Air bagged

[johnbritto]

hi guys im new i have a stock as a rock 2009 d22 2.5 cr diesal i take it anywhere my mate takes his top of line hilux and he has spent over 10 grand on mods i just want to lift by a little bit for some of the harder places was thinking airbags and shocks as the standard rear springs handle most things but have heard air bags damage chasis
ps towed a fully loaded bravo 4x4 on a car trailer sydney to newcastle the other day 3and a half ton behind my nav and only droped a gear twice she loved the weight

 

[tweak'e]

not a big fan of air bags especially with leaf springs.
much better off reworking rear springs (eg adding extra leaf) or replacing them.
then wind up front to match.
new shocks if you wish.
a lot cheaper and better than air bags and no risk of overloading the chassis.

 

[Old.Tony]

Welcome to the forum!

+1 on giving the air bags a miss. They need to strengthen the chassis around the contact point for the air bag for the vehicle to survive repeated suspension compressions when carrying a load. The problem is a load behind the airbag contact point is essentially a weight on a lever trying to bend the chassis.

The leaf spring mount points have already been strengthened - so the cheaper (and quite effective) option is to modify the leaf spring.

 

[Nevyn]

Had air bags on mine for the last two and a half years now, not a problem!( I use mine for a Plumbing business with varying weight loads). If you have a look at your chassis above the axle you will notice it has already been strengthened (D22). As for the chassis that have bent or broken they have all bent at the back of the cab and for the life of me I just can't see how it is the fault of the air bag! A theory that has emerged more recently is that the people with the air bags are generally putting way too much weight on the tow bar which either way, with or without the air assist, they were heading for trouble.

Long story short, if you aren't going to be carrying a load around I'd be going for some new springs with greasable shackles for your lift and some longer shocks, not too long though.

Cheers Brad

 

[kempseyken]

Got air bags on mine as well (single cab) no probs so far ,gives a little bit of lift and great for leveling out when I tow things only problem got a very slow leak in one takes about 5-6 days to lose pressure will remove it one day and have a look (maybe )

 

[tweak'e]

........ As for the chassis that have bent or broken they have all bent at the back of the cab and for the life of me I just can't see how it is the fault of the air bag! A theory that has emerged more recently is that the people with the air bags are generally putting way too much weight on the tow bar which either way, with or without the air assist, they were heading for trouble. ........

exactly that. people overload them and pump the airbags up to compensate.
at least with springs big load springs tend to be very hard ride when empty, so people fit medium load springs and don't overload the ute as its sits on its arse.

 

[scottybobcat]

Welcome to the forum mate

 

[gadgets]

Yip i have air bags too, had them for 25000k now , tools in the back tray and a trailer with more tools in it, plus lots on the roof rack, as said in an earlier post the d22 (mine anyway) has reinforcements on the chassis already.
When I go camping the tools come out and I drop the pressures in the bags and get a smooth ride ,unlike if you have fitted tougher springs, then your stuck bouncing around on dirt tracks.


However, saying that, if I knew I was not using my car off road and I had to tow 3 tonne everyday , I would just upgrade the springs.

 

[johnbritto]

thanks for all the feedback on air bags ill probably update springs as for towing big weights i probably wont be putting more than a ton behind her in the future camper trailer or bikes i just found a good cheap bullbar on ebay but its for a d40 is the mounting the same with my d22 does anyone know

 

[Old.Tony]

D40 chassis is different to the D22, so the bars won't interchange.

I just want to go back to the airbag issue for a moment. I've been told that Firestone Air Bellows include a strengthening plate that goes on the chassis at the point of contact of the bellows to prevent the chassis from suffering so much stress in a single point of contact. This should prevent any chassis failures unless you overload the vehicle.

Does anyone have any experience with Firestone airbags? I did a search and only D22STR's intro thread came up with a hit. Are these bags better, and are they worth recommending?

 

[joffo81]

I have firestone airbags and I think they're great. Ive only had them for about 15000 clicks so its still early days but they were great for levelling my camper trailer on our last frase trip a couple of months ago. Im sure there's a strengthening plate between the bellow and chassis but its dark and raining outside so im not about to check its thickness right now for you!

 

[gadgets]

Mine are Firestone too. If I get time I will take a pic after work and post it

 

[gadgets]

A pic of my air bags at 55psi, you can see where the d22 has reinforcement on the chassis already.

http://www.navara.asia/attachment.php?attachmentid=5086&stc=1&d=1322126545

 

[gadgets]

As much as i like the air bags, I dont think I would put them on a d40 if I owned one, I had a look at a d40 chassis the other day and the steel looks alot thinner than the d22 chassis.
There are alot cheaper air bags out there compared to the firestone ones but I can only speak from experience that mine have done a good job so far.(ps, I never overload my car)

 

[Nevyn]

I always thought if I didn't need the air bags I wouldn't keep them! Probably gonna look into a set of these.
SAX Suspension Technology

 

[Old.Tony]

Brad they look really, really good, but they incorporate a 50mm lift unless you keep a fair load on board. I like them a lot ... but gonna have to wait until we're ready to lift the car before getting them.

 

[gadgets]

Those do look interesting, if all the info is true.

 

[Dion]

That's a lot of marketing hype for a regular two stage leaf pack with an add-a-leaf. The biggest breakthrough in forty years - they don't mention that the breakthrough actually occurred forty years ago.