Air shocks - Ford Forums

BlueSteel · 09-17-2004, 22:41

I put a set of gabrial air shocks on my 87 CV, wow they are great!! Its a 70/30 shock over a 4.75" air lift!! I went to sams club and got food, got about 500 LBS worth (dog food 112 lbs, other stuff 460 lbs), I loaded up and filled the shocks to 80 PSI, raised the rear and drove great, acted like nothing there, never bugged over drive too. It is a slightly stiffer ride. Later today I hooked a trailer to the car (I put a big 3 ton hitch on the car). Drove to detriot and loaded the trailer of car part at a guys back yard. About 3/4 ton worth, filled shocks to 200 PSI, drove great, no fish tailing, swaying, bouncing, or ruff ride, almost forgot I had a trailer. Stopping was not effected either. Last time I did this with stock monroe gas shocks I blew them away, shot gas out the top. I'm way happy now. Also got a treat for the CV at the yard too, 1991 ford 302 lighting air intake along with all the fixings and a brand new AOT tranny made for heavy duty hauling trucks. I think I'll keep toying with crowns, they have so much potential.

T_Juggalo · 09-17-2004, 22:52

I got tires for a good deal yesterday at a salvage yard, $30 a piece
225 60 r16 V rated firestone firehawk PV41's lots of tread left they help handling quite a bit compared to what I had on there

BlueSteel · 09-17-2004, 23:04

R16? What wheels you running? Yes, tread is good, but age is not. If a tire sets for a year with out being driven (lets it flex and stretch) then it will burn away, I'v had it happen. A tire is not all on peice, it consists of 2 steel rolled bead locks, inner sealer whall wrapped around bead locks, and then a volcanized outer treaded rubber compound. After age the out and inner wall seperates after no use. Always, if it shows signs of dryrot (cracks in sida wall, missing groves, looks like old chocolate), its going to fail. Use to have a set of hi doller BF GOODRICH tire fron foxes salvage yard, looked gooded, kept air, cracked side walls. Both rear tires blow when I added a decent load in the trunck, side was popped at the cracks.

T_Juggalo · 09-19-2004, 09:40

Guy told me they were just taken off rims, there were no cracks or missing tread anywhere on the tire... I know what to look for now When I got my new rims they came with what looked like 2 good tires, but had been sitting around on the rims for years... when i inflated them, full of cracks.

*edit - Im running 16x8 mag aluminum rims, not sure what they were originally on but could be mustang rims