Airbag suspension - yes or no?

[newatit]

Just wanted to bump this one I'm looking at suspension options as my camper has a lot of draw bar weight.
progressive springs seems to have issues, linear springs will harshen the ride,the air bag just seems to tick all the boxes. Car is only used for light duty 4WD with the camper on it does need to get to camp on Fraser island though.

[NowForThe5th]

If your camper has a draw bar load of more than 10% of its total weight then I'd be looking at redistributing weight in the trailer. If you're close to the limit now then I'd heed srb's advice in the post above.

[biggibbo]

Heavy draw bar weight, and the dips and drop off's of Fraser combined with airbags could be a recipe for disaster, assuming your tub will also be loaded. I would be looking at reducing the draw weight and getting some decent springs before contemplating air bags

[mIwoo]

edit- didn't read the post properly.

[ultimate]

What are the issues you have heard with progressive springs?

In my opinion the main advantage with leaf springs is that they are progressive. A well staged aftermarket spring will handle your loads and maintain good comfort when empty. The progressive staging also distributes the load evenly along the spring reducing the risk of broken leaves.

I personally would never run an airbag system on a dual cab ute without an aftermarket leaf springs. You need the leaf spring carrying at least 90% of the load and the airbags there to provide a bit of levelling support and take stress off the spring/shackle bushes.

[newatit]

Drawbar weight 200 kg rear tub load 250 kg 2 kids in the back 120 kg total 470kg I can't reduce my tow bar weight. I just towed this 7 hrs north and 7 hrs back last long week end every thing went well car towed well. All high way travel and averaged 100kph a couple of time I wasn't paying attention and didn't realize and was up to 120kph. I just noticed the tow bar scrubbed on the way out and I recon I lost 2 inches in rear hight with the load, as you can imagine the boat needs to remain at least level in case it rains.

[Cowboy Dave]

In your [ img ] code you need your right bracket from the first code to be immediately after the G of the IMG rather than over near the other one.

[newatit]

What are the issues you have heard with progressive springs?

In my opinion the main advantage with leaf springs is that they are progressive. A well staged aftermarket spring will handle your loads and maintain good comfort when empty. The progressive staging also distributes the load evenly along the spring reducing the risk of broken leaves.

I personally would never run an airbag system on a dual cab ute without an aftermarket leaf springs. You need the leaf spring carrying at least 90% of the load and the airbags there to provide a bit of levelling support and take stress off the spring/shackle bushes.

What aftermarket springs and air bag would you recommend

[Cowboy Dave]

You did see his signature down the bottom right?

Brendan O'Keefe
Australian Ultimate Suspension Pty. Ltd
Phone: +612 9618 7674
http://www.ultimatesuspension.com.au
Designers, Manufacturers and Installers of performance aftermarket suspension for Cars, Trucks and 4wds

[newatit]

Yea I thought he might have different springs in his range maybe even more than one type of air bag.

[Cowboy Dave]

Yeah he does but for rear leaves they will be ultimate product. They custom make depending on your needs. He does also supply air bags as I understand it but I'm less familiar with that side of it not having bought those (but bought just about everything else).

[ultimate]

Yea I thought he might have different springs in his range maybe even more than one type of air bag.

Yeah we have a lot of different leaf spring combinations. We can modify the packs to suit just about any application. For your vehicle, I recommend our straight UL115-2R spring which will work well both loaded and unloaded.

If you wanted to get the softest possible ride when empty, you could look at running a custom raised height comfort leaf spring with a helper kit. For the helpers, we use either Firestone Ride Rite Airbags or Drivetech 4x4 Sumo Springs.

After a lot of testing, I actually prefer the sumo springs on leaf springs. These are basically polyurethane, airless air bags. They will compress to the same height as the factory bumpstop (A lot less load on the chassis) and don't require maintenance or adjustment. These have been around for many years in the USA and have always had good feedback. There's a video on them here- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sx-2lrTSKd4#t=37

The variable, two piece kit would be best suited for your vehicle. We can supply these for $780.00 delivered for newtriton.net members.