I'm looking advice from others who have successfully installed Airlift bags in their coils. I have been running Airlifts for years in a 4Runner for towing and they have worked great. When I started towing with my LC it was sagging something fierce in the back with my small trailer, large 6-bike hitch rack on a hitch splitter, camping gear, family, etc. This is with medium Ironman springs. I finally got around to installing some Airlifts recently ahead of more camping trips this summer. I followed the instructions to the T, got everything put back together, pumped up to ~20 PSI and literally drove one time around the block. By the time I got back the pneumatic line had been cut right below the metal nipple on one airbag (see pictures). I can only assume it was from the metal nipple hitting the spring seat plate. This was with drilling out the center hole in the plate per the instructions.
The instructions for the 4Runner install were the same (nipple-down). However, when I looked at those years ago I figured there was no way the hose would not get damaged exactly as it did on the LC, so instead of following the instructions I installed the bags with the nipple and air hose pointed up. Additionally, the 4Runner kit came with the plastic donut spacer. I ended up putting the spacer on TOP of the bag to protect around the nipple. I've put maybe 80k miles since then and towed multiple multi-state road trips without a single leak. I thought about doing the same with the LC, but then I decided I was being stupid, surely the instructions would not lead me astray, right? And other people are running them seemingly without issue. I figured I must be overthinking it, so instead of going with what worked, I followed the instructions. BTW I asked around on the forum here before I bought the kit and couldn't find a better kit for the lifted Ironman springs besides what is recommended for the stock springs. The limited feedback I got was that the stock kit was working for others with lifted springs, so I went with the same. That kit does not come with the donut spacer.
Has anyone else had issues like this? If not, what the heck am I doing wrong? Unfortunately I don't have a lot of time to tinker with this right now so I would like to not have to take the springs out and reinstall only to have the same thing happen again. I circled the damage to the hose in one picture since it's a bit hard to see. In the other you can see the hole in the spring seat plate does not line up well with the nipple on the bag. And before someone asks, the spring is seated properly.
I don't see how it's possible to not have the hose damaged when one rear tire gets stuffed, even with no pressure in the bag. I'm considering buying the spacer pucks and putting in the bottom to see if it protects the line, but for one that will just yield even less room for compression of the spring. It also feels like overkill if no one else has needed to do that. An alternative could be to grind out more space in the seat plate, but I expect that will be a pain. And if no one else has needed that either, I must be missing something.
The instructions for the 4Runner install were the same (nipple-down). However, when I looked at those years ago I figured there was no way the hose would not get damaged exactly as it did on the LC, so instead of following the instructions I installed the bags with the nipple and air hose pointed up. Additionally, the 4Runner kit came with the plastic donut spacer. I ended up putting the spacer on TOP of the bag to protect around the nipple. I've put maybe 80k miles since then and towed multiple multi-state road trips without a single leak. I thought about doing the same with the LC, but then I decided I was being stupid, surely the instructions would not lead me astray, right? And other people are running them seemingly without issue. I figured I must be overthinking it, so instead of going with what worked, I followed the instructions. BTW I asked around on the forum here before I bought the kit and couldn't find a better kit for the lifted Ironman springs besides what is recommended for the stock springs. The limited feedback I got was that the stock kit was working for others with lifted springs, so I went with the same. That kit does not come with the donut spacer.
Has anyone else had issues like this? If not, what the heck am I doing wrong? Unfortunately I don't have a lot of time to tinker with this right now so I would like to not have to take the springs out and reinstall only to have the same thing happen again. I circled the damage to the hose in one picture since it's a bit hard to see. In the other you can see the hole in the spring seat plate does not line up well with the nipple on the bag. And before someone asks, the spring is seated properly.
I don't see how it's possible to not have the hose damaged when one rear tire gets stuffed, even with no pressure in the bag. I'm considering buying the spacer pucks and putting in the bottom to see if it protects the line, but for one that will just yield even less room for compression of the spring. It also feels like overkill if no one else has needed to do that. An alternative could be to grind out more space in the seat plate, but I expect that will be a pain. And if no one else has needed that either, I must be missing something.
