wondered if they work out well for levelling the car with a trunkload and 4 occupants if needed...

EDIT- kinda started throwing scenic pics in here from various places, derailing my own thread for a change

 

Back in 2002 I installed a set of Air Lift 1000 (part # 60798) inside the coils of my 2001 Mercury GM for hauling heavy trunk loads and pulling a trailer or just to prevent sag with 4 adults in the car. They've been flawless ever since, show no signs of wear yet, and have been on the car for near 70K miles. My Mercury has some perf upgrades, Addco sway bars, Bilstein HD shocks .... but it's got the standard springs.

Since then we've taken the car out west three times loaded (when you pack a trunk of a GM or CV and the last items are hanging cloths and you compress them in a trunk ... that I have hauled 4 new P225/60-16 tires plus a full size P225/60-16 spare for the car .... it's a load!) , to Georgia many times, and I have had it on shopping trips and found sales on heavy items and hauled like ten 40 pound bags (call it 400 pounds plus my stuff) of Potasium Chloride Water Softener Pellets home with 4 adults in the car and just added 10 psi at the rear hose place (beside hitch under car) and 10-15 psi is all I have ever used and never sagged with them.

Understand, they do not raise the car up high like the old days of Hurst Air Shocks .... they just make the suspension harder to compress from stock or normal ride height. They prevent a lot of dragging out of parking lots too.

35 psi is the max, and that's 35 pounds per square inch of air bag surface which makes them hard as a rock inside those coil springs. You also have the option of individual air inlets for tuning .... or using a tee and then both are same. I used a tee.

I also found that when empty and just the wife and I in the car, it rides better if I just keep 2-3 psi in them. I carry a small "foot operated" air pump (under $10 as I recall at HF?) that I use to add air when needed as gas station hoses pump too much too fast.

Even just "0" psi increases and becomes pressure when the container is compressed (like closed air bags inside a coil spring under your car when suspension is compressed) so they help some then on compression.

If you run only as much air as needed, the ride is way yonder better than bouncing off the bump stops.

If I added a hitch to pull a light trailer behind our Mustang (no danger of 4 sdults in it .... but I could put a few bags of softener pellets in the trunk?), I'ld add the air bags in the springs.

Below, one of our trips, note no "sagging" .... and believe me .... in these pics the trunk is "under high pressure" as we carried for us and the dog, .... electronics, cameras, clothing for several weeks, a few tools, a small floor jack, a box of long flares, etc ... (21 days 7,955 miles) ....

 

thanks for the info- just put mine in, will test drive in a few...on the mustang, worried about the air line up top, in looking it over, seemed better lines down, thru the axle mount, so they cant rub...flexing the line isnt ideal, but easily replaced if need be- followed the panhard rod, tied/looped, lines shouldnt flex much at all, but if they do will be along a decent radius/no rub...
my new wheels/tires were a bit tight- adjustable panhard *might* help, the drivers side just barely rubbed the wheelwell when bottomed out on some rough rr tracks- rub was only 3/8 down the tire corner, so was going to make up some 1/2" bump stop shims... rather than have to remake them, made them 3/4", if it rides the stops to often I can mill them down a bit.
something odd on the S197- the bumpstop does NOT hit the center of its perch on the frame... I pulled the springs, jacked the axle to the stops, measured, milled up a set of aluminum spacers and put them in/jacked/remeasured... with or without spacers, the bumpstops in these cars hit on the rear angled part, pushing the stop forward a bit- you can see the clean marks on the perches where it contacts occasionally...looks like a design oops to me

update: 3 sandbags in the trunk and a full tank on some rough roads, some intentional bottoming, rides same as before? really thought hitting the snubbers 3/4 early would feel rough, but no difference that I could tell
after bouncing around loaded (just 1-2 psi) pumped it up while measuring, only took a bit over 15 psi to return to old height (only had about 5/8" drop loaded) and ride was only a tiny bit firmer if any... so extra kids/extra luggage/etc sholdnt mess up the headlight adjustment, and with the modified stops, no worries about the bigger tires touching.

