Drop a hearse

[v8nightmare]

for those of you who have had your hearses dropped what does that cost ballpark?

[Creepy Cruiser]

Dropped on air, oil, or static?

[R U INJRD]

$3500. Give or take $3000

Seriously, there's so much more information needed for a quote it's not even funny. You could pay your local torch-jockey $250 to cut your coils in half, or if you want a full-boat, properly installed and engineered air ride setup you could be looking at $6000+.

Personally I have somewhere between $1500 - $2000 in my air ride setup, but I price shop, wait for good deals to come my way, and I did 100% of the installation myself. That was for a GMC truck chassis, which will accept at least some degree of standard components. If you have a Caddy the price of components will likely go up just because they are not as common.

[v8nightmare]

yeah air, basically like creepy cruisers ride and i definitely lack the expertise to tackle that myself, but 3k + seems like way too much to even bother

[R U INJRD]

Well, here are some minimum prices on components you will likely need in any air ride install:

Compressor - $150
Tank - $50
Solenoids or Valves - $50 x 4
Switches - $20 x 4
Gauges - $25 x 2
Air Line - $50
Bags - $60 x 4
Brackets - $50 x 4

It all adds up. Just that stuff listed, which is probably the minimum you would need at the minimum new price you could get it at is already running you $1000+. Add to that installation at a minimum $45 an hour and probably at least 8 hours to install and you're looking at around $1500 to enter the game. Shop ebay and you can cut that price down some, but design your system first so you aren't buying things you can't use. Consider tank and compressor placement, power cables from the battery to the compressor, extra tanks or compressors depending on how fast you want the system to go or how many times in a row you want to pump things up, etc. There's an art to designing a proper air system, just like designing a hydraulic system.

[Creepy Cruiser]

Yep, all that is right on. (except I haven't seen anyone at $45 an hour for custom work in over 10 years, lol)

Most of the rides we bag here, run into the $3k-$5k range.

A lot of it depends on how low you want to go also. And what size wheels you're using, etc... (if you have to start "Z"ing and notching the frame and stuff like that)

And like (R U INJRD) said, the design of the system is everything, it's so important.

I have huge amounts of hours in mine, because I basically cut all the factory suspension off mine, rolled it out from underneath, and threw it all way. Then I started from scratch building all the rear suspension, so it would allow it to lay flat on the ground. Also I needed an 8" narrower rear end than stock, so I could tuck 10" wide wheels all the way around. Then when I was in there I thought 4 wheel disk brakes would have to be a must, lol. Then all the front had to be narrowed also to tuck those 10" wide wheels too. And the list goes on and on. I have still only seen one hearse that was lower than mine, and his is super body dropped. (but he never drives it anymore)

To actually pay someone too do everything that's done to mine suspension wise, would be closer to $10k-$12k

It's a huge amount of work and fairly expensive, but well worth it to throw 60' of sparks out the back on the freeway in a hearse, lol. I still think mine was the first hearse that I know of to actually drag body, it's been about 13 years now since I drug mine for the first time.

[v8nightmare]

thanks for the input guys, time to start saving up

[Creepy Cruiser]

Btw, yours will be way cheaper and easier than mine, because yours is so much newer (depending on wheel and tire size).

Is yours factory 4 linked in the rear? (or leafs?)

[v8nightmare]

looks like a standard caprice suspension except the prev. owner replaced the air ride in the rear and has coils on the rear axle and shocks on brackets going to the axle. ill take some pics later

[pyro]

When I had new leaf springs made for the rear, it sat high in the rear. Whats the max lowering block recommended? I'm thinking a 3 inch lowering block between the axle & leaf springs

[R U INJRD]

When I had new leaf springs made for the rear, it sat high in the rear. Whats the max lowering block recommended? I'm thinking a 3 inch lowering block between the axle & leaf springs

Does your axle sit above or below the leaf springs? If it's underneath the springs you could move it to the top of the springs and lower the rear the same distance as the width of the axle + the width of the spring pack. You just have to make sure you still have enough distance between the axle and frame for the suspension to travel, otherwise you'll have to put a notch in the frame somehow.

If it is already above the spring pack you could use blocks like you said, or you could have shackles fabricated to go where the spring pack mounts, depending on how it physically attaches to the frame. Either way you will still have to make sure you have enough suspension travel and notch the frame if you don't have enough room.

Here's one article that describes some different lowering techniques:

http://www.chevyhiperformance.com/techarticles/47055_suspension_lowering_guide/index.html

[v8nightmare]

does this rear end look difficult to convert?



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[R U INJRD]

Not really. From what I see there it looks like a four link with the top links going to the center of the axle/differential. I believe all you would have to do is get a set of generic brackets that mount to the axle where the springs are now, and replace the springs with air bags. The would have to be welded on, and you may or may not have to change shocks depending on how much travel they have. If they bottom out before the suspension is fully compressed you would need shorter ones, otherwise you would be ok with what is on there.

Don't sue me if it doesn't work, that's just my opinion based on the pictures.

[Creepy Cruiser]

RU has it pretty much right on. Factory 4 link makes it way easy.

Yank the springs, pull the shocks and lay it out. This will pretty much tell you exactly how low you will be able to go, before you start. Then just build some bag mounts, measure for shocks, install them, and then you're on to the front mounts, compressors, valves, switches, gauges, wiring, air lines and tanks.

The back is the easy part, the front will be a little more tricky for bag clearance. (I'm pretty sure that chassis tech now has front and rear bag mounts for your car.)

Keep in mind, that it probably won't even come close to laying frame, without a frame notch.

Like RU said, do this only "AT YOUR OWN RISK!", lol. (and please don't kill yourself removing the springs)

[v8nightmare]

yeah well i think its something better left to someone who knows what the fuck theyre doing anyway