I finally got a chance to take the car for a spin. I’m happy to report the rear shocks are a night and day difference ( I still don’t have the dents installed) but it’s going to the fab shop today.
The min I got in the car and backed up you could see and feel the rear end rise or lift up, Just like in a normal car when your reverse kind of fast. The shocks are so much more active and react at the smallest bump. This is with 35 psi in the shocks now With more Air I’m sure they would become still get and less active over small bumps. Max is 70psi.
I can tell you that the 1 thing I did to make the ride quality bad was installing the Low profile tires and heavy car style 17 inc wheels.
It’s been a long time since I took a ride in a stock gem. And when I did I was suprised at the ride quality. The stock tires take up a lot of shock and work in hand or even make up for such hard stock shocks. The car is much quieter on bumpy spots because the car is not Bouncing down the road.
My test ride was a Bare car with out seats in it. I can only imagine the ride quality with seats and the front shocks. It’s gonna be Night and Day
Nope, Never thought of that but that may help some people. I think 50% of my ride quality Issues are self generated. If you have normal profile tires I don’t think the ride quality is all that bad. As soon as you start bolting up Car style wheels you start having ride quality issues.
#1 Car style wheels are a lot heaver then Gem wheels when you add all that sprung weight to the Suspension you can create issues. Example the stock shock was designed to move a wheel and tire that only weighed a few pounds. A car style wheel has got to be 3 or 4 times the weight of a stock gem. That extra sprung weight is going to effect you
Ok well I had a chance to drive around and I can tell you the shock have made a huge differance in the ride. I just took a spin in a friends THINK and they tend to ride a lot better then the GEMs and I can say the ride I’m my GEM blows away the ride in his Think. The car feel firmly planted on the road over uneven bumpy ground. Before the car felt like it would skip over the bumps.
I would like to try and find a stiffer spring for the front Air shocks. The ride seems great Now but I’m at the Max air psi in the front and I’m afraid when the car is fully loaded it might be a little much. I will start to look. the Air shocks I’m running have a spring rate of 140-180 pounds per square inch. I’m thinking a 160-220 would be the ticket for the front. That way I wouldn’t have to run much air and if need be I would have more load capacity.
@grantwest it’s been a while now since your air shock conversion; I’m interested to hear how happy you are with the air shocks? I have a two-seater shortbed truck with a LifePo conversion, eliminating the front batteries [all 25 are located under the seat]. I do carry a lot of tools around in the back end tool box i added, so I’m thinking the rear shocks are ok. But I’m considering a pair of the Precision 416A’s for my front end only since I’m getting a LOT of front-end bounce on the bad streets around here. I’m thinking they will help soften the ride but I’m concerned about how they’ll affect tire clearance. FYI, I’ve got ITP ss312- 14"x6" wheels all around carrying Kumho tires which at times rub the fire wall on certain turns. So I’m wondering how your front-mount relocation is working out: do you recommend it as a way to give a bit more clearance? My motor isn’t in the way but I’d consider it if I can get a bit more wheel clearance on the anterior of the wheel. I’m also thinking I may need to add more weight up front: it feels like the front end is too light causing some traction problems on a bounce and some spinning on steeper hills. So perhaps I’ll add another tool box up front and replace the bonnet… Any insight or ideas based on your experience would be much appreciated. Thanks!
Just converted to lithium with Mike/ LithiumGods and without the old battery weight the ride is very stiff. Where did you get the aftermarket air shocks?
Check out this thread. I ordered the same ones @Tyson_Davis put together. So far so good. Although I’m in the middle of a bunch of things and only have the front ones on