66softtop

Has anyone used rear air shocks to level out the rear end?

Bluestripe67

I'm sure someone has done that, but that's a bandaide for a problem. Is your rear spring completely flat or sagging in the up direction on the spring ends? Dennis

Tampa Jerry

Springs set the height of the car, shocks dampen the springs. Jerry

68hemi

And inflated air shock will raise the car and take the load off the springs. They were very popular back "in the day" when people added too big of tires to fit the wheel wells. If you blew the air shocks while driving down the road it could be disastrous.

Here is a picture of my first Corvette in 1970 with L-60 tires on it, (they are hard to see in the picture) guess how I got them to "fit" the car???

Tampa Jerry

I hear you. I had a 65 GTO with air shocks. Like you, I needed them to clear my Mickey Thompson L-60 15s. Jerrry

Mike67nv

Yes, I ran Delco air shocks on my first '67 back in the late '60's. You will be able to raise the rear height to some extent. I pulled a boat with the car and used the air shocks to compensate for the tongue weight.

Avispa

That's what air shocks are for. You can use em for other things but the spring force on the back needs to sorta match the weight. If you have leveling issues and don't want to replace the spring you're better off using extra washers under one or the other lower spring cushion seats. Or longer spring bolts

woodsdesign

I had them on my 64 SS just because I thought they were cool.

Frankie the Fink

I've run them on several non-Corvette cars over the years, and member wmf62 had them on his 62 for a long time....
Seems to me one of the more delightful tasks on an old car was when I finally removed them...

I wouldn't do it...

SWCDuke

The most common cause of rear suspension sag is compressed and hardened spring link cushions. My understanding is that aftermarket repros deteriorate rapidly, but they are still available from GM. Offhand I don't know the part number, but it's in your AIM.

They are easy to change. Set the parking brake firmly on a level surface and double chock a front wheel. Use a floor jack or even the car's scissors jack near the end of the spring and raise it enough to remove the load from the link bolt. Then remove the link bolt and replace the cushions.

Compressed and deteriorated spring link cushions are pretty obvious when compared to new. Also, carefully inspect the spring for broken leaves. In addition to usually restoring ride height, new spring link cushions will dramatically reduce rear ride harshness.

Duke

mark6669

A new spring and a set of cushions isn't much more than the cost of a set of air shocks and really no more work.
Mark

Bluestripe67

This is the best road too follow. Dennis

R66

Ran air shocks back in the 70s & 80s.

They are functional if you keep them pressurized, but a leak will occur and you will find yourself with either tire damage or fender damage unless you have the correct side tire and fender clearance.

Plus think about the pneumatics of the installation. If you install one fill valve with a tee to the shocks, when one side is under load (e.g., hard turn) the shock under load pushes the air to the unloaded side and thus makes lean i the corner worse. I learned to run two separate lines - one for each shock.

Kids used to jack them up so high that the cars were unsafe on wet roads. They transfer some weight from the rear to the front. The wide rear tires hydroplaned easier. Plus the cars rode worse than my 1993 HD 1 ton Dodge with 2.5 ton springs.

My advice: If you are jacking it up to get fender clearance - DON'T. Put the correct size tires and wheels on it or modify the body or suspension to accept those tires. If you have weak suspension, fix it.

Ron