Air shock?

Wnmshoe

New member
I am considering installing air shocks on 1992 YJ to bring rear up. Not liking for lift just level because of load.
Ant thoughts.
 

Jim K in PA

Adventurer
You will be adding load to the shock mounting points that they were not intended to receive. Are they stock shock mounts?

Since you are in AZ it might not be an issue for your particular YJ, but here in the east they are known for having the upper right shock mount fail due to rust without adding any vehicle load to them. Even without rust, you run the risk of breaking a shock mount with the added load.

Better springs would be the first and best solution, or perhaps some longer rear shackles if you want to save some $$ in the short term. You could also put in some air helper springs between the axle and frame.
 

1stDeuce

Explorer
Kojak, YJ's are leaf spring. No airbags for that application that I'm aware of. Air shocks are the only option. :)

If you're only looking for load compensation, and we're talking about camping gear, not filling the back with gravel, the stock shock mounts will be OK assuming they're sound. I have a friend who ran air shocks on his LandCruiser for years and loved them. Hopefully you can still find some for a YJ, as they are phasing them out of production it seems...

As pointed out above, if you're trying to level a constantly sagging rear, longer shackles would be the cheapest way to go, and would work fine. If you carry heavy a lot, adding a leaf to the pack is more work, but would add some capacity in addition to a little height. Just use a full length leaf, whether an aftermarket one or one stolen from some other spring pack. If you can find a set of take-off YJ springs, just cut the eyes of the main leaf and add that to your current pack. :)
 

Idahoan

Adventurer
I had a 90ish that was saggy. I took it to a spring shop and had them re-arc the rear 1 1/2" over stock. You might consider just throwing a new set of springs on all around. They are probably pretty tired. Or on the cheap you can put on a 2" lift helper spring $80.
 

kojackJKU

Autism Family Travellers!
Kojak, YJ's are leaf spring. No airbags for that application that I'm aware of. Air shocks are the only option. :)

If you're only looking for load compensation, and we're talking about camping gear, not filling the back with gravel, the stock shock mounts will be OK assuming they're sound. I have a friend who ran air shocks on his LandCruiser for years and loved them. Hopefully you can still find some for a YJ, as they are phasing them out of production it seems...

As pointed out above, if you're trying to level a constantly sagging rear, longer shackles would be the cheapest way to go, and would work fine. If you carry heavy a lot, adding a leaf to the pack is more work, but would add some capacity in addition to a little height. Just use a full length leaf, whether an aftermarket one or one stolen from some other spring pack. If you can find a set of take-off YJ springs, just cut the eyes of the main leaf and add that to your current pack. :)

I would look further, I know that there are airbag applications for leaf springs. Pretty well all 1/2 ton and 3/4 ton trucks have air bag applications and most are leaf spring. So its not uncommon to have leaf spring airbag systems. That way, if you like the ride of your rig it does not change like changing spring packs or adding add a leaf does. Do some more investigation. I bet there can be a setup pieced together for your rig.
 

1stDeuce

Explorer
Kojak is right, there are applications for leaf springs, but not for YJ's. YJ's have the springs directly under the frame, and under the axle as well. So the airbag would have to go between the top of the axle and the bottom of the frame. Not nearly enough room for an airbag that would allow any decent travel. Most of the light duty trucks that use airbags with springs have springs outboard of the frame, and room between the tire and the frame for a long-ish airbag to go in there. No room for that either on a YJ. You could run them inboard, but the exhaust and track bar are in the way. Even if you reroute the exhaust and toss the track bar, the inboard location is less than ideal for axle loading. Might be OK with really light loads, but that's a LOT of work compared to any of the options above. :(

For a slightly unfair advantage, I *may* have already looked into putting airbags of some kind on the YJ-framed Scrambler that I rebuilt over the last few years... :)
 

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