Need information on air ride

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mikemark8

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I have a 96 that i garage and do not drive all that much anymore, but recently thought about getting it out again so I could drive it on nicer days. I have for years gotten into the habit of shutting off the air ride switch prior to shutting it down so that the car remains at full height when it sits for months at a time. The problem was that the rear would eventually slam anyway. A few years ago, I did buy a couple of the Arnott bags for the rear and I saved them for now (used, I think, on ebay, they look pretty new), so I installed them but they leaked badly

to plan B-

I had a full set of Strutmaster springs (front and rear). So I went ahead and removed the rear bags and installed the conventional springs in the rear, thinking the front air springs would still be OK for now. I drove it for a week or two, and it has been parked now for about 2-3 weeks inside.

Now the front looks low (not slammed but getting there)-and the compressor does not run, switch is on- I do have the Strutmasters for the front, but would like to get the fronts to fill until I can get around to installing the front struts. Anyone know why the front bags won't fill? I looked on here but could not find an answer.

I tie wrapped the rear air lines out of the way, could the rear sensor be the reason the compressor is not running?

Anybody?
 
Sitting in a garage even out of the weather will take it's toll on the bags. If you have the front springs just throw them on there. Front's are easier then the back's.
 
Spree said:
Sitting in a garage even out of the weather will take it's toll on the bags. If you have the front springs just throw them on there. Front's are easier then the back's.
Click to expand...

yeah that's the next step i guess-kind of hoped someone would say 'do this' so i could fill the front bags, but the little i drove it with the rear springs in, I really enjoyed getting out of the car and not having to shut off the air before shutting the door...also it handled really nice with the rear springs in, so I think I'll be happy to go to the conventional suspension side after 13 years of air ride experience. Nice when it works, pita when it doesn't. anyone want to buy cheap compressor, one rear bag that is good, and two fronts that will hold air for over a month if stationary?

May as well just be done with it.
 
mikemark8 said:
yeah that's the next step i guess-kind of hoped someone would say 'do this' so i could fill the front bags, but the little i drove it with the rear springs in, I really enjoyed getting out of the car and not having to shut off the air before shutting the door...also it handled really nice with the rear springs in, so I think I'll be happy to go to the conventional suspension side after 13 years of air ride experience. Nice when it works, pita when it doesn't. anyone want to buy cheap compressor, one rear bag that is good, and two fronts that will hold air for over a month if stationary?

May as well just be done with it.
Click to expand...

I was all about the air too :). Had the same VIII for 16 years, it was my pride and joy :) ! I kept air too, for as long as I could. BUT!!...If I had to do it all over again, (traded her a year ago), I would trade the air, for springs in a heart beat! (and I said I would never do that)! I couldn't trust it anymore. I was working on it more then driving it (her)...:)
I couldn't just go with any other car, so this is what I sold her for, (she will be remembered)! I loved my mark so much! But....this thing is Bad Asss!....:)...and i have my VIII's owners manual in my glove box.....for good luck....:)

DSCN3480.jpg
 
well i would have liked to kept the air ride but i did the front strutmasters this afternoon and just went for a test drive-i'm done with air now, too much of a hassle' expensive to fix, and unreliable. Add another old-timer convert, i had gotten so i really did not want to drive it with the fact that it would slam randomly, now that will never happen again. I bought this strutmaster kit off a junkyard mark viii about 4-5 years ago for $50 I think, no scrapes or rust and pretty clean so I don't think it was too old when I got it, and the ride is nice so I should have done this years ago i guess.
 
Out of curiosity, what is involved in swapping the rear? Front seems self explanatory. I'm not sure on the rears since I've never done them.

I have a set of air bags to swap in and I'm getting closer to doing the job (once I get in there to test the compressor to make sure it still works).
 
jbelcourt said:
Out of curiosity, what is involved in swapping the rear? Front seems self explanatory. I'm not sure on the rears since I've never done them.
tud i
I have a set of air bags to swap in and I'm getting closer to doing the job (once I get in there to test the compressor to make sure it still works).
Click to expand...


Putting in air springs are easier than strutmaster springs, I did that first but they would not fill and I had no interest in solving that so I went to the loft for the strutmaster springs I've been hording-
the fronts are easier, when i did the rear i got the air springs out by prying off the clip that holds the solenoid and air line in place, then you just twist the asssembly I want to say counter-clockwise about a half turn and pull down, air will rush out...you need to get the air out of the air springs before you can remove them.. If you hate them like you might, you could just stab them with a knife, I didn;t...then I used a bfh and a crow bar since the spring is hard to get into the space-you need to disconnect the shock and the sway bar link and push down on the arm and pry the spring with the perch mount on top and get it to locate the centering stud in position. After doing one side so you know what to do, it is not as bad doing the other side.

when i did the fronts i started with the passenger side first, and it only took about 45 minutes-then i worked on the driver side and no matter what i did, i could not get the top and bottom aligned, and thought I might have to rent a spring compressor and disassemble and rotate it to get it to align...I then realized that the top was marked faintly with a sharpie 'rt' and 'lf', remember i bought them out of a junkyard mark about 4-5 years ago...duh...removed the passenger side and swapped, done in an hour, both sides...

Its weird not having to deal with the air ride quirks, and it handles nice, still flat in corners and not bouncy or noisy. Hate to admit it but I should have done this a long time ago.
 
So you don't have to disconnect anything in the rear to drop it down and get the spring out and put the air bag in? I can rent a spring compressor, no biggy. I just expected to have to disconnect the lower arm or something to get them back in.
 
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