Air Shocks?

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Dirtbag1

Dirtbag1

Spotter Required
May 11, 2023
43
Temecula California
I have never had or used any air shock so wanted to ask for some info. I am ready to purchase and have been doing some reading. Question is 2.0 or 2.5? From what I can tell weight is a lot of the determining factor so I have a guess that when my rig is finished it will be around 3200-3500LBS. 4 link front and rear 40inch tires building for rock crawling specific. Any info for anything on this would be helpful. Thanks!
 
I am using 2.5s on my new build. Similar weight as yours. Fox and King have ridiculous lead times (~12months) at the moment. at least they did when i tried to order some beginning of the year. Im using radflos, but ADS also makes a quality shock and usually have them in stock.
 
DirtSquirrel said:
I am using 2.5s on my new build. Similar weight as yours. Fox and King have ridiculous lead times (~12months) at the moment. at least they did when i tried to order some beginning of the year. Im using radflos, but ADS also makes a quality shock and usually have them in stock.
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Great thanks!! Any tuning advise? I have read a few things on more oil less air? or 1st set-up? Thanks
 
2.5, no question. I love my Radflos.

Initial setup: over oil slightly, like 5-10cc. My 16" Radflo 2.5 airs run 710cc.

Nitrogen front is 70psi, rear is 50. 3-1/2" bump.

BEST option is custom valving for your rig. I had mine tuned and it is a huge improvement. Out of the box shocks don't account for your 60/40 weight bias and 275# of water in each front tire 🙂
 
woody said:
2.5, no question. I love my Radflos.

Initial setup: over oil slightly, like 5-10cc. My 16" Radflo 2.5 airs run 710cc.

Nitrogen front is 70psi, rear is 50. 3-1/2" bump.

BEST option is custom valving for your rig. I had mine tuned and it is a huge improvement. Out of the box shocks don't account for your 60/40 weight bias and 275# of water in each front tire 🙂
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Great Thank you for the Info!! When you say custom valving is that something that is done when ordering the shocks and going over it with the guys at radflow?
 
Our custom tune was after wheeling it for a few months...needed the vehicle scaled, and full geometry workup to get the shock valving right. Took a couple days. Still thinking I need a shade more rebound, but it overall works amazing.
 
woody said:
2.5, no question. I love my Radflos.

Initial setup: over oil slightly, like 5-10cc. My 16" Radflo 2.5 airs run 710cc.

Nitrogen front is 70psi, rear is 50. 3-1/2" bump.

BEST option is custom valving for your rig. I had mine tuned and it is a huge improvement. Out of the box shocks don't account for your 60/40 weight bias and 275# of water in each front tire 🙂
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Here comes the tuesday question.... so do you initially add enough oil to weight the rig with however much shaft showing and then adding nitrogen accordingly to set ride height? always adding oil and nitrogen at full extension? totally new to this and going off of what little i've read. the oil ratio is what i still don't grasp fully and it seems opinions are all over the place....
 
Over oil from stock by 5-10cc. Nitrogen to set ride height. All at full extension.

Oil: at full extension (engine hoist is perfect), add 5cc, reinstall valve core, NO N2, and "drop" the chassis. It should compress with 1/4"ish between the shock body and the eye, then start to slowly bleed thru. If it "hits" raise and add another 5cc and repeat. If it hits again, you get to dump and measure the oil. That sucks.

My 2.5 16 Fox airs in my FToy weren't even close. My Radflos were spot on.

When oil is set, add N2. 60f 40r and check. 5psi increments
 
Awsome!! Thank you for that explanation really helps with never using Air shocks before, I feel way more confident going into this now!! Also think you just sold me on the radflo rather than FOX. I was going back and forth on that too. For what i'm building i'm on a budget but I don't mind spending extra money on probably the most important suspension component!
 
Dirtbag1 said:
Awsome!! Thank you for that explanation really helps with never using Air shocks before, I feel way more confident going into this now!! Also think you just sold me on the radflo rather than FOX. I was going back and forth on that too. For what i'm building i'm on a budget but I don't mind spending extra money on probably the most important suspension component!
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I killed DAYS on a thread on the old PBB to figure out how to do it (at least from a backyard mechanic standpoint)....I know a handful who have followed this process and been pleased. Spending an additional $1000 to have them custom valved is an added bonus, but the basic overoil test will get you on the trails and wheeling well :)
 
There are lots of opinions out there about the best way to do it. Woody's is more scientific than most. I did my first set on a linked YJ 15-16 years ago, which was set up as a LS powered trail rig. Back then the backyard theory was to set ride ht at about 1/3 shock stroke. I had 12" shocks so 4" exposed rod. (now you would want it lower for rock crawling) We used the factory oil volume and adjusted the air to set ride ht. Then it got really "back yard". Pulling up/ pushing down on the bumper was squishy. We kept adding oil till we couldn't move the bumper more than an inch up/down. It worked surprisingly well. Even without sway bars, my rig was one of the more stable linked rigs on air shocks around our area. The other thing that was done was to let the air out and make sure it would fully compress to make sure it wouldn't hydrolock.

Years later I got into playing with valving and oil volumes and made improvements but not by a lot. I never had the luxury of an expert help me tune them.

FYI, don't use my method, use Woody's. LOL
 
woody said:
I killed DAYS on a thread on the old PBB to figure out how to do it (at least from a backyard mechanic standpoint)....I know a handful who have followed this process and been pleased. Spending an additional $1000 to have them custom valved is an added bonus, but the basic overoil test will get you on the trails and wheeling well :)
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ive always wondered how much a custom valve job would cost.
 
woody said:
When oil is set, add N2. 60f 40r and check. 5psi increments
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And they WILL settle a bit after wheeling, so set them "tall" by 1/2-1" and expect them to drop after a day on the trails. Once they settle the 20ish%, leave 'em....assuming you want 3-4" of shaft showing - most airs perform best with 25% showing, so 4" of a 16". I run closer to 3.
 
It seems like most spring systems work better at 50/50 splits. I think that is one of the advantages of air shocks vs coilovers, it is easier to get the air shock to a low ride height on a lightweight rig. It is difficult to find long enough springs to run on a 16" coilover and still get that 3" of up travel ride height on a 3000lb rig. The springs just buckle to easily at those lengths and rates. Not an issue for an air shock though.
 

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