Jacking up '85 conti for airbag swap

[Aaron C]

Im all excited now that I have a brand new air spring to install. I cant seem to get my car up high enough for both wheels to be off the ground though. Im jacking up by the rear diff, and since my driversside rear bag is flat, the rear axle goes up on that side first and lifts un-evenly. End result, bad airbag wheel WAY up, and other side still touching the ground. I want to get both sides off the ground so I can let the rear end dangle, but I dont want to break anything trying to do it either. I have only "driveway mechanic" jacks with the short handles, so its a pain in the ass.

Any suggestions?

[DJ]

First of all, go get yourself a pair of jackstands, you can get a good pair for around $50. You never want to work under a car supported by only a hydraulic jack. If a seal in the jack fails, you are toast. Second, do you have the suspension switch in the trunk turned off? Are you trying to jack it up in the center of the diff? You probably will not get the good side tire off the ground this way, this is not a good way to do it anyway, as all of the jacking force is just lifting the axle against the bad bag. The best way would be to jack it up, starting on the bad side, under the lifting pad on the bottom of the frame (uni-body would be more correct) just in front of the rear wheel well, see your owners manual for the exact location. Once you get it up high enough to get the wheel off, remove the wheel and lower the car back down on one of the jackstands you just bought. You do not need to take the other wheel off if you are only changing the one bag. But if you want to let the axle hang repeat the above procedure for the other side, the shocks will limit the downward travel of the axle housing. Once you are all done put the wheel(s) back on but lower the car back down on the jackstand(s), turn the suspension back on, turn the ignition to the run position, close the drivers door and let the system partially pump up the new bag before lifting it off the jackstand(s). Hope this helps.

[Aaron C]

Thanks for the reply. I always use jackstands, I've seen people get killed with cars falling on them. My concern with lifting the rear up even is so that when I change the bag I can let the rear end hang then jack up the diff so the bags fill evenly. It sounds like your way will work though, I'll have to try that.

[Nick]

When I changed a spring on my Continental, I lifted each side just ahead of the jacking points. To keep from rolling the unibody seam, use a piece of 2x4 or some other piece of thicker wood as a spacer between the jack and the seam. I was thus able to get a jack stand located where the factory jacking points are. Make sure you spray the bolts on the lower control arm down with some PB Blaster or equivalent rust eater. I had a really hard time getting them free without air tools. Also, make sure to install new O rings and grease them with some silicone grease for the air suspension solenoid. I used silicone dielectric grease. Best of luck, this is one of the easiest and most important repairs you can do with some basic hand tools.

[camusmuse]

I'm getting ready to do the rear airbags on my 86 Cont. Just for clarification.....there was a mention of lower control arm bolts abaove. Do you mean the bolts that attach the airbag, or the bolts for the lower control arm? I just wanna make sure I know exactly what needs to be done to replace my bad bags.

Thanks....Nate

[ekooke]

quote:Originally posted by camusmuse:
I'm getting ready to do the rear airbags on my 86 Cont. Just for clarification.....there was a mention of lower control arm bolts abaove. Do you mean the bolts that attach the airbag, or the bolts for the lower control arm? I just wanna make sure I know exactly what needs to be done to replace my bad bags.

Thanks....Nate

The air bag bottom retaining bolts go thru the control arm; spray the 'H' out of them with PB Blaster at least a day before you start to change the bag(s).