Sunday, May 31, 2009 at 22:30
Hi Tony - bought a kit [not cheap] from this mob
http://www.allair.com.au/
Very easy to install - basically the hardest things was to get the old springs out. The bags were basically bolt on [or in]. Routing the tubing was the next job, then setting up the valves. I use electro-pneumatic two way valves from Norgren Austtralia, but there are other options [e.g. from All Air]. The air spring kit does come with schrader valves which will get you started, but are a pain to adjust.
I had thought of self levelling
suspension electronics but did not install for two reasons:
1. Very expensive in Oz, cheaper to buy direct from the US
2. Self levelling underbody installation very sensitive to sticks and stones
I self level now by eye in the cab and have gotten very accurate.
Very important to have the right shockies - airsprings do not necessarily have a softer ride and have a little less travel than an equivalent spring - I use Tough Dog adjustables, after considering Konis, Bilstein and others. Not a fan of US shocks - prefer European, but this set is going
well. Because you can adjust the spring rate by air pressure, I feel that you need to be able to adjust the shocks too. Could I get better shocks - probably but they would have to be custom built [Bilstein] and at quite an additional premium [been there done that].
I had to do the fronts as
well - this kit was a 2" lift kit and soon found that the front end became the limiting factor for a number of reasons. However I chose to go the coil spring way, using Lovells variable rate springs [2" higher] - reason why not the air springs - very expensive, required some machining and used Range Rover airbags and I never liked the way they worked [known to blow in the most inconvenient of
places]. Nissan Patrols can use the same air springs all round and is a very good setup. Can't use air springs on IFS.
Biggest Huge-est [I like mauling the English language ;)] advantage - constant ride height with all loads; the heavier the load the sweeter the ride [closest to Rangie]; does not feel like you are driving on cobbles when lightly laden - though it is a little less comfortable; I suspect that is because the shockies are set to heavier loads and I am too lazy to climb down and adjust all the time. Be good to have shocks with in-cab adjustment, but from experience quality is not near as good [
well then it wasn't - might be better today]...
One proviso to all this: when going bush, take a spare air spring. First time I went into the bush with this setup I had a stick go between the rear brake back plate and shockie, tried to take out the brake hose and was on its way to the air spring, with a nicely sharpened point. Flukey as hell, but a stick will do the same damage to the air spring as it would do to a tyre. Take a spare and some tools.
HTH - any more advice required don't hesitate to post - if you are in SY, you can pop by and see the rig.
viz
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