Does anybody know the brand and part number of an air shock that will fit a 2005 durango? I have a motorcycle rack on the back of my Durango and the rear sags too much. This causes the end of the rack to drag. I really need to get some air shocks so I can adjust the ride height a bit. My Durango is an 2WD SLT 4.7 and I looked and it does NOT have the coil springs (unless I'm an idiot and can't see). Thanks for any help you can give.

 

Well,as there areno air shock part numbers are listed with monroe or gabriel, so I decided to 'go for it' and after looking through both manufacture's part listings, decided the gabriel hi-jacker part number 49235 would have a good chance of working out based upon the entended range and the compressed range and the total travel, which were similar to the stock rear durango shocks. I set out to install them and found that the bushings were a bit larger inside diameter on the hi-jackers. Now what? I then decided to use the stock bushings from the old worn out shocks ( worst case I would destroy both the old worn out shocks and the new gabriel hi-jackers and have to buy regular replacement shocks) I had purchased the hi-jackers at autozone for about $75. So I began to use a hand press to get the old bushings out of the old OEM shocks. Problem #1. They are glued to the rubber. Undeterred, I then decided to use a sawzall to open up the bushing ends on both the top and bottom of the old shocks. I then used a razor knife and chisel to get most of the rubber off of the bushing. I cleaned up the bushing with a sanding wheel on a die grinder. I then lathered up the bushings with WD 40 and used the press to push out the new Hi-jacker bushing and replace it with the old stock bushing. Caution, make sure you have the longer bushing on the top of the shock and the shorter one on the bottom. That didn't take more than 5 minutes to fix, but why go through it if you don't need to. The hi-jackers install pretty straightforward after that. The air lines take about 1/2 hour to install as you need to drill a few holes for the clips. The new shocks work great, no more bouncing. A bit of a stiffer ride, but the dips in the road are now taken easier and I don't hit my head on the headliner. And now I can tow my motorcycles on the rack and level out the durango, no more scraping. I also put rancho shocks on the front which are listed for the durango. They are working great too. Hope this info is helpful to you. Thought I would give back to a forum for a change instead of just getting info. One other note of caution. I wouldn't tow as much weight as you could possibly support with these hi-jackers as you may end up breaking a shock mount or even bending an axle if you aren't careful. There probably is a reason why the shock manufactures don't list an air shock as an application for the Durango. Good Luck.

 

Thanks for posting! I was wondering myself. I may have to do this.
I woudl think going to find some metal sleeves would be easier tho?

 

yes i know i'ts almost 10 years old a post lol

 

When you use air shocks to increase payload you have the shock mounts carrying the payload weight and they are not designed for that. Air shocks are great for adjusting ride height not to compensate for payload weight.

Should you need to increase ride height to compensate for payload weight your choice is replace your rear springs with ones with a heavier spring rate or install airbags.

If you install heavier springs the ride will be harsh when driving unloaded. Now airbags
transfer the payload weight from the frame/body directly to the rear axle and helps control body
motion. Now with airbags you can reduce air pressure when unloaded and still have a decent ride.

The last four full size vans I have owned had airbags installed and the difference in ride loaded or
unloaded is night and day. Just purchased a 2005 Durango and already ordered airbags which install inside the coil spring they say easy to install.

 

I ended up buying air bags from amazon.. because they dont' make shocks and i didn't feel like doing what he did. lol.

 

Well that's good news, I have not installed the ones I ordered from Amazon just arrived at the house yesterday. I do hope the air bags are as easy to install as they say.

Good luck

 

i ordered some 2 years ago.. without watching the video..
it was a pain in the *** and i sent them back.

However after watchign the video of installing them, it looks
fairly simple. i expect to spend about 30 to 60 minutes i guess.

 

I plan on giving it a go tomorrow afternoon will let you know how long it takes/toke.

 

Installing the air bags and running the air lines took less than an hour, easy easy job.