turbo V8, ultimate b2200 conversion, "Stranger". Final pics

Let me ask a question.

Is a shop compressor enough to air up the Shockwaves? I know before I sent them back the most they would take was 47 psi {at least that was when they stopped raising the truck}, and Ridetec recommends somewhere around 100 psi.

how many psi is your shop compressor?

My shop compressor is 60 gal, 5hp, @ 140 psi.

Here is one of my problems. Today I tried to put a little more psi into the shocks.

I heard a rubber squeaking sound so I pulled the front wheel again. Looks like the upper arm is hitting the bellows on the new shock.

Question, can I flip the upper ball joint under the control arm, and even make a spacer for it? There can be NO touching on those bellows, or you all know what will happen.

Klaus Nomi will show up to sing "ding dong the witch is dead".

Well, maybe not, but it would still be bad.

unfortunately I think the shock mount is gonna fail before your shock wave does, the tortional forces are gonna reek havoc on that upper mount even with gussets.... we bent rods and twisted mounts and even bent the body of the shockwave i gave up with those junkers after that...since that i have just used bags and relocated shocks....looking good ......

Yes, its looking like coilovers, or bags would have been the way to go.

can i ask u a question with out u getting pissed....was the yellow to the frame your addition....seems out of character after seeing your mustangs.....coilovers would be nice and handle nice ....i just never understood the point of the shockwaves i mean good idea just for us minitruckers dont worky...

No it doesn't make me pissed to answer an honest question.

The truck/cab is already painted black I did that about this time last year. It will also have gold LeMans stripes like my 66 Mustang with the Shelby/Hertz theme.

I don't think yellow alone would look good that is why I chose a "school bus yellow" to contrast with the black, and also go with the gold.

Ive never used shock waves but they are already starting to piss me off after reading this thread!!!!

Hope you get it all figured out

I used shockwaves on two full-size, a one ton dually and a standard cab full-size....the dually used djm tube control arms the standard used stock control arms. The dually was the hardest on them, the weight was a big thing..... The tube a arms were nice cause it offered plenty of clearance but the geometry was a struggle to get it to pick up the truck smoothly and the small port size didn't help.. The overall height was tough to get to due to the weight and the amount of air it took to raise it to ride height and ended up trying the stock lowers arms and it was better cause it took some of the intial drop out of the suspension but still struggled ended up leaving stock lowers and plating it for 2600s and changing to a 3/8 port and the truck worked way better.... Onthe standard cab ran stock arms and dropped spindles and ran into clearance issues up top and searched and searched for a remedy but air ride tech were furious I was running no bump stops.....which is not recommended but he wanted more drop at zero pressure.... So we posted on fsc and one guy even tried to reengineer them to run upside down but I didnt wanna go to all tha trouble to make something attempt to work.....scrapped it went to a plated lower and 2600 with 1/2 ports and it works flawless....air ride tech makes nice
stuff I just don't think the shockwaves is for truck people like us.... For street rods with IRS and coilovers I think it's great I also helped with a camaro that was high horsepower and a weird three link and they worked fine in the application but still not idealfor that either...I think shockwaves have there place just not sure they are for my world I have never had anything but issues.....

Mind u I love air ride tech I used it on my full-size and it wOrks perfect, a little pricey but it was all quality and beefy stuff. I used a double convoluted and relocated shock on it form the get go....I had bought one of there controls but hated it and went to a Dakota digital and rocker switches....also worth noting airride tech is a great company for the user they more than took care of me and have swapped out parts on numerous occasions and even helped me trough some tough stuff....all in all shockwaves just weren't for my application and forthe high price I diet see the benefit over a traditional double bellow and relocated shock...it just what j know and what I can make work well.....I am a function over form kinda guy......the shockwaves look trick but if they dont perform the way I need them to then there functionless...

On a side note when I built my Mazda I used all FBI stuff from when they were still FBI.....came down to the end and I called them about shock relocation brackets, which they didn't carry at the time, Late 90's ish , and they were flabbergasted and amazed and kinda ticked I wanted to run shocks.... They were like non of us run shocks or sway bars on our trux.... I was shocked from this I drove my truck for a week after I broke the sway bar mount and ended up parking it cause on the free way it felt like I was dragging a door with a that body roll and I run separate valves up front to combat transfer..... Needless to say that was the last time I used FBI.... Wait I tried to buy some Heims from them and ended up canceling my order due to mass confusion on there end...

Thanks for the reply.

I think SW's are way overpriced, and I think they have a way to go to get them to work with non standard hot rods.

I also have been reading their forums from way back, and it seems like you said, they have been having many problems with their ride control electronics.

I did make some spacers today from some aluminum that I had laying around. I used the ball joint to trace then cut out the spacers.

From what I got on other forums that I asked this, is that the spacers won't hurt the geometry a bit so that is good news.