Topic: coil or air?

[rude86]

alright guys its time for 4 link. i need to know your oppinion on weather i should run air shocks and go cheap or go all out and get coil overs.  please any technical advice welcome. your words are my inspiration. let the build begin.

[Hyena]

I would go air shocks.  They cost half as much as coilovers and do the same thing.

[rude86 [OP]]

i have heard that they unload real bad. does anyone make air shocks other than fox.

[wrenchtech]

Front or rear? Or both? And what do yo mean by "4link" ? Three control arms and a panhard (track bar)? Or four arms plus a panhard? Almost everything I've seen on first and second generation trucks is three link (plus a panhard). I want to do this myself, but mine would be a mild coil spring set-up with only a few inches of lift (front and rear).   -- Matt

[rude86 [OP]]

its going to be in the rear and i haven't decided on three or four link. what do you recommend

[CTENG in KS]

Air..............bags.  Nothin better than forced articulation.

[rEdnECkwHeE1eR]

I would get SAW race runner air shocks, my buddy has them on the front of his XJ and they look the best and work great, dont listen to all the bad things about them except maybe body roll but you get that with coil overs also, 

[Shamb]

good thing about coilovers is if one of the shocks blows up it'll still have support from the coil.  You blow an airshock and that shocks not gonna do anything.


Personally.. i'd take the risk and go a bit cheaper with the airshocks.. that's what im going to do.

coilovers are to damn expensive.

[seanc]

one thing about air shocks is that if they heat up your ride hieght wilkl decrease do to the oil being hotter.

[rEdnECkwHeE1eR]

one thing about air shocks is that if they heat up your ride hieght wilkl decrease do to the oil being hotter.

BS :bull crap:
Do you have air shocks? Have you seen this happen? What brand were they?

Cause the guy at polly performance said that if you are doing like serious prerunning for like over an hour they might heat up enough you INCREASE ride hieghbecause (DUH!) heat expands , But I have heard of what you are talking about on a cheap brand (rock eqipment) Or at least Im assuming he was talking about these cause he is a vendor for them,

Either way me and my buddy herd this right after we put his air shocks on his XJ, someone told us that that thing is way to heavy for thoose shocks you go on this dirt road(certain local dirt road) and you will be riding on the bump stops, he also told use the max PSI was like 300 for all air shocks which gave my buddy like 1 1/2" of shaft showing, so he was pretty mad and he called poly performance to tell them the bad news, the guy at poly said that those guys didnt know what they were talking about and that the air shocks could go to 400 or 500psi(I cant remember) so before we had them filled we went down the road the guy told us to, With 1 1/2" of shaft showing going pretty fast like he said when we got to the bottom the shocks were bairly warm to the touch, we drove all the way back up and they were still only warm to the touch, so then we went down and got them filled up more to even out the ride hieght, and then have been wheelled on and taken on many fire roads and they still work like they were brand new, now These were Race runners and are the only brand I can speak for.

Oh and far as what shamb said I am pretty sure it is damn near impossible to blow out a high quality coil over or air shock

[rude86 [OP]]

can anyone post a link so i can check these out and do a little research.  i have decided to go with air now but are there any recommendations as to a three or four link???

[rEdnECkwHeE1eR]

Search Pirate4x4.com's bulletin board they have tons of good info! As far as where to get the shocks
http://www.polyperformance.com/shop/product.php?productid=148&cat=35&page=1

[rude86 [OP]]

SWEET   let the build begin.  dam i just rolled my truck out of the shop and now its Rollin back in.  still could use a second or third opinion on 3 or 4 link.

[rEdnECkwHeE1eR]

I see allot of trail rigs with dual triagulated 4 link, but recently I see allot of buggys with 3 link with a track barand have heard allot of good things about it so all I can say is read up!

[hudlenutz]

I think this one really depends on what kind of space you have available (front or rear, gas tank, drive shaft, mounting locations, etc).  I'd do the triangulated 4-link.  The panhard will result in lateral translation of the axle in a different direction for each side, whereas the 4 link will always be symmetric.  It might also be more intuitive to adjust a 4link, but ultimately, both are very good when done right.  You will just have to see what you can make fit under your rig.

[burnyota]

what he said - you blow an air shock(nitrogen/whatever) and your wknd is skrewd...at least a coil will support the weight ...But $$$$$