Hi there,

I have Gabriel Hijacker air shocks which make some trouble. When I put the car on my lift the rear axle comes down so far that it´s supported by the brake hose only.
At this point the rear coil springs are about to fall off by themselves….

Is this a known issue ? The shocks should be supporting the rear axle so the springs have still some preload when rebound.

Can anybody tell me the free height of stock rear springs ? I have the suspicion that somebody put in lower springs which is total nonsense in combination with hijackers.


Regards from Germany,
Marc

 

If its coming down far enough to be pulling n the brake hose, stock spring would be falling out too. A good fix would be to find some limiting straps you can bolt to the body side sway bar mount and to the control arm to hold the axle before it pulls on the brake line. Stock spring are somethings ng like. 14" tall free but u dnt have an exact measurement handy

 

Sounds like those stupid shocks have caused the CAR to fail, like they ARE DESTINED to do. They literally PUNCH OUT the hole in the floor pan that's supposed to be their "mount".

Air shocks are a VERY BAD BAD BAD idea for these cars. Not only just because they're air shocks, which are a bad idea for ANY vehicle to begin with; but worse, because the place the top of the shock mounts to, is WEAK. It fails in high-mile cars just from the normal stress of absorbing shocks. NO WAY it has the strength to hold up the weight of the car.

Undo the air shock mistake, and get some decent springs. You shouldn't have ANY trouble finding a vendor that will ship internationally. I'd suggest Moog CC635.

Weld some washers into the floor pan, if there's enough metal left around those holes to even do THAT with; and get some just regular ordinary shocks.

 

I had the idea with the straps,too. Maybe some sort of steel cable, but I haven´t put too much thought into this yet.
I also heard about the weak top mounts... but the air shocks are a nice gadget and the car isn´t been driven much anyway. I´m also wondering if the 295 tires will fit under the wheel arch with stock springs/shocks ?

 

If some random wrong tires or other don't fit, don't try to jam them on the car anyway.

Air shocks DO NOT WORK on these cars. They ARE NOT a "nice gadget", they are DESTRUCTIVE. They RUIN the car. No matter what the perceived problem you are facing, they are NOT the solution. Get rid of them and do something else that's RIGHT.

 

Just spend the $50 for a new pair of Moog CC635 rear springs. Then add a new pair of KYBs or whatever other normal shocks you like, preferably high-pressure-gas-charged shocks to reduce foaming of the oil in the shocks, and then drive for a couple of weeks so the springs can settle in. Then you can trim them to whatever rear height you like, but keep allowing 2 weeks of driving between every time you cut the springs.