bags?

[orange72]

what are some good airbag manufaturers at a resonable price? thanks

[Dropt72Shortbed]

reasonable price, go for firestones. theyve proved themselves over the years and everyone uses them.

if you plan on running high pressure or trying to hop the truck then step up to some slam specialties or air lift gen 2s.

[FRENCHBLUE72]

Was the ad true in truckin mag that said firestones were blowing out or underated for the weight????I think it was an A.I.M. ad that stated this....Dropt72 i see your from my home town ....I sure miss JACKS SURF SHOP and digging threw parts at the old mans shop PARTS UNLIMITED.....

[MOTHERTRUCKERS]

NEVER NEVER trust anything aim says! They would not know a quality part if it bit them in the ass.

[Dropt72Shortbed]

Originally posted by FRENCHBLUE72
Was the ad true in truckin mag that said firestones were blowing out or underated for the weight????I think it was an A.I.M. ad that stated this....Dropt72 i see your from my home town ....I sure miss JACKS SURF SHOP and digging threw parts at the old mans shop PARTS UNLIMITED.....

yea aim is lAIMe, that was the dumbest ad ever, they said firestones were bursting like crazy because they were only rated for 100psi, and then they say theres are much better because theyre 110. so if the allegations were true then the extra 10psi on the aim bag wouldnt be much better.

anyways firestones are perfectly reliable. people run them in your normal 150psi and less systems. the only reason these bags fail are from shoddy installations, bags rubbing on suspension components (lots of so called professional shops do ****ty installations as well). then theres the guys who think they can hop their truck with 300psi+ and expect the firestones not to grenade.

so if you install them correctly and dont abuse them they last forever. you dont see big rigs blowing out bags all the time.

[Reumster]

Where's the cheapest place to buy rear bags?

[Dropt72Shortbed]

Originally posted by Reumster
Where's the cheapest place to buy rear bags?

if you want cheapest go buy some crappy AIM bags (although after their outrageous shipping charges theyre not that cheap)

if you want good quality for fair price i say go with some air lift gen 2 standards, theyre rated to 175psi and come with roll plates.

im running the 2b6 ext (fireston 255c replacement, in aim speak, 2500lb) in the back. i see alot og guys running the 2b7s (firestone 224, or aim 2600) but in all reality theres not that much weight in the back of a truck and running a bigger bag isnt going to make the ride any better. if anything, i think overdoing the bag size for your application makes the ride worse.

anyways call up airlift at 1-800-248-0892
you can get the 2b6 ext for $69 with 3/8" ports and zytel end plates. however i would really recommend splurging and getting the $79 ones with 1/2" ports and billet aluminum end plates. with the 1/2" ports youll be able to optimise your speed with 3/8" valves and 1/2" lines, that way your truck will lift in around a second. i personally find 1/4" valves and 3/8" line to be pretty slow, unless you dont mind waiting a few seconds for the truck to lift.

[Reumster]

Dropt72Shortbed

Do they have a web site? I don't see how they charge more money for bigger ports? It's simply a matter of drilling different size hole in the plate. It wouldn't increase cost. Unless the aluminum makes the difference. I think I want the aluminum plates anyway.

But if your only running 3/8 valves with orphasis probably smaller than 3/8 what is the good in running 1/2" lines? All your doing there is adding air volume in the lines themselves. Your maxiumum air flow is dictated buy the smallest orface in the system right?

[SCOTI]

I use Firestones from Air-Ride Tech for both my 67 & 68. Although they normally suggest the 2600# for the fronts of our trucks, I currently have them on the rear on my beater since I tow an 18ft car hauler. I bought one of the 'installer kits' & made/modified my own brackets.

[Reumster]

SCOTI

What was the price? What exactly did you do to install the rear bags?

[Dropt72Shortbed]

Originally posted by Reumster
Dropt72Shortbed

Do they have a web site? I don't see how they charge more money for bigger ports? It's simply a matter of drilling different size hole in the plate. It wouldn't increase cost. Unless the aluminum makes the difference. I think I want the aluminum plates anyway.

But if your only running 3/8 valves with orphasis probably smaller than 3/8 what is the good in running 1/2" lines? All your doing there is adding air volume in the lines themselves. Your maxiumum air flow is dictated buy the smallest orface in the system right?

well i think the $10 extra is cause theyre billet aluminum. i personally dont care about the billet as i got em because of the 1/2" ports.

as for valve orifice/ line size

when they say a valve is 3/8" its 3/8" however 1/2" line is 1/2" outer diameter, the inside diameter of the line is closer to that of the 3/8" valve.

so if you want to optimise your airflow youll want 1/2" lines with 3/8" valves and 1/2" ports. if you look at all the kits shops sell youll notice they setup their kits the same way.

[Dropt72Shortbed]

as for websites.

www.airliftcompany.com
www.ridetech.com
www.innovativeairsuspension.com

[Reumster]

2B6-Gen II-Extreme bags is what I want for the rear 300 psi 135.00 each. I'll take them ones.

[gangforward]

This is a great thread - thanks guys!

Question - I've got a 67 LWB that I want to do either a 2 1/2 or 3 /1/2 drop in front with springs, but I want to be able to haul an 18 foot trailer with my race car - Also want to be able to adjust the height in back more precisely.

Is the Gen II's in back the way to go? I'm guessing the drop for cruising would be 4-6", but I'd like to be able to maintain the right height when I hook up the trailer.

