air bags in suspension
Submitted: Wednesday, May 22, 2002 at 00:00
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tim
I have air bags installed inside the rear coilsl in gu patrol,they work
well when carrying a load or towing, question can these also be fitted to the front coils ?? have never seen this, must be some problem i,m not aware of.
any advice would be welcomed,thankyou.
Reply By: Tony- Wednesday, May 22, 2002 at 00:00
Wednesday, May 22, 2002 at 00:00
Yes, Poly-Air bags can be fitted to front coils. Not often seen but I have seen it done. Why would you want them in the front anyway? When towing or loaded most of the extra weight is on the rear
suspension. I suppose if you have std
suspension, a steel bull bar, winch, dual battery etc, then there is extra weight on the front coils. Guess I answered my own question then. -)
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Follow Up By: Tim - Thursday, May 23, 2002 at 00:00
Thursday, May 23, 2002 at 00:00
Thanks for the replies,the reason i asked the question is
1. i do have dual batts,steel b/bar,winch etc so front is about 2 inch low.
2.if i fit 2 inch lift my insurance cost DOUBLES.
3.i use the vehicle to transport older people and they would find a raised patrol more awkward to climb into.
4.it would just be handy to raise / lower the vehicle as needed.
5.none of the major ins companies will insure at all if the lift is over 2 inches.
i will keep watching the
forum someone may have a better idea.
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Reply By: Goran - Wednesday, May 22, 2002 at 00:00
Wednesday, May 22, 2002 at 00:00
Tim , my only advice to you is if you going to do
Canning stock route , or any hard core off road trip with plenty of corrugations take the damned things off . Once loaded for the trip , obvious urge is to increase pressure in rear bags and lift the rear end , right ? So , insead of your springs and
suspension absorbing vibration you will be driving like on steel blocks. Next weak point is your chassis . Make no mistake it will split or break. I wold not use poly air bags (or similar ) for anything else but the sealed road.
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Follow Up By: Peter - Wednesday, May 22, 2002 at 00:00
Wednesday, May 22, 2002 at 00:00
G-day Goran,
Are your comments theoretical or based on personal experience.
(I had heard that polyairs were OK offroad)
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Follow Up By: Slunnie - Wednesday, May 22, 2002 at 00:00
Wednesday, May 22, 2002 at 00:00
I climbed under an ex-Getabout patrol, and this thing had raised springs and polyairs, and I would assume but subject to some reasonably harsh terrain. I can understand Goran's point, but I've haven't heard of it happening. Air sprung vehicles would work on the same principle and I don't believe these crack chassis.
Regards
Slunnie
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Follow Up By: Goran - Thursday, May 23, 2002 at 00:00
Thursday, May 23, 2002 at 00:00
Couple years ago during the Canning , bloke i know had Polyairs on the back of his GQ Patrol trayback. In order to keep his rear nice and hi , he must have pump Polyairs a little too much . My mate had to weld his chassis three times during the trip. Cracks where around shockie mounts and spreading from there.
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Follow Up By: Tony - Thursday, May 23, 2002 at 00:00
Thursday, May 23, 2002 at 00:00
I have Poly's fitted to the rear off my 80 series (50mm coil lift) for 40,000 odd kms and never had problems with anything cracking. Although I don't pump them up to extreme pressures. I have done quite a bit of off-road travelling, weekend trips, some almost extreme trips etc with them and can only report good things. I did have a problem with one air line puncturing from gibbers. I replaced the std supplied air lines with fuel lines and haven't had any further problems. I travelled 11,000kms throught the Simpson, Stoney, Lake Eyre areas with no problems (towing a camper). I must be lucky! I only put enough air in them to level the vehicle. They are not meant to be used to 'jack the vehicle up' above its unladen height. Cracks from the shockie mounts???? Doesn't sound like the fault of the air bags to me.
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Reply By: Joe Bass - Thursday, May 23, 2002 at 00:00
Thursday, May 23, 2002 at 00:00
Tim, from personal experience! I was leading a trip along the
Madigan Line several years ago, and yes, because of the polyairs I managed to get the side of the left coil support ripped out of the chassis, and I only had about 12psi in the polyairs. We had to weld and fabricate a coil support bracket, (which worked). When we finally got back to
Sydney we plated and reinforced the chassis, and SOLD the polyairs.
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Follow Up By: Will - Friday, May 24, 2002 at 00:00
Friday, May 24, 2002 at 00:00
I have seen this happen too...
Will
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Reply By: simon - Wednesday, May 29, 2002 at 00:00
Wednesday, May 29, 2002 at 00:00
I have seen polyairs on front and back of 80 series with no complaints. he needed them front and back because he had so many extras under the bonnet or on the bullbar.
I fitted polyairs to my L/R disco and it does affect the ride and handling particularly when off the bitumen. This why I suppose some ARB dealers don't like them. They take out a lot of that landrover body roll and raise the sagging end when heavily laden but off road the
suspension can't perform as designed, the result is a slippery ride on gravel and dirt. To counteract this I adjuct the pressure depending on the load and only have minimum psi to do the job. Other than that no complaints.
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