 

they work great! 1500 miles from home- took two mustangs as the kids are too big to cram all 6 in the avalanche, and 2 oldest helped drive- great trip so far... loaded up even on some fairly rough graded dirt roads, the car rides great- 15 psi in the bags, firm but no rubbing even on the roughest roads its ever been on... always dreamed of caravanning out west, as the kids are getting more on their own, working, etc, could be our last 6 person trip for a long time- and the teens getting to drive a fun car on some of the prettiest roads on Earth should make for some memories...
a couple thousand miles to go in the coming days if all goes well- today was high country, man does the power fall off at 10,000 feet, my GT would barely pull 5th gear.
Love the new tires/17" wheels, car rides great, still much firmer than the wifes V6, but huge difference compared to the 18s... Man is there some nice drives in Colorado!

a couple pics from Kansas too

 

I would love to do that trip.

 

BEAUTIFUL drive today over WolfCreek Pass/Pagosa springs...

scary moment when we both nearly got hit when in oncoming traffic lane, a mack dumptruck plowed into a Silverado, pushed it into a Kia...the Silverado was stopped oncoming with his front bumper about even with car in front of mine, in front of him/just behind me was a stopped Kia- both stopped in construction zone inchworm traffic as folks were waiting flagmen...Mack apparently didnt see them, just caught out of the corner of my eye- I said 'OH ****" as I saw it heading towards the stopped cars with nowhere to go, saw it nosedive a bit from braking or downshifting and swerve right just before BOOM!... est he hit still at 20MPH, the silverado rear tires came off the ground a few inche, blew the rear windows out when the bed hit the cab,hopped sideways stopping right next to my car, hit/blew the rear glass out of the Kia in front of him next to the wifes, we coulda reached out the windows and touched them they were that close...asked out the window if they were OK, and had a cellphone...yep, then they all drove forward...thank God everyone seemed alright, but bet they are gonna be sore tomorrow...

Anyways, otherwise a awesome drive till a hour past Pagosa, boring, (like old 70 was thru Kansas yrs ago) into Arizona, tons of construction delays...9 hour trip was more like 16... I really love this second pic, think I have a new favorite
last was a pic I took as the wrecked trucks pulled away...that coulda been a lot worse, luckily the semi driver slowed at some before the impact...man, just looking at that pic for the first time tonight fullsize, glass/debris was clear under my car too...better look in the morning to see if anything that flew off hit us- was loud enough didnt hear anything, but all kinds of crap went flying when it hit...cars are so filthy from a few spotty showers and desert dust right now who knows...

 

Keep the pics coming .... Glad y'all both missed the big bullet!


All y'all in two Mustangs ..... this is gonna be a trip the whole family will remember and reflect on for years to come .... even those stretches that seem boring are surrounded by history if you look for it. I like to stop and read the historic markers .... but then I usually run US highways instead of Interstate if I can. Find some neat spots .... and worth taking time to "absorb" the place.


Glad the Air Lifts worked so well, I figured they would ..... and certainly ride better than riding on bump stops (which is where you'ld be with those loads .... ).

 

Another lonnnng drive back to Colorado from Grand Canyon yesterday, worked out kinda cool- massive looking storm in northern New Mexico, split the sky from clear/sunny to near black- we were driving towards the black...there was a small break in the storm, wouldnt you know we followed it and only had a few minutes of light rain... got some neat pics with the sky at rest area, and said- when the sun dips under the clouds theres gotta be a rainbow somewhere... a hour later, pulled into a 'town' in the middle of nowhere Southern Colorado, found a pulloff, got out of the car to watch if we might catch a rainbow before sunset- soon as we got out of the car it was there! great end to a beautiful day!

also a goofy sped up dashcam clip from a couple days ago-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4Fi...ature=youtu.be

 

Awesome pics .....
.... big skies = big rainbows!

Do you ever find yourself getting into the wrong Mustang?