I was mucking about in my workshop the other day having a bit of a clean up and came across a pair of pump up shock absorbers that used to be on my xr falcon years ago, as i remember they used to do the job o.k., dont hear any mention of these type of shocks nowadays, anyone know why they are not used anymore, just curious,
Joda.
-- Edited by Aus-Kiwi on Tuesday 20th of August 2019 11:24:03 PM
Radar said
08:17 AM Aug 21, 2019
Joda wrote:
I was mucking about in my workshop the other day having a bit of a clean up and came across a pair of pump up shock absorbers that used to be on my xr falcon years ago, as i remember they used to do the job o.k., dont hear any mention of these type of shocks nowadays, anyone know why they are not used anymore, just curious, Joda.
That just brought back a memory.
Possibly around 1974 we brought an ex racing XU1 Torana as a road car it was horrible on our country roads around Central Coast of NSW, my wife complained about the ride to a motorsport friend and on its next service he fitted air shocks to it. Made a huge difference to the car.
Foot note to all this.
I drove semi trailers on the Sydney to Brisbane run. I thought car rode good after doing over 2000 kilometres each week in the truck.
Shocks fitted by Russell Skaife who was a pretty mean pedler himself the father of awesome champion racing driver Mark Skaife at the family mechanical and tyre business.
Russell raced a Holden Torana XU1 then a Ford Capria V6.
I think around 10 psi was all that was needed and no the car did not break in half. I still use air bags on my cars without a failure.
And yes I wished I had of had the money to of kept the purple Torana but I was a practical family man living from pay check to pay check and the car was traded for a 4 door sedan.
Yes what a great memory.
Jaahn said
08:59 AM Aug 21, 2019
Hi Joda
Yea back in about 1980 we did a trip out to central Australia and SA with the 3 kids. Had a 1970 Kingswood, fitted a big roof rack and air shocks to lift it back up. Camped our way around and the kids just lounged on the bedding in the back seat. Ahh the good ol'days Not a bad ride on the dirt if you pumped it up for a bit of suspension travel. The air shocks worked well.
Jaahn
PS I recall we hit a couple of grass hopper swarms in western NSW and had to stop every service station to blow off the hoppers and clean out the radiator fins. Haven't seen those for years.
-- Edited by Jaahn on Wednesday 21st of August 2019 09:05:11 AM
Tony Bev said
11:13 AM Aug 21, 2019
I put a set on the rear of a HQ Holden in the 1980's
I thought that they were OK, until I drove on a near flat rear passenger tire
I never felt the flat tire while I was in town, and another motorist had to tell me
I removed them and went back to normal shockies
Aus-Kiwi said
03:13 PM Aug 21, 2019
Ahaha thats a good one . Removed shocks because couldnt tell you had a flat !! That says heaps for the shocks .
Whenarewethere said
04:31 PM Aug 21, 2019
I put a pair on a Peugeot 504 with onboard pump, lifted up the back about 50mm. They where good if carrying a lot, stopped the car dragging its ar__!
Joda said
05:26 PM Aug 21, 2019
Why are We not still using them for some applications?
Shocker mounts on cars are usually pretty strong bit of gear, I can,t recall how good the XR 1967 fairmont I had rode with them on, had a 18ft. Tandem york loaded to the hilt for chrissy hols., 2 adults & 2 kids in the car, probably throw You in jail for doing that these days, thou never had a problem over 40 odd 5 hour trips spread over a number of years, used W.D.H. & just pumped up the shocks till the outfit looked level,
Joda.
Greg 1 said
05:31 PM Aug 21, 2019
Used some myself on a few vehicles. Always liked them better than airbags as the load is placed on points of the chassis that are designed to take it not midway between the leaf spring hangers like airbags.
yobarr said
05:56 PM Aug 21, 2019
Aus-Kiwi wrote:
Ahaha thats a good one . Removed shocks because couldnt tell you had a flat !! That says heaps for the shocks .
Perhaps the shocks automatically compensated for the fact that one corner of the car would have sat down if a tyre was flat,so you would never know? Cheers
Aus-Kiwi said
06:00 PM Aug 21, 2019
Shock mounts are not designed to carry load all the same . Air bags are ok if fitted correctly and used appropriately. 20 lb is all you need . Yet I hear some going way over 50lb !! If you need that much ? Theres some other serious issues !! People dont have common sense anymore . Plus no personal responsibility !
