air shocks seals

Toyotanut · Oct 18, 2006

Has anyone that isusing the air shocks/struts lost the seals while out wheeling? Wondering how well the seals hold up. Do they show signs of the seals going bad allowing you to rebuild before you loose all pressure in them?

Also, how's the valving after a full day of wheeling? Does it change much with temperature change as well(ie summer wheeling vs snow wheeling)?

Thinkin about using them in the rear of the toy

Trevor · Oct 19, 2006

Jason, nitrogen is a stable gas. You are not going to get any changes with temp, altitude, or anything else.

sarg · Oct 19, 2006

Toyotanut said:
Has anyone that isusing the air shocks/struts lost the seals while out wheeling? Wondering how well the seals hold up. Do they show signs of the seals going bad allowing you to rebuild before you loose all pressure in them?

Also, how's the valving after a full day of wheeling? Does it change much with temperature change as well(ie summer wheeling vs snow wheeling)?

Thinkin about using them in the rear of the toy

I have not herd of a seal going bad yet. but me and two other friends of mine are running fox air shocks and all of us have had the same results....... the tempature and altitude does change the shock
also all of us have been filling up our shocks with nitrogen about the third time out wheelin or you will be about an inch or two lower. Also weight really affects these two for example if you charge the shocks with your buggy or truck empty and you then put in your tool box and add two people your going two be at least an inch lower:; just my experience but we all love them and will continue to run them

crash2 · Oct 19, 2006

I will never run them on a trail rig......

Toyotanut · Oct 19, 2006

crash said:
I will never run them on a trail rig......

why???????????

crash2 · Oct 19, 2006

Not 100% consistent.Iwould have to be constantly changing pressures or be bottoming out--due to how my trail rig is used...

I can take my rig down whoops and it handles like a race car---air shocks don't like that... The rebound-quick snap you get from a coilover is not there.

Weather an air shock has failed (recall a couple rigs at the hammers being parked due to them blowing seals now granted they were not fox's) or not--you fail a seal and you loose your suspension.

But I rather have 100% consistancy on ym rig each and every time..

Toyotanut · Oct 19, 2006

I'm looking at running them(air shocks) on the rear and keep the leafs up front for now(pretty happy with the preformance of the leafs).

sarg · Oct 19, 2006

crash said:
Not 100% consistent.Iwould have to be constantly changing pressures or be bottoming out--due to how my trail rig is used...

I can take my rig down whoops and it handles like a race car---air shocks don't like that... The rebound-quick snap you get from a coilover is not there...

when the air shocks are setup right you can jump it all you want and run woops believe me I know first hand. also they were originally used in desert racing:;

I like them alot and they are really easy to setup. They are alot cheaper and work real well on a light rigs. dont get me wrong I like coilovers but they are real spendy and hard to setup.

Roccrawler · Oct 19, 2006

I put a set on my bro's toyota 4 linked rear, they were cheap so he tried them. They are way better than leafs and simple too. My dislike is they never return to the same ride and have a lot of lift when breaking down hills etc. If you fill the gas tank they act way different than a full tank of gas. I know of a few that run them in there rigs but usually they have a 3 gallon gas tank and no tools .

With a coilover there is a bit more set up but the end result is well worth the extra money and time, you can make the 2nd spring kick in were you want with the adjuster, were the fox shock progressivly get harder as they compress.

For a low budget toyota (no offence ) the fox shocks arent a bad deal..

But like a few have said, I personally would never run them. I like more control

Good Luck

Jason C · Oct 19, 2006

the strut will not work well for the rear of a toyota. your going to give the rig more instability than it has with poor articulating leafs. Get ahold of BINDER he has a pair of coilovers on the rear of his rig that are used and may help your budget a bit and your end result will be much better. Besides Binder needs to get on struts..... as well as Porter. BTW PORTER I have a buyer for your coilovers so when your ready gimmie a dind so we can get ya hooked up.

As for rideheight change on struts mine changes NONE.. .and I have been altitudes from sealevel to 7000 ft. the Change I do notice it that the strut will heat up and will become more firm (like stiffer valving) when used for long bumpy distances. there is a change on initial setup prior to the shock mixing and act a little "loose" but after they get ran a bit they calm right down. Also no blown seals with fox struts....... on approx 20 cars.

sarg · Oct 19, 2006

Jason C said:
the strut will not work well for the rear of a toyota. your going to give the rig more instability than it has with poor articulating leafs.

I think this guy would disagree he drove his rig all the way to moab and back and spanked alot of trail ask Sam

pbmcauliffe · Oct 19, 2006

Binder needs to get on struts..... as well as Porter

I've been telling Porter that since you started building his rig.
Out of all the rigs we have done running struts, we have never had one loose a seal, after the initial setup they typically loose some height as Jason said, but after that we only tune them as to what the customer wants and they stay that way, we only use the FOX struts, so not sure on other brands.

PORTER · Oct 19, 2006

pbmcauliffe said:
I've been telling Porter that since you started building his rig.

I will soon find out if they are more superior to my SAWs. I really hope so, as I cannot believe the rig can be any better.

darius · Oct 19, 2006

sarg said:
I think this guy would disagree he drove his rig all the way to moab and back and spanked alot of trail ask Sam

A coilover would be far better. And holy **** dude he drove that thing to Moab

uke:

crash2 · Oct 19, 2006

sarg said:
also they were originally used in desert racing:;

.

Show me ONE rig that runs them in the desert.. I have not found any and me and a buddy are doing reserch on this subject for possably a new rig for down south comps :;

sarg · Oct 20, 2006

crash said:
Show me ONE rig that runs them in the desert.. I have not found any and me and a buddy are doing reserch on this subject for possably a new rig for down south comps :;

I was told that they were originally design for desert racing but we all know that desert racing has changed alot.

Hey are you challenging me to a woop section and jump off!!!!:flipoff:

crash2 · Oct 20, 2006

sarg said:
I was told that they were originally design for desert racing but we all know that desert racing has changed alot.

Hey are you challenging me to a woop section and jump off!!!!:flipoff:

I'll let ya know when the new rig is done :flipoff:

pbmcauliffe · Oct 20, 2006

I will have to look again, but have photos of them from desert racing, they were used on the front of vw based rigs as secondary suspension to the beams, not really used as primary suspension duties.