The lines from the filler valve to the shocks are small and fairly lenghty so the time to flow air into the shocks is long. That is also why you MUST use a low flow air pump. Its easy to get 90 psi at the pump and 10 in the shock if you try to do it quickly. And check to see if there are kinked lines or splits that leak.
If you tried to use a gas station or equivalent air pump those are typical problems that result. (thats why AirLift shocks intstruct you to use a low flow hand pump). Pressurizing is a slow process not like filling a bike tire.

PS Out of hundreds of AirLifts installed here over many years I have never seen an air pressure gage that didn't work. Is your gage specific to your bike pump? Trimming a few thousandths off the valve threads shouldn't be a problem other than preventing the air pump nozzle from sealing against the valve. Surely you didn't trim that much?
Good luck.

 

Ditto that. I've experienced the same thing.

I've also had problems with the Monroe fill valve that came with the shocks. It's a very cheap plastic thing. I think part of the problem is that the diameter is slightly too large for most air hoses/nozzles, so I have to really shove the air hose on there (I use a small 5-gal. air tank, btw, that I refill at gas stations). I've been thinking of replacing the valve with a better quality brass unit if I can find one.

 

I used rubber washers on the inboard side to cushion any movement an bell washers outside to take up the gap as much as possible. I like the orquing the yoke bolt too though.
5 psi makes a 1/8" difference in ride height measured with a mm post and pointer..

 

When I left this morning I tried very small pumps(3-5PSI) and the pressure went right up like I figured it should. You guys are correct that my bike pump flows to much air. It is some sort of double action inside that fills my road tires to 120PSI in like three pumps. Little pumps good normal fast pumps bad I had to shave about 1/16th inch off the filler to get my gauge to read it. It works fine now.

2nd in H stock today with a total of 8 people in class. First time out a few months back in my stock car I was 11% behind the leader in his civic with r compound tires. The next event I added Falken Azenis to the front and finished 6% behind the same driver. Today with the airshocks and front alignment done(-.9 degrees camber and 1/16 toe out) I finished 5% behind the same driver. Getting closer each time.

Thanks for the help and continued growth of knowledge here.

 

Nice work dj! Congrats on the continued improvement.

 

I installed my Monroe shocks this morning. Install was pretty straight forward. I was mostly worried about getting the metal cylinder of the stock shocks, but it worked out smoothly. I'd say running the lines was the hardest just because I wanted to make sure the line wouldnt get ripped off by some debris or melt from the exhaust. I'll report back after driving it and loading it with gear in a few weeks.

BTW, thanks for the writeup. I don't think I would have figured out how to get that metal cylinder off the stock shock.

 

Any chance of this being a "sticky?"

 

I was wondering...I had my car fully loaded and i pumped it up to 70psi. I checked it again and it was fine after driving 300 miles or so, but when I got to my destination driving another 900 miles or so and unloaded the car, when I checked the pressure on the shocks it was only 30psi. Is it possible it was 70psi because of the weight on the shocks or my install sucks and I need to check it OR my shocks are leaking.

 

Should have been 70 psi still. Houston we gotta leak.

 

Yep smeister- time to pump the shocks back up and spray some soapy water on all the connections, or just twist those connections as hard as you can. One or more is/are leaking.

 

Yeah it's probably my install...I didn't use a razor to cut the lines so maybe THAT is the cause. Either way, the shocks did very well with all the weight I had in there. Cheap and easy install too thanks to the write up.

 

Just received my MA811 shocks from Amazon. The box label says the contents are AK18B (air fill kit) and P1134. I assume P1134 refers to the part number of the shocks. However, the air kit is nowhere to be found and the shocks are black with the numbers 48811 and P309A. Do I have the right part or did some body switch the contents on me?

 

Monroe uses at least 3 colors- white, black & yellow. The "fill kit" is just a black plastic "tee" with threads on the "run" ends to fasten the air line couplers. The "branch" of the tee is threaded to fit the supplied small, thin hex nut that holds the tee wherever you drill the hole to mount it. The tee and nut are probably packaged in your hardware bag along with all of the bushings, washers and hex nuts used to mount the shocks. If you are REALLY missing the black plastic tee, you should call Amazon to arrange for a replacement shock set.

 

Thanks for the reply. I got Amazon to send a replacement set. The missing air kit is not really that big of a deal. I am sure I can find something for it. I just don't want to find out they are the wrong shocks the hard way. One thing I noticed, though, is that the supply of MA811 seems to be dwindling.

 

The monroe's MA811 shock kit is currently on sale for 49.99 on Amazon.

Ordered my set.

 

Just figured I would throw this out there for whomever is interested. Back in the day, I had '66 Mustang setup to handle but I also needed to jack it up for loads. We didn't have nearly the aftermarket there is today. To help make those airshocks work better for handling, we didn't use a tee but instead separate valves. By using the "T", and go into a hard corner one airshock pumps air into the other and basically helps twist the rear further over, making it counterproductive to good handling. For what it's worth,...
Also, as far as getting the correct amount of pressure in each one, I would identify how much air I would lose by practicing with my good guage, then I would overfill by the amount the guage would lose. This step would take several tries, usually.

 

Is it possible to use the MA811's without installing the air-line kit? What kind of valve is on the shock itself?

 

The air lines socket fit into threaded fittings on the back side of the top of the shock, which is the air chamber. The lines go through a cap with threaded i.d.'s, and an o-ring seals the air tube inside the cap which gets screwed onto the threaded air chamber fitting.

Monroe says to maintain a MINIMUM pressure of 20 psi. Using the shocks with no air lines would mean running them at zero air pressure (or rather atmospheric press.). In that case, the rubber sleeve that seals the bottom of the air chamber would wear out quickly from friction against the rise and fall of the shock body within the upper chamber. You would have better luck finding some other non-air shock that fits the Cavalier years that match the Monroe shocks.

 

I ordered these for my 2009 Fit before I read another thread stating that the shocks for the 2009 are not the same length as 2008. I think I might take one off anyway and compare.

Any idea about air shocks for the 2009?

Dave

 

Sorry for your problem Dave. We all got the Monroe shock model number from member mahout, way before the '09s hit the street. The only thing that I can suggest is to measure the overall length of one of your stock shocks, both compressed and fully extended, measure the i.d.'s of the lower mount holes, keep all of that info. at hand, and then see if any shock maker including Monroe, Gabriel, and any others that you can think of, have a chart on the Internet showing the spec. measurements of their product lines. You might PM mahout for some more ideas.