bull bag help

The lifting capacity of these things is limited by the size of the bag so depending on how much surface area you have on the top the pressure inside the bag has to be higher to lift the vehicle off the ground.

The pressure inside the bag must be exceeding the capacity of the push on seal.

So, you can push the hose on harder or get a bigger bag basically. The ones I had all had a tapered rubber connection that you shoved over the exhaust pipe I assume they are still the same.

YEH, return it mate, if its plugged onto your exhaust properly it should lift your car!

Hi Jon,

Many years ago I used to run a 4WDriver training company. When demonstrating airbags, most times the exhaust system of clients vehicles would leak before the vehicle would lift. This was most common in petrol vehicles and often occured in diesel vehicles.

An airbag will find ANY weakness in an exhaust system and can create a hole that wasn't there before. I found long ago that an airbag cannot be relied upon in an emegency for this reason. Even if it worked before, whats the chance of damaging the exhaust system when off-road? But when they do work, they are a great way to quickly lift a vehicle.

Cheers

Captain

Before you send it back Jon.

These things have a valve in them , often half way along where the bit of hose to exhaust pipe is attached.

It should make no difference to the bag if it "falls off the exhaust" as this valve prevents air from coming back out. THis allows for intermittant connection at the exhaust end

Test that it holds at pressure you can put into it.

I suspect operation of this valve, see them leak and on a friends I got a bit of mudflap material and made new washer and his worked a lot better.

Robin Miller

bags work on high volume low pressure (max about 4 psi) so check the over pressure relief valve (if fitted), if it is dumping you have to much weight for the bag if not fix your leak note some have a car type valve as an extra you can inflate thru that but this will take extra time as tyre pumps are designed to pump high pressure not volume you can also use a std inflatable boat pump as most will pump to 4 psi & the double action hand pumps that do air beds etc will pump to 11 psi so if you do not want to rely on the exhaust there are a few other options

What revs are you running the vehicle when trying to inflate the bull bag?
You may need to increase the revs to allow a bit more volume to force the bull bag up to its correct inflation level.
Cheers Kev

Many exhaust tail pipes have been cut away at 45 degrees so they don't get crushed when 4wding. They can make it difficult to get a good seal around the tail pipe and exhaust jack. Also it may pay to read your manual especially if you have a turbo fitted as the back pressure could affect the turbo.
Now that it has been used, TJM may be reluctant to take it back. I'd argue that it failed to achieve what it was designed for.

Hi Jon,
Had exactly the same problem with my 2003 Prado Td, only difference was i was on the beach and in need of the air bag at the time. The problem is the 45 deg angle of the exhaust and the 45 deg angle of the attachment cone. You end up with the cone sealing off the exhaust. The fix is simple, buy yourself an off cut of white PVC storm water pipe, 45mm diameter from memory and about 300mm long, but double check the exhaust diameter size. This then slides neetly inside the tail pipe and the cone then fits over the square cut end of the PVC pipe. Worked a treat on mine.

Jez W