Write-Up: Rear Self-leveling Air Shocks

98riviera98 wrote:

oldsman105 wrote:

98riviera98 wrote:

jhodges wrote:

I Got my monroe MA822's from amazon for $57.31 for the pair including shipping which I thought was an excellent price. I am going to install them this weekend. I was only wondering about the air line hookups and how well they connect to the factory airlines or what adaptations were necessary.
will post back after the installation

DONT USE the factory leveling air compressor thing........... just go to autozone and buy the AIR SHOCK LINE KIT........... its like 10 bucks then u can fill the shocks at your local gas station whenever u want........... ill post a video later..... maybe

If it still works I'll give you $75 for the Level compressor from your car.

umm how the hell do u take it out????? i havent ever looked for it..... and yes it does work

Its under the car by the exhaust. Its just a couple of bolts, 2 air lines and a wire .

I love....... filling them manually
i can raise the back end at lest 5 inches between the whell and fender and the bumper is off the groudn allot to...........ill check that captain kirk

Got the monroe shocks installed today, no problems plugged right up just as stock works and drives much much tighter !!
highly recommend the Monroe MA822.

Be careful on high mileage cars, removing the air lines from the old shocks. My O-rings remained inside the nipple while trying to remove. This means a leaky line in the new shock.

Rather than purchase O-rings or a new line, I repaired mine with duct tape! This may or may not work for you, but it did in my case. The flared end of the line is supposed to have two rubber O-rings that are compressed when the clip is on. I wrapped a 1/8" wide, 3" long strip of duct tape (electrical should also work) around the line where the O-rings were to form a "duct tape donut". With the clip on, the line sealed up... no leaks. Not a long-term fix, but it will get me to work for a week or two until I can pick up some O-rings.

Aaron, thanks for the tip. I should have the Monroes waiting for me at work tomorrow, been on vacation the past week.

Thanks to Jack the R for the write-up. As simple as his instructions were, they were enough. I did not even need to reference the shop manual. Job took 2 hours, but could have been done in one.

I would loosen the top nut (in the trunk) before loosening the bottom bolts, though. This prevents the shock from twisting in the mount. I would also remove air lines first, so they do not bend or break from twisting or dropping the shock during disassembly. So for me, the order was:

1) Lift rear of car.
2) Disconnect air lines.
3) Remove top nut.
4) Remove two bottom bolts.
5) Remove shock.
6) Replace hardware.
7) Install new shock.
8) Tighten bottom bolts.
9) Tighten top nut.
10) Reconnect air lines.
11) Lower car.

Car rides nice with the Monroes. Not a giant difference, but less boating on the hills and in the dips. And the bumps feel better, of course. At 140k miles, it just feels better not having the originals on there. I should credit the OEMs though... never failed, still working well for being 9 years old.

Heading to the garage to install my Monroes right now, then do a tire rotation. Will look at the exhaust project this afternoon or tomorrow.

Not a difficult project, though a short 10mm socket would have helped with removing the outside bolt on the bottom. I only have deep metric sockets, which won't fit to get the outside bolt. I had to use a wimpy little 1/4" socket/ratchet to get in there, which I wasn't sure would hold up to the torque. Both original shocks are in terrible shape, and had started to leak recently. When I pulled the driver side down out of the mount, a shower of rusty crap came out of the upper hole. Also wouldn't have minded having new bolts for the lower mount.

Anyways... here's the old stuff, good reason to get rid of your 9 yr old rear shocks:

Wow Dave, bet she's glad to have the new pair of legs!

AA wrote:

Wow Dave, bet she's glad to have the new pair of legs!

Man, you got that right! Just went for a drive and the handling difference is remarkable. Wish I'd done this back in April or May. Feels much firmer in the turns, and vastly improved going over the "moguls"... it's amazing what functioning shocks will do for a car.

I rotated the tires too, and almost swapped the rears to the opposite fronts... (directional tires)

I had Firestone remount my directional tires when rotating, crossing both front and rears. Amazingly, they did so at no extra charge. It's truly necessary to do this when you frequently drive the car into turns very hard, as the outside tread gets eaten away over time. I was just surprised they honored my request with no hassle!

I get free rotations too, where I bought the tires. Hadn't thought about having them do it and remount tires. I don't really push it very hard in the turns, so I may not have the uneven wear problem, will have to watch the tread.

Yeah, keep an eye on the outside edges. I know my boss's 350Z tire rotation required remounting because it came with directionals from the factory.

UPDATE: My temporary duct tape fix remained on for longer than expected. The result was eventually it started leaking, unbeknown to me. The air pump that inflates the shocks must've began running more frequently, and eventually burnt out. Big bummer...

So, for a time, the rear end of my car was sagging, which was no fun. Yesterday, I installed the replacement air lines I received from ShockWarehouse (link) and bypassed the pump with an air fill fitting.

AA when you installed your monroes,were they really tight an bumpy for a little bit?? mine were but i think there settling down...i went from bouncy,to feeling like i had no absorbtion..

Not really. I noticed a firmer ride, bit not too bumpy. Most of all, I noticed a decreased tendency to boat on the expressway. See my initial reaction 10 posts up ^^^

I put Monroes on the rear last night after having 135k on the originals that were leaking. The Monroes are really firm to me. Maybe I was just use to squishy shocks. I'm glad I didn't do the F250 mod if they are firmer than the air shocks. This was by far the easiest set of shocks I've ever put on a car. Thanks for the tips Aaron. Struts are next!

Second look...I think I may be riding a little high in the back. Is there anyway to adjust them?

Update: I found Dave's post about his riding too high and he uncapped the air lines from the shocks and excess air came out. That seems to have fixed mine too. Hopefully, they won't air back up...not sure what all that's about.

I think it's an initial install thing.

Also, I thought my monroes were a bit stiff for the first month or so, then they went back to 'nice'. Not too soft, not too harsh.

Jack, mine have been fine since releasing the air after installation. I suspect the linkages may have been hanging up when I first let the rear back down to the floor, resulting in overinflation. Just a wild guess... I also agree that the new shocks are plenty firm, I won't be doing the Rancho's swap.

looking for a regular rear shock for my 95 rivera my air ride doesnt work and would like a shock that i could just bolt up there and forget about the whole air ride thing does anyone have any input and or part #s

so what psi do you guys run them at? i like the way it feels at 50 or 60psi but the back end sits up soo high. reverse rake it cool...sometimes. i tried letting all the air out at the fill valve and then pumped it back up, but there is still a lot of fender gap. would it make a difference to let the air out directly at the shock vs the fill cap?

paulie710- see the first 2 pages of this thread. the monroe shocks are direct replacement and you can remove the air ride and fill them yourself.

Hey Paulie - when you say air ride is busted do you mean the compressor does not work or the switch is not turning the compressor on or what?

Albertj

I'm guessing he doesn't know. It's hard to diagnose without checking the sensor, wires, pump, and air lines. And I think he's asking for a shock that doesn't use air at all, an ordinary gas shock.

I prefer 40 psi. Perfect ride height , imo.