Whenarewethere said
06:25 PM Aug 21, 2019
yobarr wrote:
Aus-Kiwi wrote:
Ahaha thats a good one . Removed shocks because couldnt tell you had a flat !! That says heaps for the shocks .
Perhaps the shocks automatically compensated for the fact that one corner of the car would have sat down if a tyre was flat,so you would never know? Cheers
It was a simple bladder around the shock & both shocks were connected to the same air supply to pump up.
As far as I could tell there was no change in the quality of suspension & the 504 had a lot of suspension travel & a lot of leaning outwards in corners.
The only thing I should have changed at the time would be a larger compressor as it took 3 minutes to pump up to a reasonable height for a heavy load.
The car didn't look too bad pumped up with alloy wheels & wider tyres, 215mm, for the era! Had to stretch the body out a bit with a hydraulic jack so they would fit!
Radar said
07:18 AM Aug 22, 2019
Whenarewethere wrote:
I put a pair on a Peugeot 504 with onboard pump, lifted up the back about 50mm. They where good if carrying a lot, stopped the car dragging its ar__!
A 3 year old 1973 used Peugeot 504 is what I traded the purple XU1 in on, did not goes as well but with 4 wheel disc brakes, full independent suspension right round was by far one of my best motoring moves.
We parted company with the Peugeot with tears some 14 years later with unique adjustable Gabriel shocks. They were a bit different also for the time, I think approximately 1978.
Whenarewethere said
08:38 AM Aug 22, 2019
Mine was 7 when I bought it & 25 when the rust was a bit too much. Head gasket at 160k. It did 250k & the engine was basically ok.
I put air conditioning in it, electronic ignition, KEF hi-fi with sub woofer & the first CD player available. Swapped the sealed beams for halogen & the inner high beam were 130 watt globes which make today's head lights look like a joke.
I wired he AC fan so I could turn it on for extra cooling for the radiator.
Also a hydraulic keyed lock on the clutch to stop it been stolen. I could also unplug the ignition box as I made it pluggable.
I kept it that long as it was cheap to run. Also reshoed the brake pads with metal pads which were better & lasted longer.
Warren-Pat_01 said
07:54 AM Aug 25, 2019
I never used air shocks but I knew they could do a lot of damage if abused.
In the mid 80s we did a trip to Chambers Pillar & got talking one night with a couple of families who were going to travel across the Simpson. They had Hilux utes, one was carrying a "44" of petrol in the back, the other of diesel They mentioned they had air shocks to take the load.
Long story cut short, when we got up the next morning there was a hive of activity - one shocker on one vehicle had pushed the top mounting pin out of the chassis! They were doing a temporary weld before going back to Alice Springs.
Moral of the story - never put high pressures in air bags (& I have them) or air shockies - they can wreck vehicles!
Jaahn said
09:23 AM Aug 25, 2019
Warren-Pat_01 wrote:
I never used air shocks but I knew they could do a lot of damage if abused. In the mid 80s we did a trip to Chambers Pillar & got talking one night with a couple of families who were going to travel across the Simpson. They had Hilux utes, one was carrying a "44" of petrol in the back, the other of diesel They mentioned they had air shocks to take the load.
Long story cut short, when we got up the next morning there was a hive of activity - one shocker on one vehicle had pushed the top mounting pin out of the chassis! They were doing a temporary weld before going back to Alice Springs.
Moral of the story - never put high pressures in air bags (& I have them) or air shockies - they can wreck vehicles!
Hi
Or perhaps the moral is actually not to overload a vehicle and expect a simple assist device to fix all problems (or even an upgrade too!)
Jaahn
Aus-Kiwi said
03:02 PM Aug 25, 2019
Yea typical in these days to blame anything but yourself . Trouble is tyre pressure systems are up around 80 to 120 lb . Some just dont check ! Takes milli seconds to pump shocks up too !! The std elect self adjusters compressor pump is very small . I have a regulator on mine . Pump, Little tank then regular to air bag . So hopefully it wont over pressurise .. set to 22 lb max .
Knight said
05:38 PM Aug 25, 2019
My father used air pump up shock absorbers on his Holden 1967 HR sedan that towed a 17 foot 6 inch aluminium caravan comfortably, 6-cylinder petrol with 3-speed column change gearbox.
At the time the shock absorbers were satisfactory and eliminated sagging of rear leaf springs, but obviously air bags today are new and superior technology.
