shocks on it for decades and there is no evidence of any harm of any kind, not the politicly correct way to solve the problem but I don,t see it beening a bad thing unless your going to race it.

 

[needsaresto]

Lol,the airbags in my truck are a big help especially right now. Trying to remove the gas tank and inflating the air bags provided another 4-6 inches of clearance underneath!!! They have come in handy at other times,like when I got a yard of crushed rock and it was kinda wet. Made the back end sag pretty bad,but they had an air hose at the yard,so I inflated the bags and the rear came back up to where it should be.

 

[TF360]

It would be better for you to increase your tire and rim size. It will give you the look you want. Spend your money there