Air shock replacement

[408WPN 38]

Hey Guy's 

Over time finding this page very useful, older car scenario, always gonna be something breaking, replacing & repairing. 

Bloody frigging airshocks now, not holding air & went down pretty rapidly, so would I be right in thinking it's more the struts are buggered than the actual air line leaking somewhere.

Really need to get up on a hoist now somewhere to try & figure it out.

Probably would prefer replacing with Munroe, the car sits quite low as is,any you guy's had much to do with suspension side of things & any advice or recommendations on shocks to get or part numbers for 1985 XF Fairmont. 

 

Cheers  

 

Andy 

[bear351c 10,402]

Hi mate, probably the rubber 'bag' which is inside the shocks. (they crack/wear etc) could try to source an Air Jackers kit, which used to contain the Schrader valve, coupling, tees and couple of metres of black flex line. Not sure if you buy 'em on eBay or whatever?  

 

If you have lowered suspension, you'll need lowered shocks, or they will bottom out, and fail prematurely. Monroe is OK, Pedders have a heavy duty set with bigger bore and thicker rods. 

If you're cashed up, go Koni or Billsteins. 

[408WPN 38]

1 hour ago, bear351c said:

Hi mate, probably the rubber 'bag' which is inside the shocks. (they crack/wear etc) could try to source an Air Jackers kit, which used to contain the Schrader valve, coupling, tees and couple of metres of black flex line. Not sure if you buy 'em on eBay or whatever?  

 

If you have lowered suspension, you'll need lowered shocks, or they will bottom out, and fail prematurely. Monroe is OK, Pedders have a heavy duty set with bigger bore and thicker rods. 

If you're cashed up, go Koni or Billsteins. 

Hey Bear, thanks alot.

I've gone ahead & bought KYB Xcel G shocks, hopefully they go in with my current springs which i think are just lows not superlows.

I did jack it up a little bit & measured the spring which was 25cm from the top to where it sits at the base, give or take a couple centimeters. 

Also measured bottom of the outer sill to the floor was 12cm.

Few of the guys on XF FANATICS have gone with KYB on low shocks, finger's crossed I'm not on super lows, most of the modifications on my car are about 30yrs old now hence there being air shocks which apparently are a thing of the past haha . 

It's gonna suck if they shocks don't fit 🥴

[408WPN 38]

Hey Guy's. 

Awesome Andy's amateur mechanical hour strikes again..

Was happy day's removing shock absorbers untill bearing in mind the one's I'm removing are Air shocks with a larger diameter circumference on the upper shock not allowing it to slide out. 

What's next do I drop the diff & remove the whole spring  

The little 10mm bolt on a sway bar coming out either side of the diff,is that what I remove?

Really don't want to have to do that. 

Can I remove the top  shock cover in the boot & pull out from above, oh god that's getting real amateur hour now. 

Any tips cuzzie bro's from across the ditch

 

Cheers

[deankxf 20,905]

4 hours ago, 408WPN said:

Hey Guy's. 

Awesome Andy's amateur mechanical hour strikes again..

Was happy day's removing shock absorbers untill bearing in mind the one's I'm removing are Air shocks with a larger diameter circumference on the upper shock not allowing it to slide out. 

What's next do I drop the diff & remove the whole spring  

The little 10mm bolt on a sway bar coming out either side of the diff,is that what I remove?

Really don't want to have to do that. 

Can I remove the top  shock cover in the boot & pull out from above, oh god that's getting real amateur hour now. 

Any tips cuzzie bro's from across the ditch

 

Cheers

 

if it's an XE or XF with coil springs on the diff, you should be able to with the car on chassis stands/hoist..just undo the shocks and lower the diff down with a jack so the springs basically fall out of the way.. remove the spring and shock(air) as one and then refit the others any way you like

i've never removed the boot hump things, but there might be enough clearance, worth a try if you can't do the chassis stands way. only 4 bolts and you'll soon find out. 

[408WPN 38]

12 minutes ago, deankxf said:

 

if it's an XE or XF with coil springs on the diff, you should be able to with the car on chassis stands/hoist..just undo the shocks and lower the diff down with a jack so the springs basically fall out of the way.. remove the spring and shock(air) as one and then refit the others any way you like

i've never removed the boot hump things, but there might be enough clearance, worth a try if you can't do the chassis stands way. only 4 bolts and you'll soon find out. 

Thanks so much for replying Dean, yeah I was gonna give that a crack in the morning & did think wether undoing the top nut & bottom bolts then lowering the jack may work. 

Hopefully the springs aren't shagged, oh well to bad I'll give that ago & see how I get on.