They are out there .Air bags have taken over .https://www.monroe.com.au/products/gas-riser.html
-- Edited by Aus-Kiwi on Tuesday 20th of August 2019 11:24:03 PM
That just brought back a memory.
Possibly around 1974 we brought an ex racing XU1 Torana as a road car it was horrible on our country roads around Central Coast of NSW, my wife complained about the ride to a motorsport friend and on its next service he fitted air shocks to it. Made a huge difference to the car.
Foot note to all this.
I drove semi trailers on the Sydney to Brisbane run. I thought car rode good after doing over 2000 kilometres each week in the truck.
Shocks fitted by Russell Skaife who was a pretty mean pedler himself the father of awesome champion racing driver Mark Skaife at the family mechanical and tyre business.
Russell raced a Holden Torana XU1 then a Ford Capria V6.
I think around 10 psi was all that was needed and no the car did not break in half. I still use air bags on my cars without a failure.
And yes I wished I had of had the money to of kept the purple Torana but I was a practical family man living from pay check to pay check and the car was traded for a 4 door sedan.
Yes what a great memory.
Hi Joda
Yea back in about 1980 we did a trip out to central Australia and SA with the 3 kids. Had a 1970 Kingswood, fitted a big roof rack and air shocks to lift it back up. Camped our way around and the kids just lounged on the bedding in the back seat. Ahh the good ol'days
Not a bad ride on the dirt if you pumped it up for a bit of suspension travel. The air shocks worked well. 
Jaahn
PS I recall we hit a couple of grass hopper swarms in western NSW and had to stop every service station to blow off the hoppers and clean out the radiator fins. Haven't seen those for years.
-- Edited by Jaahn on Wednesday 21st of August 2019 09:05:11 AM
I thought that they were OK, until I drove on a near flat rear passenger tire
I never felt the flat tire while I was in town, and another motorist had to tell me
I removed them and went back to normal shockies
I put a pair on a Peugeot 504 with onboard pump, lifted up the back about 50mm. They where good if carrying a lot, stopped the car dragging its ar__!
Perhaps the shocks automatically compensated for the fact that one corner of the car would have sat down if a tyre was flat,so you would never know? Cheers
It was a simple bladder around the shock & both shocks were connected to the same air supply to pump up.
As far as I could tell there was no change in the quality of suspension & the 504 had a lot of suspension travel & a lot of leaning outwards in corners.
The only thing I should have changed at the time would be a larger compressor as it took 3 minutes to pump up to a reasonable height for a heavy load.
The car didn't look too bad pumped up with alloy wheels & wider tyres, 215mm, for the era! Had to stretch the body out a bit with a hydraulic jack so they would fit!
A 3 year old 1973 used Peugeot 504 is what I traded the purple XU1 in on, did not goes as well but with 4 wheel disc brakes, full independent suspension right round was by far one of my best motoring moves.
We parted company with the Peugeot with tears some 14 years later with unique adjustable Gabriel shocks. They were a bit different also for the time, I think approximately 1978.
Mine was 7 when I bought it & 25 when the rust was a bit too much. Head gasket at 160k. It did 250k & the engine was basically ok.
I put air conditioning in it, electronic ignition, KEF hi-fi with sub woofer & the first CD player available. Swapped the sealed beams for halogen & the inner high beam were 130 watt globes which make today's head lights look like a joke.
I wired he AC fan so I could turn it on for extra cooling for the radiator.
Also a hydraulic keyed lock on the clutch to stop it been stolen. I could also unplug the ignition box as I made it pluggable.
I kept it that long as it was cheap to run. Also reshoed the brake pads with metal pads which were better & lasted longer.
In the mid 80s we did a trip to Chambers Pillar & got talking one night with a couple of families who were going to travel across the Simpson. They had Hilux utes, one was carrying a "44" of petrol in the back, the other of diesel They mentioned they had air shocks to take the load.
Long story cut short, when we got up the next morning there was a hive of activity - one shocker on one vehicle had pushed the top mounting pin out of the chassis! They were doing a temporary weld before going back to Alice Springs.
Moral of the story - never put high pressures in air bags (& I have them) or air shockies - they can wreck vehicles!
Hi
Or perhaps the moral is actually not to overload a vehicle and expect a simple assist device to fix all problems
(or even an upgrade too!)
Jaahn
At the time the shock absorbers were satisfactory and eliminated sagging of rear leaf springs, but obviously air bags today are new and superior technology.