air-shocks-15inch rims

[racton]

    Hello folks,I am satisfied with the ride of my car but it sits 3inches to low in the rear for me.I was wondering if any of you have had success with air shocks.I intend to keep my stock brakes because they are new.Do any of you members,have an opinion on the difference in ride and handeling 15inch.opposed to stock? Thanks racton

[lalessi1]

I am running Monroe air shocks and 235/70 15 tires. I think 15" wheels actually improve handling if you stay with the same diameter tire, (28") but that won't raise the car. I have a set of Gabriel Hijackers if you are interested, PM me. I can't speak to the ride, my car has always had 15" wheels. I did switch to 6 leaf springs which raised the car 1".

[JimNolan]

Yep I've got an opinion: @%*^!%^)&%#$&. Ask anyone with broken shock mounts what they think of air shocks on the back of a 57 Ford. Everybody runs 15" tires. It's the only way to get anywhere close to the old tire height of a 7.50X14 using today's radial tire. No problem. When using tires with a bigger section width on a 57 with the old brake drums you'll find you can't get the tire off by jacking up the car. The problem lies with the 57 shocks not allowing them to extend far enough to let the tire down to clear the drum and fender because of the large section width of the tire. The way around that is to buy Monroe 1956 Fairlane shocks. A 27" tire can be pulled straight out of the wheel well using those shocks. Hope this helps.

[RICH MUISE]

Hey Richard Acton.........Rich from Acton here. What Jim said.
Also, be careful not to get too much rake on your car, it'll mess up the handling. An inch too much and it'll start feeling like the back end wants to come around on downhill curves. Mine no longer has the rake as much as it was, I don't like the looks as well, but it now handles much much better. Just 1" lowering blocks made an unexpectedly big improvement. I also have the 6 leaf springs Lynn mentioned for the 1" rise over oem, with 2 1/2 dropped front spindles. A worth while trade-off imho.

[BP57CUSTOM]

I've been running Gabriel hijackers for three years ,with 15 inch steel wheels. I have no problems , I like the liquor car look!

[John Palmer]

I agree with what Jim and Rich said.  Another issue is that the angle the shocks are inclined at prevents them from raising the rear very much.  My Ranch Wagon only moves maybe 1 1/2" from the full extreme on air pressure in the shocks. 

You can get your leaf springs "rebuilt/re-arched" for about the cost of the new air shocks.  Just tell the spring shop what you desire in height and let them do your springs.  In my case (towing vintage trailers), I told them "no taller", just to make them "stiffer" to hold the trailer tongue weight.  They added an extra leaf, and re-arched them and it still sits with a normal stance.  I agree with Rich, if you raise the rear, you need to add some more caster to the front to correct the adjustment..

[racton]

  Thanks fellas for the input.I think i have a direction.

        I just measured the tire height with the 14in radials........25inches
   With the jack under the rear bumper a 2 and 1/2 inch looks like the proper stance
       I will have the springs re-arched at Cleveland Spring
      i will look into the 1956 Fairlane shocks
      What year 15 in rims should i be looking for? Torino or Mustang,T-bird  w/out disc brakes
      Thanks again......Hello Rick from Acton..................racton

[JimNolan]

Thanks fellas for the input.I think i have a direction.

        I just measured the tire height with the 14in radials........25inches
   With the jack under the rear bumper a 2 and 1/2 inch looks like the proper stance
       I will have the springs re-arched at Cleveland Spring
      i will look into the 1956 Fairlane shocks
      What year 15 in rims should i be looking for? Torino or Mustang,T-bird  w/out disc brakes
      Thanks again......Hello Rick from Acton..................racton

Racton in Willoughby, OH,
I've got a 1957 Fairlane 500 and when I got slicks for it I had to crawl under the car and determine how big of a tire I could use. I used plumb bobs to measure the distance from my spring to the fender lip and make sure I was in the middle of the wheel well. I ended up having Wheel Vintiques (Jack Tally) make me 2 15" X 8"w/ BS 5.125". I then was able to use Mickey Thompson ET Street bias ply Slicks w/ 10" section width. I made 5 passes with those slicks and never used them again. My car is solid with no rattles etc. Those slicks made every part on the car rattle except the radio knobs, and I think they were too scared to rattle. Hope this helps you.

[rmk57]

My fronts are 1956 steelies Ford 15x6 with 225/70/15 and the rears are the same wheel with 235/70/15. I also have M/T street radials 255/60/15 mounted on 15x8.5 Centerline auto drags for the track. I think the B/S is 4 7/8's. Try and get shocks with around 19- 20 inches of extension so you can squeeze the tire between the fender and brake drum when the car is jacked up on the frame.

[Ecode70D]

Thanks fellas for the input.I think i have a direction.

              I will have the springs re-arched at Cleveland Spring
      i will look into the 1956 Fairlane shocks
      What year 15 in rims should i be looking for? Torino or Mustang,T-bird  w/out disc brakes
      Thanks again......Hello Rick from Acton..................racton

       Racton
       When you do get the 1956 Fairlane shocks, would you please post pictures of them next to the shock 57 rear shocks with the measurements .  It would be nice to see the difference.
Thank you Jay

[JimNolan]

This may help: A Monroe Matic 58539 1957 Fairlane shock has a comp. length of 10.625", a extended length of 17.875" and a travel length of 7.250".
                      A Monroe Matic 31125 1956 Fairlane shock has a comp. length of 12.250", a extended length of 20.750" and a travel length of 8.500". You will notice the extended length is almost 3" farther letting the tire down. For those worried about the shock bottoming out, I put slicks on my 57 a couple years ago and went drag racing. When I got back to the house I found I had put the driveshaft into the bottom of the car (no pinion snubber). Well, I still got shock mounts, I got a new pinion snubber now too.

[lalessi1]

The Monroe shocks I am using are the long ones. The only problem I have is that the springs drop so low that the shackles want to reverse! I use a pry bar to flip them back as I drop the car!

[rmk57]

The Monroe shocks I am using are the long ones. The only problem I have is that the springs drop so low that the shackles want to reverse! I use a pry bar to flip them back as I drop the car!

I had that happen twice due to really bad wheel hop, Caltracs solved that problem. I just bought rear shocks and went with a set of Strange Engineering adjustable. They were stud and eyelet mounting but came with adapters to convert to stud/ stud.  They have around 21" rebound 13" compression.

[Ecode70D]

Thank you Jim
  It looks like the Munroe Matic  31125 for the 56 Fairlane is what to be looking for if and when I install a set of taller tires.  Jay

[JimNolan]

They make a set of short shocks for the T-Bird that has springs in it. I'd like to know if those type of shocks put less load on the shock mounts than air shocks do. I sort of liked them if I could find the right size.