air bags on leaf springs

[birchwood]

does anyone have the airbag lift on their D40 leaf springs?
I am looking at getting these but was told that it can harm the vehicle.
Who has done this and had good experiences or encountered problems?
Or, is there a better way of lifting the ute?
Any advice here would be much appreciated.
Thanks

 

[nathand22]

Mate there is a thread on here already where this has been discussed, i think it may be in a thread about chassis bending.

Anyway you should NOT use air bags to LIFT any vehicle, they are simply to ASIST in carrying loads.
When you are using the bags properly they will be fine, The problems arise when people put to much air in them with very heavy loads, this is when people in all sorts of utes have BENT chassis.

 

[ericcs]

google up bent chassis thanks to airbags, plenty of picks to scare you off and i have 1 friend who bent his in the middle of australia but was lucky to limp back to brisbane, took 6 days instead of 3. not worth the grief IMO

 

[birchwood]

yeah okay, fair enough, i think ill stay away from the airbags then, thanks.

so what do people do to lift the back?
and is it okay to adjust the torsion bars to lift the front?

 

[nathand22]

Dont you have a D40???? they dont have torsion bars.

If you want to lift the rear you can do it a few different ways...
1) new leafsprings set to new height and for what ever load you want to carry.
2) lift blocks
3) extended shackles but they are illegal

I personally think new springs are the way to go, but it does depend on your budget.

 

[Old.Tony]

I had OME Dakar springs fitted and it raised the rear considerably.

Air bags are scary. Saw one guy with a Triton who had NOT overloaded it or over-pressurised the bags and the chassis still bent!

The problem stems from how the chassis is built. If it were a Pathfinder you wouldn't have the problem - the chassis is designed with all of the rearward downforce focussed on a single point.

In our utes, 50% of the rearward downforce is expected on each of the leaf spring mounts (with tolerances of course) and NO force is expected in the middle.

I wouldn't bother with the $125 Ironman Load Plus helper springs either. They helped my car for a short time but then made the problem worse as the factory springs inverted.

If you have the coin, consider Sax Suspension's TDS springs. I chose the Old Man Emu Dakars because they are dual-rate (which is enough for me) and were installed at the same shop that replaced my shocks with OME Nitrocharger Sports - they have a very high heat dissipation rate and stand a better chance of withstanding the pounding we give it when towing a 2T van on forest tracks.

 

[birchwood]

Okay cheers guys, I think I'll be getting the larger springs for the rear.
Does that then need different shocks?
I do have a D40 but was told I have torsion bars, they may be wrong I don't know.
However, how then do I lift the front? Bigger springs and shocks?

 

[Old.Tony]

The coil springs up front are rather easy to spot!

There are several ways to lift the front and some are better than others.

You can put a spacer in under/over the spring and that will give you lift, but replacing the spring is better. If you raise the front too much then parts of the suspension will start to interfere with each other because of the angles involved.

The standard shocks are not great performers off (or on) road. Lifting the vehicle will require some extra reach but I think the standard shocks will manage the extra stretch up to a point.

That made me think of another reason why you don't get airbags on the rear, too. Suspension travel - airbags decrease it, preventing the vehicle from flexing as well - which means you'll end up lifting wheels more often = no traction. Lockers are recommended anyway for heavy duty off-road work and a front locker in particular (the front diff isn't anywhere near as strong as the rear).

 

[nathand22]

Okay cheers guys, I think I'll be getting the larger springs for the rear.
Does that then need different shocks?
I do have a D40 but was told I have torsion bars, they may be wrong I don't know.
However, how then do I lift the front? Bigger springs and shocks?

I agree with Tony.

To see the coil springs in the front you only have to stick your head under the front bumper and look on the inside of each wheel, they will almost slap you in the chops.
When you can see coils you know that you DONT have torsion bars and the D40 definitely has COILS, its the D22 that has a torsion bar front end which may be a reason for the confusion.

Yes to lift the front i think the best way is the new coils and shocks

As for the shocks, its hardly worth put springs on with out putting matching shocks on, ie- the load rating on the springs will need a shock that works with that load rating.
The other part is the length of the shocks stroke needs to be matched, so if you lift it by 2 inches the shafts on the shock will need to be longer, other wise the shock will stop the springs travel and put way too much load on the shock and prob snap something, be it the mounts or the shock itself.

Do your self a favour and have a read through the D40 section of the forum, there is miles of very useful info to help your understanding of suspension and what mods can be done.

 

[birchwood]

I agree with Tony.

To see the coil springs in the front you only have to stick your head under the front bumper and look on the inside of each wheel, they will almost slap you in the chops.
When you can see coils you know that you DONT have torsion bars and the D40 definitely has COILS, its the D22 that has a torsion bar front end which may be a reason for the confusion.

Yes to lift the front i think the best way is the new coils and shocks

As for the shocks, its hardly worth put springs on with out putting matching shocks on, ie- the load rating on the springs will need a shock that works with that load rating.
The other part is the length of the shocks stroke needs to be matched, so if you lift it by 2 inches the shafts on the shock will need to be longer, other wise the shock will stop the springs travel and put way too much load on the shock and prob snap something, be it the mounts or the shock itself.

Do your self a favour and have a read through the D40 section of the forum, there is miles of very useful info to help your understanding of suspension and what mods can be done.

Thanks guys. Yer I had a look, def got coil overs. Haha should have looked much earlier.
I'll get the larger sPrings all round. Got a quote today for 3SDS leafs and their front coils and 4 shocks. $2400ish for the parts. Might just shop around a little more

 

[nathand22]

yep shop around for sure, i paid $2100 for "Ultimate suspension" fitted and i am really happy with it.
I know people who have paid $1700 for old man emu fitted and i think around the $2300 for
"Tuff dog" fitted (over priced IMO),
Dobinsons are from memory $1750 fitted.
There are allot of quality companies out there that you should be able to get all the gear fitted for around the $1700 to 2100 mark, keep on shopping..

 

[ericcs]

shame you don't live near brisbane, ZORDO here supplied my kit for $1400. a mix of different brands to suit my requirements.

 

[birchwood]

shame you don't live near brisbane, ZORDO here supplied my kit for $1400. a mix of different brands to suit my requirements.

i spoke to him actualy on another thread, he can supply via someone over here. seems ok price and brands so i'll do that when the time comes