Air Ride Technologies Air Suspension Kit - Modern Handling Meets Good Looks

Moving to the rear, the first thing to do is place the cradle in the correct position on the car. Next, mark the required locations where you will drill new holes with a center punch as shown.

Drill a pilot hole at the center punch locations, then open them up to the correct hole diameter as shown here.

Special threaded U-bolts are installed into the holes just drilled. You may wish to temporarily install a nut on one end of the bolt to eliminate the possibility of the bolt becoming lost inside the framerail by pushing it completely through. Don't laugh-we've seen it happen during a similar chore while installing a rear sway bar.

Here the U-bolt is shown in the desired position. Again, be certain not to accidentally knock the bolt up into the framerail when the cradle is raised into place.

The forward end of the cradle is secured to the car using these supplied fasteners. The hole shown is the access opening to the upper rear shock mounting point in the trunk area.

This photo shows the forward end of the rear cradle being tightened into position. There are four mounting points-two through the old shock openings and two through the new holes drilled in the center above the old pinion snubber support area.

Air Suspension Rear Cradle Install U Bolt

The rear of the cradle is attached to the frame-rails using the U-bolts just installed. A helper is beneficial here to prevent knocking the U-bolts into the frame and ensuring all four U-bolt ends pass through the AirBAR bracket correctly.

The rear cradle for the AirBAR system is shown here completely secured into position. This component will carry the entire rear weight of the vehicle through the mounting points on the framerail and floorpan areas.

Using the new U-bolts furnished with the kit, install the brackets for attaching the trailing arms onto the axlehousing. They are positioned directly over the existing spring pads as shown. The OE lower spring plates, which also received the original shocks, are discarded.

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