Looking to put air shocks on the rear of my '63.5, Leaf springs are shot and need a quick lift for now. Apparently no one makes an air shock for this car. Has anyone installed something similiar that will work? for example, something that fits a different year with similiar stroke and mounts??
I seen those on ebay, but contacted Gabriel Tech support and they claimed they don't make any to fit my car. I've contacted the seller but no reply yet. They look correct, atleased mounted the same.
Follow-up:
The ones on eBay are actually GM shocks, modified to fit my Galaxie, but, 2.92" longer on extended length, 1.80" longer on collapsed length, and 1.12" longer on stroke.
What's everyones opinion on this??
I think you're being silly if you don't just use them..... Listen not to the nay sayers.
SO WHAT they're 2.92" longer in lift? Are you going to JUMP THE CAR?
Big Deal if they're 1.8" Longer when compressed! Is your lady friend and yourself combined weight over 1200 lbs?
Who cares if it's 1.12" longer in the stroke? Are you going to JUMP your car with your HUGE girlfriend in it?
You will NEVER in normal driving experience bottoming out your shocks, or extending them full length, UNLESS you are experiencing a TRAUMA to your car that would make the difference in Shocks the mootest point in the universe.
You get my gist? Can you smellllllllllllllllllllllll what the rock is cookin? Did you catch what I flung out
I think they're basically a Perfect match for what you need.
You wanted opinions so here goes shock mounts are not designed nor meant to support the weight of the car..If you want to temporally jerry rig it use coil over loads that bolt to the axle and ride on the frame. Other wise replace the springs or have them re-arced,
Some of the shocks on ebay are for a lasalle which are shorter by a bit. If you do a search here you'll find a discussion on the different shocks. http://www.shockshopusa.com/air-shocks.html
Found the thread i was looking for but there are a lot of them you can search!
Also if you're just wanting to level it out you can get new leaf springs at www.classiccarsprings.com at a good price. This is where i got my new springs.
*when clicking on the galaxie springs it goes to a domain for sale page so i sent an email to the spring place to see what's up.
Chero, i used those on my car when i had the flat air shocks on it. They didn't raise the back of mine at all but sure was bouncy and if someone does use these, keep an eye on the tightness of the bolts. I had one of mine rotate so that it was sticking straight back after earlier having to hit the brakes hard in LA freeway traffic and the cars nose dived and must of took the weight off the spring. Could be I needed longer or bigger springs but they did or do look like the ones pictured. Still have them somewhere round here. I noticed a problem when my car bounced kitty corner instead of back and front. lol
seems to me as long as you got a shock that had an eye on the top and a stud on the bottom and was close to the right length, any application should fit. Contact Gabriel and tell them what you need and they can look thru their charts and see if some other vehicle would fit the 63.5. Let us know what you find out. I might get some too.
That's what I did for my 61. When I called I asked about using air shocks from a 79 Ranchero. They looked the same except the mounts were switched 180* between the 2'cars. Guy said it wouldn't work but looked up a set from some foreign vehicle that was the same except they were an inch shorter. Been on the car a year now with no problems. They have a cross reference book that will show something that will work if it's out there. Guess it's all in who answers the phone when you call.
.
Every 2nd Galaxie in the World has the shackles flipped. It's no big deal. It only looks Jinkie to us old-schoolers that know what it's supposed to look like.
But for the average monkey that looks at it and tells you that your 62 Impala looks great...... They'll never know
Flipped shackles only work if your springs aren't totally worn out. When mine were done that way and tried using longer shackles it turned the end of the springs downward rather than lift the car and the extended shackles made great plows when hitting a bump or high spot in the road.
Only issue i can see with compressed length is if it doesn't allow any bounce so when hitting a bump it's putting all the force on the mounts and nothing to the shock. So be sure to measure your length to be sure they wouldn't be too long.
Far as being GM i wouldn't even car, nobody's going to crawl under there and look. Well, unless told about it like i was the enclosed u-joints under an old car tonight which i'd never seen before and had to look under the rig. lol
yeah like shotrod said...
in combination with air shocks that won't be the issue tho...
another cheap option...with out flipping shackles or air shocks.... go to junk yard and pick up a set of
98 dodge ram leaf springs.... like this guy in video...
I bought shocks for a Camaro and took the T-mount out and put bushings in cause the one they said would work was upside down to mine, like a '65 and the other technically were for a Versalle or something and shorter.
I got these: https://www.summitracing.com/parts/gab-49135/applications/
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