air shocks....to do or not to do

Understanding how a Mopar leaf spring suspension works is your first step. The Mopar suspension uses the twist of the rear axle to help plant the rear tires. Even the stock suspension does this, just not as on a grand scale as the super stock suspension.

As power is applied to the rear axle, the pinion gear actually tries to climb the ring gear. It cannot, because it is encased in the third member. As a result of trying to climb the ring gear, the axle housing is forced to twist the opposite direction of the rear axles. While the rear axles are being driven forward, the axle housing tries to twist backwards.

The Mopar rear suspension is built to take advantage of this twist. What happens is, as the housing twists backwards, the rear of the car body is pushed up away from the rear axle. More correctly, the axle is actually being pushed DOWN and planting the rear tires. This is much more evident with the super stock rear suspension.

Any type of shock other than a standard, heavy duty hydraulic shock (NOT gas charged) will impede the correct operation of the rear suspension. Air shocks will all but stop the rear axle planting the tires. So, if you want a lot of tire spin, put air shocks on it. Regardless of whether you have 50 PSI or 150 PSI in them, they will still stop the rear suspension from working correctly.

Can you use them? Sure. But just be forewarned that the rear suspension will no longer work correctly.