I just installed some Gabriel Hi-Jackers on the rear of my Dart. Can you cut the air lines to length and re-insert them into the fittings, or is it best to coil the lines up and hang them under the car.

I installed the valve in the trunk but there is allot of line just hanging under the car.

Thanks

If I remember correctly, they're just compression fittings? The answer is yes, cut them. They're kind of fragile; so, make sure you route them nicely and tie them up so they won't snag anything as you're driving

_________________
My truck is a Frankenstein creation
Built from the dead carcasses of others
And brought BACK TO LIFE!

Yikes!!
I've seen more than a few A-bodies with the shock mounting holes ripped out of the trunk floors because of using air shocks to raise the back of the car. Shock mounts aren't designed to support weight that way, and, well, they won't very long.
I know you didn't ask me, but if you want to raise the rear end or increase load capacity, get diffferent leaf springs. Otherwise, you'll soon be dropping the gas tank and welding your up trunk floor.

I had a similar issue with one side of my 63 Dart being a little lower in the rear than the other, plus I wanted to use American Racing Outlaw II 14.0" wheels once in a while, so I checked in the local yellow pages and suprisingly there are a few places that will unshackle your existing leaf springs and rework/add as need to raise the car. Cost me around $200.

I considered hi-jackers but never thought of the body shock mount issue, good point Buddy.

Kevin

I also frown on the use of air shocks. But if you insist on using them I suggest a seperate valve for each shock.
________
Vapor Genie
________
BOX VAPORIZERS

I agree. If you need to see what a trashed shock mount looks like, let me snap a few pics for you. My Challenger had 'em in the 70's (way before I owned it, or probably was born) and the shock mounts are wasted. Don't do it; for the price of a set of air shocks you can get a 4x4 set of add-a-leafs that are designed to lift a truck like 2.5 to 3 inches. Worked like a charm for my Duster!



Those are 15x10 rear mags with 275-60r15s. Those big tires killed the already weak performance of the stock 225 2.76 geared car.

_________________
Scott - waywardgarage.com
Why is the rum always gone?

I whole heartedly agree. I had a roached 69 cuda that the PO had put airshocks on with disasterous consequences. Upon taking off from a stop light, the right rear let go tearing the mount clean out of the body, pushing the shock partially through the floor and gastank. Talk about insult to injury. Needless to say, the shock mounts are now double shear...

If you're raising your ride to run bigger tires then a better solution would be to run proper rims. If you're just looking to increase load campacity, then overload springs would be a much better solution.
Of course, IMHO, that is...

-JYH

well maybe someone "me" is going to stop using mine. they came on the car . i thought it was so cool. so i put the max in them. it looks killer but now im worried about mounts ahahhhhah.

it looks good low too

_________________

<<it looks good low too>>

Lower is always better. Well, unless you're riding on the bumpstops and you've got a back seat full of lovely ladies. Oh, wait... i don't have a back seat... bummer.

-JYH
64 Daaht, stylemobile skid plates n' all
SoCal Baby, SoCal

Air shocks are garbage. Unless you have a pontiac 600 STE. That being said:

Compression fittings cant simply be disassembled and reused. The ferrule that slips over the plastic line is designed to permanently distort when the outer nut is tightened, so it grips the line and doesnt let it move. Youll have to replace the ferrule when you cut back your line. Commonly available at any hardware or auto parts store.

If you do plan on leaving the air shocks in, some good advice came from 74.swinger in that you need to split the air line and use one valve for each shock. If you just run one valve for both shocks, the result can look really stupid. What happens is the shock will be sharing one air system and they don't really care how much stretch one shock has over the other. In other words, sit on one side of you car for a minute or two and then get off. The car will not center itself back to level. The best advice is what everyone has been telling you. Don's use them. They are dangerous as well. Imagine if you will, your nice ride, new paint, new wide wheels and tires, all jacked up in the rear so the tires don't rub. Then as your bookin down the big road, your airline decides to go south and you loose all your air (one side or both depending on valve) and you ruin a tire, a paint job, a fender, a. . . . . . . .

_________________
'56 Chrysler New Yorker St. Regis 354
'63 Plymouth 426 Max Wedge "NoMo-Par?"
'63 Plymouth Valiant 225 Hyper-Pak Wannabe
'68 Plymouth GTX 440
'70 Dodge Charger 500 440
'71 Dodge Demon 225
'71 Dodge Charger Super Bee 383

Wow, I was thinking of air shocks..... thank goodness I read posts that I didn't think had anything to do with what I was doing. Anyone have any suggestion for good rear shocks of the none air kind? I want to stay in the 50-60 dollar range, but if anyone knows of any shocks that are absolutely great for a little more I'd like to hear about them too, and I don't really car about a good ride, I'm use to my dads truck with has high capacity springs, leaf springs, and whatever else he could use to make a horrible ride(packs weight, corners well, kills your butt).

_________________
My car may be slow to sixty, but at least it's been reliably slow to sixty for more than thirty years.

I have used air shocks on several A bodies for at least 150k miles total. Never had a problem with the shock mounts. I only use them for leveling when I have loads and usually run them with only 25 psi or so.

I think the biggest problems come on bigger cars, AND on cars where the upper shock bolts are not completely tight on the body side.

Lou

_________________
Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

I'm in agreement with Lou. I've had air shocks on my Dart for over 25 years and have never had a problem with shock mounts. They work great for load adjustment and I also keep them around 20-25 psi.

Matt

what the max on them? cuz i thought i was puting 75 in there?

_________________