Air bags for Triton

Have a search on the net regarding Tritons bending the chassis, right where the air bags are mounted. The problems seems to be that with the air bags holding the vehicle up so easily, you tend to put too much weight over the back of the axle and then bends the chassis.
On a three month trip we had earlier this year, we saw 5 Tritons, 1 BT50 and read on a forum about another triton all bending and all with air bags.

hi jim k
id stay away from air bags
nicks warning is correct
triton in particular bend the chassis just in front of the rear front spring brackets/hangers
the tail bends down and opens a v gap between front and rear cabs and is a sorry sight
and they do it more if you have a lot of gear attached the the rear end like extra spare wheels side saddle water tanks behind the rear axle larger or extra fuel tanks etc and longer tow hitches
no air bag salesman will take the responsibility for the above problems because you give the ok to fit the air bags so you carry the can if it bends
it your call
you would be safer having a set of lifted spring fitted that way the normal type springs can go up and down as they were designed to do by mitsubitshi

putting air bags over and on the axle is like fitting a chock of wood in there it
reduces the normal leaf spring compression and transfers the the flexing forward of the front rear spring hanger resulting in bending the chassis
cheers barry

G'day Jim,
Like everyone says do not use the air bags!
They might be ok on a Patrol or Cruiser that has a bigger cross section chassis but not advisable on the smaller utes for reasons already explained.

Best to do a proper suspension upgrade so as to keep the weight on the proper designed load points of the chassis.

Cheers
Stu

Image Could Not Be FoundHi Jim, I have air bags on my new 2011 mn Triton S/cab and have put Iornman suspension on and have got duel spare wheels, long range fuel tanks, water tanks and towing trailer with no problems. The air bags only have 25 psi in them and it rides great or bad roads. See photo

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Think about where the stresses are. With leaf springs the weight of the rear end bears down on the front bush and the shackle at the rear. Two points sharing the load, maybe a metre apart. The chassis is designed for that.

You put an airbag in the middle and load the truck, in addition to the weight being carried by the front bushes and rear shackles, a lot will be carried in the middle by the airbag. This introduces a tendency for the chassis to bend where the airbag is, something for which it was not designed and it might crack there.

If there's a lot of weight behind the rear axle there will be a tendency to lift the front of the vehicle with the airbag as a pivot point. Again, the chassis was not designed for that, it was designed to have that load spread over two points. So cracks in front of the spring hangers could be induced.

Tread carefully.

Thanks Guys I will not be fitting air bags. A lot more thought is required.
Jim K

The lads at newtriton.net might have some info .