Air ride problem!! SKW1033 luca w/Spindles

[68rsss]

1968 Camaro~

Ok so my problem is the passenger side shockwave will not spring or retract. If you apply pressure to the fender the shock will suck down and stay down. The shock will not raise the car either, a jack must lift the car and then the bags will hold the car up.

I'm sure i just did something stupid here and I dont have an on board compressor yet but I will assume 40-60lbs would lift the car. I have bags on my 1 ton with a 10k lb trailer and 50 lbs lifts it fine.

I thing the shock wave shaft is not true or getting hung up. I just purchased this kit from GP a few months ago and now that the LS1 is running i'm ready to drive!

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

[hotrdblder]

make sure theres no leaks and use 150psi to fill it , and usually a first gen needs 90-115 to be at ride height

[68rsss]

Good info!!! Thank you. The shock waves up front seam to act differently. Drivers side springs back up and the passenger side dosent. I have two 1/4" lines to a tees on the drivers side. Do i need a 1/4 line to each bag seperatly?

[hotrdblder]

not sure if its needed but thats usually how its set up, worth a try at how easy it is to do
jake

[GRNOVA]

What system are you running? I have the Ride Pro e2, from Air Ride Tech. I run a seperate 1/4" air line to each shockwave.

[68rsss]

I dont have a compressor system right now in the car, just airing up with a 60gal shop compressor.

[firebird96ta]

Has this been a problem since the install, or did it work fine until now?

[68rsss]

Has this been a problem since the install, or did it work fine until now?

the shock waves are new bought from GP in Feb. this has been a problem since I installed them.

[6'9"Witha69]

Any leaks? Have you called Airride? Manufacturers are usually MUCH more adept to answering product specific issues.

[TUBED]

You'll need seperate lines with individual schrader valves. This will keep the air from possibly transferring from side to side and one side being unequal from the other, if that's what happening.
Air Ride Tech. will help also as Nick stated, they're car guys.
Gerald

[firebird96ta]

1968 Camaro~
...I will assume 40-60lbs would lift the car...I thing the shock wave shaft is not true or getting hung up...

In my 4th gen, 40-60 lbs in the front will barely get it off the ground :) The rear will, but not the front.

As far as the shaft getting "hung up", have you tried moving the shockwave through its travel with the bag deflated to check?

The ART guys should be chiming in soon :cool:

[darren@ridetech]

Like Jake said, this car will take around 100 psi to pick it up to ride height, which is usually about 3" from fully compressed. I think that you just need to air it up a little more. I would add a second schrader valve to it as well tho, this will eliminate air transfer during cornering.

[68rsss]

I will add a second schrader valve. Why would the passenger side bag not spring like the drivers side? When you apply pressure to the fender the passenger side bag depresses and stays down. It requires either a jack to get the the car back up or sometimes picking up the fender works. Drivers side springs and appears to work fine.

[hotrdblder]

I will add a second schrader valve. Why would the passenger side bag not spring like the drivers side? When you apply pressure to the fender the passenger side bag depresses and stays down. It requires either a jack to get the the car back up or sometimes picking up the fender works. Drivers side springs and appears to work fine.
probably because the air in the bag is the spring rate and there is not enough pressure to give any spring rate. i would not worry until you have 100-115 psi in each front bag.

[darren@ridetech]

Suspension bind will play on it a little too. Also make sure the the valving is the same. Start out at around 6-8 clicks from all the way negative.

[bret]

in addition to running separate air lines, and checking to make sure the rebound vavling adjustments are not "full stiff", I would check to make sure the control arm bushings are not locked up. I have seen cases where the installer tightened the control arm pivot bolts with an impact and actually locked them up at whatever ride height they happened to be at. I've seen them locked up, locked down, and locked at ride height. It's not common because it takes a serious amount of excess torque to collapse the bushings and inner sleeves but I have seen it happen. It really screwws up the ride height adjustment and the ride quality:).
When running one air line with a tee to fill both airpsrings even a relatively small amount of suspension bind [from whatever source] will cause the air to flow towards the airspring that has the least resistance. The single line plumbing will also cause the loaded airspring to transfer air to the unloaded airspring during cornering. This is where the myth of poor handling from an air suspension really came from, and it is why we nearly always insist that the customer run a 4 way control system. Let us know how you progress. Thanks!

[68rsss]

OK, i picked up another shrader valve and I will try this. Im sure this is the problem.

[jb@ridetech]

did you get it fixed up?

[68rsss]

No, thanks for asking. Second shrader valve didnt help at all. The passenger side bag deffiently has issues. Drivers side works great and always has. I will need to call in unless you have any other suggestions.

I can move the suspension by hand in full range so I know there's no binding. I think the inner shaft is bound up as there's absolutly no spring return when the suspension compresses. Nor will the bag lift the car without a jack, then once the cars up and bags have 100psi it will stay up but only until the suspension compresses then its back to using the jack.

[68rsss]

Thanks to Frank at GP on helping fix this problem. I found that the LCA front bushing is not square on my frame causing just enough bind to create this problem for me. Not sure right now if its the LCA or my frame thats out of square.

Frank was very helpful, it was after hours and he still took the time for me.

[darren@ridetech]

So, is the bushing causing the arm to hit the frame or just that much bind in the bushing. Being that they are polyurethane, I can't see it bind that hard. Especially if you are able to move the suspension by hand. If you need give me a call, my direct # is 812-481-4706.

[68rsss]

No, just the LCA front bushing doesn't sit square in the front pocket on the passenger side like the others. I think once I loosened the bolt the pinched bushing loosened up and allowed what ever small bind to go away.

[whytry]

K, so I'll ask... Pics of it aired out... :)