Front Air Shocks

While pondering all of my lowering options, I discovered that Monroe makes several air shocks that fit the front of our vans..... The Max-Air ma812 was the one I chose because it is the shortest..... I also determined that the air fittings and hoses on these shocks are kinda crappy and don't interface with normal 1/4" air ride stuff, so I spent some time at my local industrial supply house finding fittings to adapt the proprietary fittings on the shocks to 1/4 air line
Some Pics:



Basically, I wanted a male flare to nest into the open end of the fitting

A straight threaded sleeve that is 7/16 x 20 threads onto the shock....It needs to be EXACTLY one inch long, comes a little longer so I had to cut and run a tap through it...



The male flare is also 7/16 x 20 and has a female pipe thread in the other end



With the 1/4" air-line fitting screwed into it...



Hole cut through the fender for the fitting... Air lines will run inside the cab and the fitting will be sealed with a shift boot



Here is a picture of the left shock bolted in place... note the air fitting through the fender.... this shot also shows the double stacked 6 degree shims (yes 12 degrees!) that it took to get the axle to 5 degrees positive ( less when I put taller rear tires on it)


My drop is expected to work at the static ride height, but because of my launch-ramp driveway with excessive bottom transition, and because these vans have a lot of front overhang....I need to have the ability to raise it enough to get to the street without scraping....

Decided on Spectre shift boots from summit to be  soft seals for the air fittings..... Cut the holes round at 3" in diameter and covered with  siliconed in place 4x5" shift boots....





I had initially thought that a second shock could be placed ahead of the axle, but a little thought reveals that the shock was placed behind the axle because, with positive caster dialed in, the arc of the tire in a turn, turns away from the shock above the horizontal spindle plane as much as it would turn in above that line on the front side...... With the second pair of caster shims added, the tires come nowhere near the shocks on full-lock turns....

So does this lower the van at all.are just help with heavy loads I had something similar in the back of my Camaro and it jacked it up but handled like shit good for looks. No pictures loaded for me! Thanks for the info

This is an addition to my full front axle flip...….The shocks are going to have an onboard compressor and controls to aid front ground clearance when necessary...