Anyone running rear helper air springs on their rig?

[98 SNAKE EATER]

I only have them in the rear and the ride is virtually unchanged when level

As pressure increases, the firmer it becomes, but the ride is in no way harsh...

The main difference is noticable when towing

Without the bags, the rear sagged and bounced around like crazy with a loaded trailer, but with the bags in place, she stays firm over the bumps

 

[finderscuba]

I have Firestone air springs in the rear of my Pathfinder. I also installed the in-cab gauge and adjust system. Towing was impossible without the air springs as it would bottom out over any bumps. Ride with the springs inflated is actually very good. I keep them around 10 psi for normal driving and 20-25 for towing. One thing I have to do is set the adjustable shocks to the "sport" setting whenever the bags are above 10 psi or I would get a lot of bounce in the rear. This is with tired springs and shocks though.

I haven't actually installed the airsprings in the rear of my Cruiser yet. I'll be using the same in-cab system for changing the pressure. One of the main reasons for this was ease of monitoring the pressure. Prior to installing the in-cab system, I had one bag develop a slight leak, but I didn't notice until I needed to tow and one wouldn't hold air. I wasn't in the habit of pressure gauging the bags every day. If you run them with no air, they will become damaged. With the on-board system, whenever the truck is running, it will keep them inflated to where you set them. If the compressor is running non-stop, then you have a leak.

 

[alia176]

everyone with the air lift bags, be aware that the hole in the bottom plate on the spring plate will not match up to the bag inlet nozzle. You'll need to make this hole either very large with a plasma cutter or a die grinder to open it in the proper direction. Simply making this hole larger with a step bit may not be enough. This is on the driver side, rear spring BTW.

Nothing bad will happen if you don't do this, only pinch the air line so no more air will be come out or go into the bag. These lines are fairly robust and can handle a fair amount of abuse. In order to pump more air into the said bag, you'll need to lift the body up (not the suspension) and take a little weight of the air bag before pumping air in.

 

[46/71 Hybrid]

Just my $.02. I bought and installed the bags prior to a recent (3 days ago) 2300 mile trip from Mexico to Indiana to DC. Unfortunately, I didn't have the proper tools and wasn't able to open up the bottom mounting hole for the air line. Even with improper installation and completely wore out stock springs, the bags handled the load beautifully and me and my 5.5K loaded trailer made the trip with no issues whatsoever.

Without the bags, I would've been bottomed out the entire way and the trip would have been much longer. As it was, I was able to roll at 72-75mph when the terrain permitted with no trailer sway, ill handling, or any trailer related problems.

For towing or compensating for worn springs, I would give these bags an enthusiastic "two-thumbs up" and recommend them to anyone.

 

[alia176]

Without the bags, I would've been bottomed out the entire way and the trip would have been much longer. As it was, I was able to roll at 72-75mph when the terrain permitted with no trailer sway, ill handling, or any trailer related problems.

For towing or compensating for worn springs, I would give these bags an enthusiastic "two-thumbs up" and recommend them to anyone.

I concur, these air bags enable the vehicle with a trailer to stay "flat" around corners with a lot less body sway. My trailer has a tongue weight around 250 lbs and I offroad quite a bit with this setup w/o any issues so far.

 

[unwiredadventures]

I just put these in the LX450 today. These photos were great to use as an install example. I did mine exactly the same.

While I was at it, I swapped the super soft LX rear springs with stock Land Cruiser springs.

 

[mmm635]

In order to pump more air into the said bag, you'll need to lift the body up (not the suspension) and take a little weight of the air bag before pumping air in.

Curious...why do you suggest doing this?

 

[alia176]

Curious...why do you suggest doing this?

If you don't elongate the hole on the bottom spring plate (on the axle), you may end up pinching the airlift air line. At least that's what happened to me. When the air line is pinched, the only way to get air in or out of the bag is to relieve this pinch point by unloading the suspension. Once the suspension is unloaded, the air line may allow air to travel in/out of the air bag.

Please see the pic for a visual representation of the hole elongation. This is on the passenger rear spring plate.

HTH.

 

[mmm635]

If you don't elongate the hole on the bottom spring plate (on the axle), you may end up pinching the airlift air line. At least that's what happened to me. When the air line is pinched, the only way to get air in or out of the bag is to relieve this pinch point by unloading the suspension. Once the suspension is unloaded, the air line may allow air to travel in/out of the air bag.

Please see the pic for a visual representation of the hole elongation. This is on the passenger rear spring plate.

HTH.

Cool...I understand that part of your post and why I deleted it. I did the install while ago and made a rather large hole to accommodate the hose and fitting as well.

I was referring to your suggestion to raise the vehicle up before you put air in it. Are you suggesting to do it every time you need to tow, or just when you actually do the install to get the bag set in place. The reason I ask...it is not really necessary to raise the sprung weight of the vehicle on account of the bags. Once those bags are in place and pumped up during installation and the vehicle is let down, they pretty much will not move from that spot. The rubber will conform to the spring location and will not budge after that. Moving the unsprung weight will really not do anything for the positioning of the bladder when inflating - they should always have air in them whether or not one is towing.

