Quote:
Originally Posted by kswindell
I'm new to this, but in that case youre saying guys that lay frame only can raise their vehicle up to around 3" off the ground? Seems if the bag will travel x amount the vehicle should as well?
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Not exactly. First, the bags you listed have a travel area of roughly 7" (max 10 min 3). To achieve 100% use of the travel, you'd have to make sure that layed out you were at exactly 3" (it physically cannot safely do less without riding on and possibly damaging the bumpstops). Then you need to keep in mind that the bags mount outward on the control arms, meaning its not working at a dead lift like a bottle jack would. Then, you have to consider that bags are essentially "soft", so depending on the weight and positioning, the bag will have a certain amount of give. To achieve full lift, you will have to run higher pressure.
Running your ride height at near full lift means higher pressure in the bags more often. This means a much stiffer ride at ~110psi then you would at 60-75psi, a greater risk of damage (50mph + pothole+full lift = something will break, and it might be your back or wrists).
The other issue is shocks. Its not easy, fun or cheap finding a shock that will go from full drop to full lift, and work WELL at full lift. IMO what you need to do is determine where you really want your REGULAR ride height. This will let you set up the control arms, bags, shocks, and all your triangulation for the rear end, and not wind up running everything ragged.
Oh and bagged trucks break stuff. If you don't start with entirely new wear parts on the front end, you'll need them within months. Things like ball joints etc start to go much faster.
Air ride is fun but isn't exactly a bolt-on to do right. I'd take a look at places like the s10forum.com They have MASSSIVE amounts of tech on everything air ride, and all the concepts will apply to your current project in principle.