TIA!

[SCOTI]

Reumster, my original set-up for my beater was just the rear bags & I manually filled them when needed. I spent 300$ for 2 2600# dbl. convoluted bags, 30+ft of DOT airline, & misc air fittings delivered to my door. Although you might be able to get cheaper pricing elsewhere, I feel the tech support from air-ride is good & so is their reputation in the hobby.

I have since purchased a 4-wheel installer kit for my 67 & stole the air-tank, compressor, & control paddle/guage to use in my beater. I started using my trailer almost daily for a while & manually filling the bags every time I hooked it up was getting old (although I manually filled them w/o problems for 2yrs).

As for installation, I bolted them where the original springs went. I carefully measured the trailing arms & airbag mounting plates to determine where to drill my holes. I made simple modifications to all the stock shock mounts to gain extra travel & (I can't stress this enough) I double/triple checked all clearances to make sure nothing touched/rubbed the air-bags or lines. I mounted the comp/3gal air tank to a plate that I bolted to the bottom of the pass side of my bed floor.

My 67 is still under the knife so for now I'm just manually filling it's bags for chassis set-up measurments. If you would like more specific answers just let me know.

[Dropt72Shortbed]

Originally posted by Reumster
2B6-Gen II-Extreme bags is what I want for the rear 300 psi 135.00 each. I'll take them ones.

damn.

are you planning on hopping the truck? because 300psi youll probably be using nitrogen instead of an air tank/ compressors cause its going to be hard to find an air tank rated that high. also don't even think of using regular smcs, they dont last long at all when you go over 150psi.

honestly, unless you're going to be running high pressure to hop the truck, they're not really worth it. if you just want a fast dependable system you dont need the extreme bags... if you want to do something like this picture below... then you BEST be buying the extreme bags...

[Reumster]

I don't want to limit my options. Just because there rated at 300psi dosn't mean you have to run them at that pressure does it?

[Dropt72Shortbed]

not at all.

[Church]

Has anyone considered running this setup?
http://www.airliftcompany.com/easyst...t67-72chev.htm

Just courious..

[Dropt72Shortbed]

Originally posted by Church
Has anyone considered running this setup?
http://www.airliftcompany.com/easyst...t67-72chev.htm

Just courious..

it looks really nice but im not pleased with the ammount of drop. when i emailed them way back whenthey told me the specified drop was including 2" drop blocks!

why would i pay that much just to drop the rear of my truck 6.5", and the rear ride height is only 3.5", no thanks i want mine much lower!

[Low68]

I agree with what mother truckers said. Never take AIM's word for anything. And for that matter, don't buy any of their parts. A guy that worked there said that when they make spindles for fullsize chevys they would use parts off a s-10. They would occasionaly use the part that the bearings ride on ( don't know what that is called, maybe the pin???) instead of the full sized one. I would definately not dismiss any ideas just because of something they said. Good luck.
Low68

[orange72]

i apreciate all the replies guys. i thought my post had got lost.

[BigChevMan]

Originally posted by Dropt72Shortbed


it looks really nice but im not pleased with the ammount of drop. when i emailed them way back whenthey told me the specified drop was including 2" drop blocks!

why would i pay that much just to drop the rear of my truck 6.5", and the rear ride height is only 3.5", no thanks i want mine much lower!

It includes the block in the kit...their drop estimates are conservative....take out or make the bumpstop smaller and you can almost lay out. They have to include at least 2" of ground clearance in their design to be able to sell it without liability issues. I'm friends with a couple of the guys that designed the airlift kits.....They don't karoke so well..but they know their airbag stuff.

[Dropt72Shortbed]

Originally posted by BigChevMan


It includes the block in the kit...their drop estimates are conservative....take out or make the bumpstop smaller and you can almost lay out. They have to include at least 2" of ground clearance in their design to be able to sell it without liability issues. I'm friends with a couple of the guys that designed the airlift kits.....They don't karoke so well..but they know their airbag stuff.

i know they're very well designed kits, if they had advertised their height a couple inches lower i probably would have bought it. however i dont belive liability is an issue as airlift and air ride tech both sell kits for s10s now that lay frame out of the box.

if I could see one of those kits in person then I could see how low it would go, but personally my truck was dropped 5/5" when I bought it and I was happy with it. back was 2" blocks and 3" coils. it rode extremly well. If I wanted it lower i would have c-notced it and thrown in 5" coils for a 5/7 drop. why would I pay all that extra money for an air bag kit that only gives me an advertised 4/6.5" drop (thats including spindles and blocks)

for less than half the price i can bolt in a c-notch and put bags in the stock coil locations. this will lay the axle out on the c-notch no problems, which is more like a 9" rear drop

[Church]

That kit seems to be a little pricey to me too. I see what your saying about dropping your truck for a lot less money with the blocks and coils but what if you want to tow something with your lowered truck. With a truck that low, w/o using bags, you would be bottoming out on just about every bump on the road. This is the reason I used bags on the rear of my 67 c-10. I wanted the best of both worlds. I wanted a lowered truck that rides great but I also have the ability to haul or tow about anything. I bought the ECE rear air bag set up. These bags are firestone bags that bolt up in the coil location.
Since I'm not going to be playing with the air pressure a lot, I did not purchase an on board air compressor. I just ran the air line to my license plate and bolted it on there.