bag on bars on a dually
 

does anybody out there know roughly how much weight would a bag on bar set will handle? my 87 dually has a solid bag on bar rear set up is a 2 link with a panhard bar with factory front hangers and 2 2600 lbs bags the bars are 3/16" thick and their 2 1/2'' X 2 1/2 square tubing the bag mounts are solid and the bags are pretty centered on the bars i haven't try to tow heavy loads with it the heaviest i went was the c10 cab on my small motorcycle trailer and it did just fine.... i been thinking about adding a set of another bags over the axle so i can use those for towing purposes.... so the question is will this set up handle a single car trailer with a car on it? ..... i know the tandem axles trailer help with the weight distribution any info/help and opinions would be greatly appreciated...

Re: bag on bars on a dually
 

if you're towing.. bags don't really matter, as tongue weight isnt at all your trailer weight.

is it notched? that would be a lot more important.

Re: bag on bars on a dually
 

As long as the notches are welded in right and nothing is a hack job i would tow with it.

Re: bag on bars on a dually
 

Can you post a picture of the suspension?

Re: bag on bars on a dually
 

X2.
I have been thinking of doing something similar to this on my daully.

Re: bag on bars on a dually
 

thanks for the reply i decided to add 2 more bags over the axle and add more valves to the system that way i can operate them separately and when im not towing i can ride with bag on bars and when im towing i'll use the over the axle bags better be safe than sorry :)

lol no hack job here the notches are welded real good but after getting some responses on the other forum bag on bars can only handle so much weight...

is a 2 link and well done with a panhard bar ill get some pics and post them thanks...

Re: bag on bars on a dually
 

I was gonna wait till you posted pictures to confirm how it was done but from your description, I believe what you have is square tube bolted from the spring pads to the front leaf hangers. The bagged crowd uses this suspension because it is dead easy to make, and as far as being slammed, axle wrap, and all that stuff it works way better than air over leaf.

Here's the problem. The suspension can't articulate. From an engineering perspective, the suspension is flawed and incorrect. This design lets the suspension move up and down just fine, for example hitting a speed bump straight on. However, lets say that you drive one set of rear wheels up a curb and the others side is still on the pavement. THIS is the problem.

The arms are solidly attached to the axle, and they want to be at different angles, so they try and twist the whole axle housing which isn't going to budge. You end up with a suspension that gets in a huge bind for movement that requires one side to be higher/lower than the other.

What this amounts to is INSANE roll stiffness. Around corners, the inner wheel may lift or you will get snap oversteer. Parts will be under a lot of street and may eventually break. I have heard of cars that used this setup having the perches ripped off the axle while the car was moving and the car runs out of control into a ditch.

This style of suspension is seriously flawed as you can see. Many bagged guys do it and get away with it. I'm sure for shows and driving carefully you may get away with it too. It's a risky shortcut to get the up/down everyone loves so much.

Towing at speed on the highway? No way I would recommend that for this suspension. In a hairy situation, I wouldn't trust it to perform as well as the stock setup. Get a proper 4 bar setup, or put the leaf springs back on.