Air Shock Pros and Cons for Lowered Truck

[rockable]

My '86 has been lowered about 3 & 5" as I recall and it sits pretty level when empty.  Throw something in the bed and the back end sags lower than the front, however.  Also, I have shocks on it that I bought from Brothers and they are valved too stiff, when running empty, which is most of the time for me.

So, it got me to thinking about air shocks for the rear.  What are the pros and cons of air shocks for a pickup truck?  Would the Monroe Air Shocks ride better than what I have now?  Would that be the simplest way to raise up my rear when I need to? 

I had a set on a 90 Suburban way back and I can't recall them being bad.......but I can't really recall anything about them to tell the truth except they leveled out my burb when towing my race car.

If there are better options, I'm all ears.  Let me know.

Thanks
Rock

[HAULIN IT]

Rock, We talked about much of what your describing here:
http://forum.73-87chevytrucks.com/smforum/index.php?topic=20611.0
For me, this has proven to be an ideal set-up to do the same thing as your thinking. Lorne

[rockable]

I hit a home run on this deal!  My truck is a 1/2 ton with a flip kit and lowered spindles with a round chopped off the front springs.  I had Brother's Gas Shocks front and rear and new rear springs from  .  The truck set pretty much dead level when empty but the butt end sat down with any type of load on it.  The other aggravating part was that it rode stiff and rough as heck because the rear shocks were too stiff.

Today, I reconnected my rear sway bar and installed a pair of Monroe MA-727 air shocks.  ($65 for the pair from Amazon!)  I aired the shocks up to about 60 psi, which raised the rear about an inch.  The difference in the truck is night and day.  Now it has a nice compliant ride, pretty neutral handling around corners and doesn't "float".  The combination of the gas shocks up front and the air shocks in the rear are great!  Plus, it allows me to tune my stance to have a little rake to it.  I LOVE them.  You can't beat the price and the install only took about an hour.

Air shocks have their place and the lowered 1/2 ton chassis is one place where they work out great.  Get you some!