I`m a air ride virgin!!! Just spent the last half hour searching the hamb for air ride tech.found some but not what I`m looking for. Looking to school myself on air ride. Trying to figure out stuff like setting up the bag brackets for what height you want. How much clearance you need for bag clearance on parts like the frame. How much travel is in a air bag. I picked up all the parts to put a setup in but don`t have any instruction to go by. Any good site`s out there for a virgin like myself??
I'm going to be adding an air ride info page with everything anyone needs to know on my website here shortly just haven't had time to finish it up..probably in the next week I'll have it up and should be a good reference page for beginners www.arrowoodrodkustom.com
hey man check out http://www.airbagit.com/ they have a section that will teach you some basics on operation. also http://www.ridetech.com/ they have a forum that has some good reading on airride setup and tech. hope this helps a little. a buddy and i installed some bags on the front of my falcon and i ran a basic barebones setup. ill be glad to help if i can.
gambino rear notch, 4 link or maybe even '63-70 c10 truck trailing arms, run slam specialties re-7 bags because they have internal bumpstops, so you don't have to worry about chaffing?/ failure of the bag when you pancake the car. I've seen the bags placed on top of the axle or behind. I think the advantage of placing the bag off of the back of the rear end is that it allows you to go lower than you would be able to if you mount the spring on top of the axle. just my 2 cents
Just steer clear of buying anything from aribagit. Their stuff is of terrible quality, and their customer service is worse. Searching will reveal horror stories. There are plenty of vendors here, selling quality product, at reasonable prices, and who will give you awesome support.
if your gonna lay the frame, the easiest way is to remove all the springs, then figure out what else its gonna take to get it all the way down, then when u get it all the way down, use the air to rise ot off the ground, some cars take a ton of work to get the frame on the ground, being a long time air bag user, i would even say, if you don`t wnt it to ly the frme, don`t bother with air bags, the ride is good, but not woth the work compared to a decent normal suspension, just my opinion, not worth the trouble....if you cr has coil springs in the front, very easy, just replace the springs with that bag, the back can be very easy or very difficult, depending on what you have for suspension, generally the best is when you have trailing arms and coil springs, otherwise, alot of work, and you will have to notch the frame, about 90 percent of the time, my personal faves are truck arms with the bags on top of the axle, one of the easiest ways to go.....nice long arms so, the pinion angle change is minimal and a pretty god ride, bags on top of the axle are the easiest way to mount them, the brackets are simple and easy to make strong......anyway.....just a few ideas to help out, opinions of mine, take em or leave em, u know what they say about opinions....
Make sure you get good bags, I have had a lot of problems with firestone bags but no problems with slamm specialties. On the slam website it tells you how much travel the different bags have. The hardest part about putting bags in for the first time is to get over the fear of doing it. You'll get it, just take your time and double check everything.
What is the problem with the firestone bags? these are the bags I have.Lots of great info so far.keep it coming
We have installed firestone for years with only one or two minor problems. Seems to me that most problems with bags come from the installation, not the bags themselves. Just my experience though. If you do a little searching with the net, find the numbers on the bags you have. firestone has an industrial site i believe that lists all the bags and specifications (lift, pressure, size, extension, etc...) that will help you figure out what you need for bracketry and such. Usually the best way is to get the car/suspension set at the height you want to run at (ride height); at that point you want the bags to have about 70-90 psi in them (depending on the size) but a little more than 1/2 the max pressure/extension. That way you can go lower for parking/freeway and higher for bumps/driveways. Make sure your suspension has all the necessary pivots to allow for the total travel and adequate bump stops so you dont use the bags themselves to hold the car up on slammed. Also, you'll need shocks so dont forget about them. an air bag is only a replacement for the spring, not the dampening forces needed. check out the listed sites above - you can never learn too much before getting out the tools.
I have used airbagit.co since the 90s when they were AIM industries, any problems I have had have been handled quickly. www.suicidedoors.com is a great company also. Stay away from Air Ride stuff as it is EXPENSIVE, though it is good quality. Make shure the bags DO NOT TOUCH ANYTHING, as this is the #1 cause of failure. Run lines away from any heat and secure them for no rubbing anywhere. It really isn't very complicated once you actually get into it.
nothign wrong with firestone bags stay away from a the Shock wave style ones it cost more then normal 3500's and you get less travel. for the front of your car you can use a universal cup just trim it to fit. if you want more drop in the front ago threw fatman fab and get some drop spindels. As far as the rear goes I'm not going to use a square notch I have a few round ones or depending on the amout of drop I'm doing I will just put a peice of pipe. As far as the rear goes you can do a under axel bag mount. There are some comapny that make the airbar setup kinda like using a 4 link with bags on it. As much as I hate to admit it I was once a mini trucker. So I done alot of baggin and bodydrops
Check out orn from Swedan he has a complete album full of pictures of his air bagged 48 Buick Sedanett. Measurements and all.
The problems I had with firestone is that they would tear on the top crease where the rubber and metal would connect. Maybe it was because I would put them on full size trucks. But with the slam bags I never had problems with the bags tearing or anything I even had a noticeable difference in the ride. Maybe cause the slam bags are stiffer than firestone. Slam also has a built in bump stop so that might of helped. I would run the psi on full size trucks with 95-100 psi in the front and 55-65 psi in the rear. I've used both and I would recommend slam. Just my 2 cents.
I been looking into what I have and have a few questions. the bags I have are Firestone 9000 1500lb. Tapered Sleeve Air Bag 1/4" Port. I will be using these on a home build truck arm setup in which all mounts will be custom made.What I am after is how to build the mounts for this bag and know what the height will be. On the firestone site it tells me that this bag has a min height of 4.5 inches and installed height of 9 to 9.5 inches and a max height of 12 inches. I need to find out the height to mount my bag. I plan on having the car at a ride height of 5 inches so do I set the bag up so at 5 inch ground clearance I have 9 inch between my upper and lower brackets??
Honestly, do yourself the favor and switch to a double bellow airbag in a 2500 size with at least three-eighths inch port. Those sleeve bags roll over themselves when fullly deflated and really dont work that well in a system designed to be full deflated. Unless however its a strut type bag, but those **** for a whole other number of reasons... And I still have a mini-truck in the garage.
I was using these in the back cause I was told that a double bellow airbag will give me a rougher ride and these bags will make it not ride so rough. I have 224C that I will be running up front in a S10 clip Been searching and can`t seem to find a site for "air ride for dummies"
Been spending most of the night searching and reading. Found this to be helpful http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5903
brackets now it's nice that companies make them for you when I started I was making my own. You will find that everything you need to make it s****e,layframe,and ride smooth is on one site i used them for years if I had a question all I did was make a call. I would go with a double bellow. and this is 9 years of bodydropin mini trucker talking.
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