air bags

[peter w]

Hi everybody im new here And you may have already talked about air bags I have just put a set on the rear of my two door navara

 

[KraftyPg]

Welcome to the forums Peter.

You're right the topic of airbags has come up before, dunno what the general consensus was as I'm not interested but if you want to see what's been talked about try a search for "airbags" I'm sure you'll find something.

 

[WoodyD40]

welcome Peter.

 

[Dave]

Welcome Pete.

Dave.

 

[Nevyn]

Air bags like fun bags, too much pressure and they're uncomfortable!!!! Welcome Pete.

Cheers Brad

 

[gadgets]

Welcome, ive had them in mine for the past 2 months to help with constant load. Very happy with them. (firestone ones).

 

[peter w]

Thanks for your help. Been on the road three year towing a 23ft jayco with my navara just got the airbags yet to try peter

 

[Old.Tony]

Welcome to the forum!

I'm not a big fan of air bags, they don't distribute the stresses enough, but I gather that as long as you adjust them appropriately, you should have few problems.

Good to see another tower on board!

 

[AJZ987]

i wouldnt do it, just get heavy duty suspention, they are a shit ride, and dont think of towing a bogged car out cause u will probably pop one, ive seen it happen...

 

[gadgets]

i wouldnt do it, just get heavy duty suspention, they are a shit ride, and dont think of towing a bogged car out cause u will probably pop one, ive seen it happen...[/QUOTE

Heavy duty supension, good shocks and an extra leaf or two on the back is great for a heavy load but dont slag off air bags too much. Ive 500kgs 90% of the time in the back+ a trailer 50% of the time for work, air bags have lifted the rear back to where it should be again.

When I get a chance to go camping I take all the tools out, drop the pressure in the air bags and get a good ride on tracks. If I had used extra leafs etc the ride would have been a shocker off road. Each to there own but for me air bags give the best of both worlds( as long as you adjust the pressures to suit the situation).

 

[AJZ987]

Gadgets, i agree with you each to their own, and i was all for airbags then had a few bad experiences thats all, didnt mean to slag them off i just would not recomend them to anyone.

Cheers
Anthony

 

[gadgets]

Gadgets, i agree with you each to their own, and i was all for airbags then had a few bad experiences thats all, didnt mean to slag them off i just would not recomend them to anyone.

Cheers
Anthony

No worries mate, its good for people interested in air bags to get different peoples opinions, good or bad.

 

[Matt - VNET Pro]

I've had had air bags for around a year on my D22 for heavy work loads with steel tray set to around 20psi then on weekends with no extra load drop them to lower pressures. Ride is better with heavy load rather than no load, but still happy with them overall.

 

[peter w]

thanks guys I just want to keep the tail up when towing the van

 

[Old.Tony]

Yesterday, I put some Ironman Load Plus LP2 helper springs on my Navara and drove it around a bit.

The tail lifted 20mm at the top of the wheel arch with the springs only just bolted into place. That's not bad.

Sadly, the helper springs make the tail bounce going over the gentler speed humps (like those raised sections of road for pedestrians to cross). Going over anything that flexes the suspension actually makes the back end rattle and this is because the bolts that hold the back end of the spring down hit the chassis.

This might get worse as the load increases and the U-bolts can reach further up past the chassis. We're not towing for a couple of weeks so I won't be able to tell.

I have the ability to turn the U-bolts upside-down and may yet do this to try and avoid this problem, but I'm not happy with the bounce. It seems that as the vehicle drops with suspension compression, it gathers energy and as the energy is released and the suspension pushes the car back up, the load helpers reach the end of their travel limit and pull hard on the leaf spring - making the car "stop" hard vertically which feels like a jolt.

Under load it might be different. We're 520Kg over factory weight (roughly), so the springs at minimum (which should cater for a 400Kg load) ought to be okay.

We'll try it with a full load in the coming weeks and will report back.

 

[filobz]

Hi Tony,
You need to mount the "U" bolts thread down. Check step 5B in the fitting instructions.
Cheers,
Phil

 

[Old.Tony]

Thanks Phil, I was thinking I might have to, but confirmation is excellent.

I'll get my spanners going as soon as I'm done reading the newest posts.