The car hadn't been driven much for several years when I got it. Already had to do brakes, shocks and some electrical. Question now is do I try and stick with the air suspension system or just bypass it and go with regular shock on the rear? Any help appreciated. TIA
If it were me I'd do the conversion and go with regular shocks. Air ride can be problematic. I see a lot of conversion kits for various cars with air ride... so I guess there is a reason. Would definitely be easy enough to do.
Not sure about Fords but my Pontiac 6000 wagon had the factory air ride when it was in nice shape. I liked the ride feel but man I had neverending problems with it. Compressors and solenoids would fail, air shocks would only last 6 months at the most, controller would burn out. I tried a set of brand new variable rate coil springs and it still sagged when the air assist wasn't working. After a couple years I changed to regular shocks and hooked the compressor up to Airlift bags I put in the coil springs. Because of the principle that springs are supposed to hold the car up, shocks are supposed to only control the ride. They weren't an exact fit, I had to machine some PVC collars to fit in the springs so the bags didn't just bulge out the sides and do nothing. It made a lot of difference, no more other problems and the ride felt better, except when my exhaust would rust out and break, it would always immediately melt a spring bag. This happened twice and I finally swapped in a set of Pontiac Trans Sport van shocks and springs (same size but heavier rating) and removed the air system. The car sat level, problem solved. Later on I built a custom 304 stainless steel exhaust that would have solved the problem of losing Airlift bags, but I never retrofitted it back to air.
just my 02 the last 2 fords we had both had air ride and never had a problem my 59 chevy has had airride (air ride technologies) for the past 8 yrs or so 2 power tours cross country ,auto train ride , and a couple of road trips up to ga and tenn and the only car inflicted air ride problem was a dead remote battery . human error caused a broken pin on a wiring harness has been the only other issue. plus it lets the car blend in better low = lowrider show medium = classic car show low front high rear 60's car show lol
