What's all this hype about air ride suspension? Why is it becoming so popular all of a sudden, when it's been around for decades? Why is it rapidly taking over as the newest, hottest-selling suspension system being used today?
The air spring was originally used in the automotive field in the '30s. Some of the first cars to use an experimental air ride suspension were Buicks and Plymouths. Most of the other major manufacturers followed shortly thereafter. The companies quickly found that air springs weren't cost-effective and were dropped for the cheaper coil-wound spring that we're all accustom to. General Motors and Firestone joined forces in the mid-'40s and started using air springs on buses. They worked great and are still being used today.
During the late-'40s and early '50s, many car manufacturers changed from the buggy style spring and suspension system to an independent-styled coil suspension. In the '80s, street rodders finally caught up and started retrofitting Mustang II coil systems in the front of their cars with coilover shocks in the rear. The ride quality and handling of street rods were greatly improved, but there's always room for improvement. Air ride is the next step forward because of improved ride quality and the ability to raise and lower the car at will. In fact, it's currently being used on some of the newer production cars.
The custom car and sport truck crowds were some of the first to use air ride suspensions. They found that they could raise and lower their vehicles with a flick of a switch with an onboard air supply. The vehicle's ride didn't suffer, and there was an infinite number of ride heights available with in a 5-inch span of up-and-down travel. It only makes sense that the street rod industry would follow.
It seems that an air ride suspension just makes sense in many custom applications. You have complete control of your spring rate. The more air that's used translates to a harder ride and raises the vehicle at the same time. Less air means a lower ride height, and a softer ride.
Although there is no installation kit currently made to install air ride suspension in the rear of a '48 Ford, the crew at Precision Street Rods & Machines will show you how they adapted Total Cost Involved Engineering's (TCI) '40 Ford rear Air Ride kit into this '48 woodie. All of the parts from the kit were used except the front four-bar frame brackets. The rear four-bars had to be shortened, but the rest of the kit went in as planned. We suggest that you call TCI and see if the company offers a kit to fill your needs.
