Rear Airbag Suspension Installation & Lessons Learned 

Murphy's Law.... is law.😊

I thought most of the installation looked okay however I would definitely add grommets where he has lines ran through drilled holes those will definitely fail

I had one break the other day on an old Ford navigator, brakes failed completely, but I was slowed down to a crawl by then, I got lucky, that right there was some of the best advice I’ve seen anyone comment on RU-vid, lol, mine got out of plastic hanger and rubbed frame, it got thin enough that it blew when I had to brake hard, great advice!!!

Dear Mr. Squirrel , Could you possibly comment on where exactly on that Ford you mounted those air springs? I’m trying to mount some identical springs/bags on my 93 Ford I basically. Restored top to bottom. It has been and continues to be an exhausting process to finally finish and ride this money pit I’ve created. I would be embarrassed to say how much just parts, primer, paint, and all of it cost , and that’s me doing it all myself, I have learned much though. I’m doing it for different reason than most would, so I’m also very curious as to exactly how the air system you used works, I need (possibly) to have slightly different pressure in each bag. Does that system allow you to adjust the springs/bags separately? I can piece mill my own if I have to, something already together would be better option though. You could throw in how your air springs and control system are holding up also if you see this comment. If you can offer any help/advice info I promise I will break my dog from chasing your kind anytime they get in my yard. Don’t worry, he’s never been able to catch one, lol. If you know any of the ones from over this way, could you ask them to lay off the bird feeders? I sure would be thankful if you could do anything at all on that last one!🤣🤣🤣 Hopefully your a fan of corny squirrel humor, I actually just put up bird feeders they can get into and they don’t have to break anything, soon I think this one will take stuff from my fingers. You probably have figured out I’m half stupid by now, lol, but any info on the spring would be much appreciated. Have a wonderful morning/midday/afternoon/evening/night which ever the case may be………over and out Mr. Squirrel…..

amzn.to/2C5ivN0

No, they make it go down.

Compressed air will lose pressure in cold weather. Water that passes through from the air compressor will condense and drop in pressure in cold weather and the opposite in hot weather

@@lawrencefloyd9027 Thank you I got it now.

Haha! That was a dick comment.

I’m more worried about how close that bag is to that leaf spring, lol, those bags are 2 ply, if that camper was heavy they maybe didn’t last long, idk. If I would have seen this back then I would have tried to warn him. Maybe he noticed in time. Those bags look exactly like what I’m going to use, they will compress down to 21/2 inches, I would never put them there, they look max inflated as well, seems wrong, but I’m not any expert, it’s why I’m looking at all these dang airbags on pickups videos, lol.

He miss spoke man give him a break

Right on Bro !

Excellent comment 👍🏻

I’ve been wondering the same thing. That’s the main reason I’ve been looking into it. Try and take some of that harsh unloaded feel out of the leaf springs, rather than levelling up with a huge load on back. It would have to though wouldn’t it. You’d be sort of riding on the bag instead of the leaf?

@@johnrichardson8048 I think the trick is to find the balance between both, so you're riding a little on the leaf springs and the bags at the same time.

Chris You would have to remove some or most of the leaf springs to get a better ride. Steel springs hold and transfer all of the energy of a bump into the truck. Air bags dissipate a lot of the energy of the bump when they have an impact load much the same as a balloon does when you squish it. I have a Kenworth over the road truck that rides on 8 air bags and would never have steel springs instead. Never had a failure with the 8 bags and don't see one in the future. The Kenworth also has a self leveling valve that maintains the same ride height loaded or empty. The valve has a delay built into it so bumps or dips don't affect height.

Your the only one that addresses the T pushing air from one side to the other when corning causing a nightmare. I agree. Is there a way to plumb these two air bags using one pump, not allowing air to swap sides as these will in this video. Happy leaning !!!

@@joemarotta2237 each bag needs it's own schrader valve. That would eliminate the chances of the bags adding to the sway while cornering or plumb them using a single compressor you would want to use solenoid valves to fill/empty the bags.

@@joemarotta2237 You can add a shut off value on each of the lines splitting from the T, going into the bags. But, that increases the number of points of failure. Best to keep it simple and run two separate lines, each with its own schrader valve. If you are rerunning the long line, put a nylon sleeve on it to protect it from chafing.

@@chomp54321 1999 Durango >>Thanks, ya I installed the bags in year 2000, separate schrader valves for each, and I have a leak on the left side for the last year that I just can't seem to find with soapy water. I remember those connectors for the plastic lines to bag fittings and back side of schrader valves were just push in type with no tightening possible. Perhaps upon heavy suspension hits those fittings are leaking off and on. I'm wondering how to get the lines out of those types of fittings, do you just pull like hell or is there some way to release them that I don't see? Nylon sleeves sound good to protect lines, but where does one find something like that ? I will dig a bit deeper on E bay and Amazon to see if any hits for that.

@@Tomsfoolery. Ya I'm trying to stay away from a great expense just to keep bags pressurized. I'm starting to wonder if those bags can get old and let air seep through the rubber, since I just can't locate my leak, left side. Installed in year 2000 and been leaking this past year. Might be time for new ones. Thanks for response..

amzn.to/2C5ivN0

Weight

It's not weight. Your truck is designed to only haul so much weight and your B truck license plate is for 8,000 gross vehicle weight(GVW). You can put 100 air bags on it and you still won't be able to haul more than 8,000 GVW

That’s what I was thinking exactly, lol, if that camper was heavy at all, I’m betting they didn’t make it far, at best they were 2 ply, if I had seen this then I would tried to warn him, lol. I kept looking to see if it was just the camera angle, then I noticed they were mounted on the side of the mounting plate. I’m putting very similar air springs on an old Ford , I’m going for directly off of the leaf spring mounting plates, I’ll fabricated some hangers for the top to frame rails. The springs I have are for a drop axle on a dump truck, but they are identical almost to those. If your thinking of something like this, the big truck air springs for drop axles can be had at reasonable cost on line, just look for some place clearing inventory, I got mine at 70 percent off, dirt cheap for the grade of air springs they are, I’ve seen kits here and there online that just supply mounting hardware if you don’t to make it yourself. Maybe I just wasted all that , or maybe it’s of interest, I just noticed your comment looking over what others have done, I’m making it up as I go along 😬🤣, have a great day and good luck with everything your doing. Peace