 

[Adam R]

I ran mine out the top of the spring perch. That way there is less chance of getting the lines hung up on anything. Works great.

Adam

 

[alia176]

Cool...I understand that part of your post and why I deleted it. I did the install while ago and made a rather large hole to accommodate the hose and fitting as well.

I was referring to your suggestion to raise the vehicle up before you put air in it. Are you suggesting to do it every time you need to tow, or just when you actually do the install to get the bag set in place. The reason I ask...it is not really necessary to raise the sprung weight of the vehicle on account of the bags. Once those bags are in place and pumped up during installation and the vehicle is let down, they pretty much will not move from that spot. The rubber will conform to the spring location and will not budge after that. Moving the unsprung weight will really not do anything for the positioning of the bladder when inflating - they should always have air in them whether or not one is towing.

If the bags are installed correctly, the air lines won't get pinched and no need to raise the vehicle.

 

[mmm635]

If the bags are installed correctly, the air lines won't get pinched and no need to raise the vehicle.

Gotcha. Thanks.

 

[deanf]

Just swapped out a split air bag today. No need to remove the spring if you squeeze and fold in the right places.

Of course this was repair. The hole had already been enlarged.

 

[CowboyUp]

Gunna contact AirLift today and see if there's a kit available for the front








I just kept it at 25psi overnight as per the instructions, however, I had set it to 25psi in the air

After I lowered the lift, I didn't check it again and just left it like that until a few minutes ago..

When I checked, they were both at exactly 29.5psi

I just dropped them to 15psi and the rear is still slightly higher than the front

Both of my bumpstop bolts were ultratight and the right one snapped just flush with the high hat


With the $10 replacement bags, would I need to send in the old bags

Cause if that's the price they're selling outright, then Summit ripped me a new one

As for the lines, the supplied line was more than enough to route to the filler with about 3 feet leftover (I stuffed the rest within the chassis)

maybe you got that high psi because of outside temperature!

 

[CowboyUp]

Howdy
Sorry guys, I know is about air lift, but anybody used in their cruiser or know about Shocks Ride Control Helpers?
This RCH are springs that are going over shocks and a good ones can handle over 1000 pounds and give 1 inch lift.
I used in the past in a minivan on the rear shocks and with all the extra load, the minivan was sitting on level with the front springs that had also 1 inch lift rubber spacers .
The ride and driving was great on country roads or driving high speed on freeways....
Now, when the minivan is empty the rear is sitting higher then front, maybe over one inch .
Maybe, one day I will remove them from minivan and install on the cruiser shocks .
Look here about this RCH, are not the same what I have, this ones are little to cheap and maybe are not heavy duty!


http://www.jcwhitney.com/ride-control-helpers/p2005874.jcwx

 

[alia176]

The trouble is that the bottom shock mount is probably not rated for "carrying" a load; it's made to "control" the load so that may bend/break. Since you have a set, try them on for S&G. I don't know if they'll be too short though.

 

[Aids10]

Great Info!

THX M8

 

[9480]

This thread just saved me a bunch of money. I just finished installing a set of these and with the help of Mud, it was easy! Now I can tow my camper

Craig

 

[watercheetah]

THANKS!

Thanks for the pics on the Air Lift install! I did mine this weekend and your writeup was a great help.

I have no lift access, but we used a forklift to put the rear end in the air, and then a floor jack lowered and raised the axle as needed. Worked well. I couldn't get the springs out without a spring compressor helping out just that last little bit. I tried to cheat by not enlarging the holes , but the nipples wouldn't line up correctly. I think that's why Air Lift wants that done.

 

[80t0ylc]

OK, after some reassurance from Cattledog and others, I went ahead and placed the order

Since there isn't much info on these, I decided to take a bunch of step by step install pix....


Here's what you get in the kit:

And this is what I had to start with:

I used a trans jack to control the rear end drop after unbolting the shocks with a 17mm socket.

I lowered the rear slowly and checked for any stressed lines as it went down.

All of the lines had enough slack except for the breather hose, so I yanked it:

Then I unbolted the bumpstops with a 12mm socket and extension:

A shot of the springs and stops removed:

With everything pulled, I sanded the rusty high hats and gave them a good coat of rust control paint:

Next, I drilled out the existing mounting holes to 3/4" using a Uni-Bit.

I personally don't think this step is required, but since I'm a stickler for procedure, I followed the instructions to a tee:

Then I deburred the hole, sanded the spring mount and coated it with rust control paint:

After that, I gave the springs a good wash and checked for sharp edges that could damage the airbags:

To keep the rubber seats in place, I taped them to the top of the springs:

The new airbags just slid into place from the top of the springs:

I then reinstalled the bagfilled springs:

Would it be possible for you to correct the links or re-attach your pics for this post and others with your pics? It would be helpful to actually see what you're talking about rather than just reading the captions. This thread would continue to be very useful if you did. Thanks!