problems with air ride and handling characteristic ? Need some experts

[ACII]

Hello all,

for a few weeks i got my pickup back on the road....

After a few miles respectivley some potholes i recognized that the suspension isnt working well....

That means that you can feel even the smallest pothole, the pickup feels very hard.... i hope u understand what i mean, sorry for my poor english.

Back to the setup......i have installed an camaro subframe with slam specialties SS6.

In driving position (driving height) i need around 4,8 bar on the bags....

At the moment i havent got to a garage to make the wheel alignment.
So i dont know any datas of the caster / camber eg...

I hope some experts can give me some feedback about the root cause for the very stiff / hard handling characteristic...

Could it be ..

4,8 bar air pressure at driving heigt ??
or
missing wheel alignment (caster) ?
or
wrong installation of the camaro subframe ?

Thanks a lot

Regards from Germany
Achim

[_Ogre]

fyi for us imperial folks... 4,8 bar air pressure = 70 psi
are your lower a-arms level at that pressure?

[ACII]

i will check that...also i gonna take a pic...

thanks
achim

Originally Posted by _Ogre

fyi for us imperial folks... 4,8 bar air pressure = 70 psi
are your lower a-arms level at that pressure?

[sgtusmc]

Your bags are to small. The smaller the bag the more air it takes to lift it, giving you a hard ride. The bigger the bag the less air it takes to lift it, giving you a nice ride. The SS6 bag is to small to run on a truck. I used the SS6 on my 59 as a mock up bag, and the ride was horrible. I now run a SS8 up front and SS7 in the rear. Rule of thumb, ALWAYS run the biggest bag you can. Even if you have to do a lot of cutting and welding.

[ACII]

thanks for response ....but that sounds not good :-(
pls let me know which air pressure you do have a driving height ?

my ride is at the moment really hard, i do feel like eighteen on my VW Golf with threadend suspension :-)

Thanks
Achim

Originally Posted by sgtusmc

Your bags are to small. The smaller the bag the more air it takes to lift it, giving you a hard ride. The bigger the bag the less air it takes to lift it, giving you a nice ride. The SS6 bag is to small to run on a truck. I used the SS6 on my 59 as a mock up bag, and the ride was horrible. I now run a SS8 up front and SS7 in the rear. Rule of thumb, ALWAYS run the biggest bag you can. Even if you have to do a lot of cutting and welding.

[mr48chev]

Maybe Rob at No LImit will chime in on this one or you might find him on the 67/72 side as he posts there quite often. A big part of his business is bagged trucks and other bagged vehicles.

I haven't seen Scott on her lately but he is another one who deals with these things daily in his shop and no doubt has a bunch of experience sorting out setups that others have put together that don't seem to work right.

One thing though, SEMA starts next week and almost every shop in the country that builds suspensions is thrashing hard to get ready for the show either with product or a rig for the show so they may not be available for a number of days.

[ACII]

Hy all,

i have a attached a pic of the suspension at driving height...

@Mr8chevy
I guess u r right....i have contacted Ron , but sofar no response. I hope he will find a second for me, i guess he knows the business .-)

The last few days i got some feedback about the air pressure..the most of them do have the same pressure , something around 60 - 80 psi....

So i dont think that the size of the bags is the root cause...

In the next days i will do a test drive without the shocks....maybe they do have an negatic effect on the drive....but normally the shocks dont have an big impact on the hard ride ....i am right ?



thanks
achim

[kdog3121]

My truck is bagged with slam bags front and back. I'm running 8's in the front and 7's in the back. The front end is an S10 cut to fit the bags, with shocks, and stock s10 sway bar. I run them at at about 60-65 psi driving. Rear is a 6 link with shocks. No sway bar. Rides good at about 60 psi.

This is one of the best handling and driving bagged trucks i've driven. I'm really happy with it.

My tie rod ends are level at ride height in the front.

[sgtusmc]

Looks like a nice bag placement. Unless your shocks are bottomed out (fully collapsed) at your ride height. I don't see them being an issue. I'd bet you a beer & steak that it's the size of your bag. Just my 2 cents....

[ACII]

i do have some triple convulted air bags in stock..with a diamter of almost 8 inches..
i will give it a try ...i hope it does work with a triple convulted bag in the front ????

If it works and ur right i would finally go with the SS8

thanks
achim

Originally Posted by sgtusmc

Looks like a nice bag placement. Unless your shocks are bottomed out (fully collapsed) at your ride height. I don't see them being an issue. I'd bet you a beer & steak that it's the size of your bag. Just my 2 cents....

[sgtusmc]

Did the bag swap fix the ride quality?

[ACII]

Hy all

today i found some time to do a test drive with the triple convulted bags.

As you can see on the pics the installation wasnt perfect but for a short test drive it was ok.

So far i have to say that "sgtusmc" is right....on the 3rd pic you can see that i need a lot less pressure to get the car on drivin height.

On the driver side it is installed slam bag (6 inch diameter)
On the passenger side it is installed bag (7 inch diamter )

So i just need around 45 psi for drivin height.

Also i can control the bags (height) a lot better and more sensitive. That means that i have a bigger psi - range for leveling the car.....i hope u understand what i mean :-)

Finally i will go with the ss8 bags, but i am a bit confused if there is enough clearance between bag and spring pocket..

@sgtusmc
Can you send me some pics of ur cut outs ?

Thanks a lot
Regards from Germany

Originally Posted by sgtusmc

Did the bag swap fix the ride quality?

[ACII]

forgot the pics as usual :-)

[Rad's]

Nice truck, fritz!

[solidaxel]

Did you test drive with the sway bar un hooked?
Did you have enough clearance for the bags on the test drive?

[ACII]

Yeap , i made the test drive with the sway bar un hooked
The clearance was not perfect, the sway bar has touched the bag as you can see on the pic.

Therefore the test drive was just a few hundred meters :-)

Hope to get some feedback about the clearance of the solution with the SS8 bags before ordering ;-)

THanks
Achim

Originally Posted by solidaxel

Did you test drive with the sway bar un hooked?
Did you have enough clearance for the bags on the test drive?

[solidaxel]

Can you put some chalk or paint on the stationary pieces and drive it and see if there is any transfer to the rubber bags.
Hook the bar up and drive it and see if there is a difference in the ride.
Can you barrow a GoPro and mount it in the area that you took the still pic of the lower arm

[ACII]

Hello solidaxel,

sorry i dont understand you, i just used the triple convulted bags for the test drive.
I just need some informations about the clearance by using SS8 bags, cuz i wanna go with that solution..

Or what do u mean , what is a GoPro ?

Sorry for my poor english, i am german :-)

Thanks
Achim

Originally Posted by solidaxel

Can you put some chalk or paint on the stationary pieces and drive it and see if there is any transfer to the rubber bags.
Hook the bar up and drive it and see if there is a difference in the ride.
Can you barrow a GoPro and mount it in the area that you took the still pic of the lower arm

[47 Fasttoys]

A GoPro is a small video camera system many of racers and off road guys use, very compact and takes great videos. There are all kinds of mounting options. About the size of a pack of cigarettes.
Rob

[solidaxel]

^^^^ Yes what he said.
A very small video camera to watch the suspension when in motion over LARGE bumps !!

[ACII]

alrigth i understand.

Unfortunately i dont have such a kind of camera and cannot borrow it..

Originally Posted by solidaxel

^^^^ Yes what he said.
A very small video camera to watch the suspension when in motion over LARGE bumps !!