Anyone bagged a 73-87 with parts for an 18-wheeler?

[1425956]

Title says it all. I work in the parts department of a big truck dealership and sell a lot of air suspension parts that might be able to be used to bag my 84 GMC 1/2 ton SWB. I know the suspension bags for 18 wheelers are way too big, however, what about the air bags for the cab? I can buy cab air bags, made by Firestone or Goodyear, for around $25 each. I have every fitting/switch made for trucks at my disposal for very good prices compared to pre-packaged systems made for street vehicles. Truck cabs weigh around 3,500 lbs, or more depending on the configuration of the truck. As far as I can tell, the mechanical compressor from a big truck is the only item I would not want to use due to its large size (And because it is mechanically operated).

What do you all think?

[notrailerqueens]

i work for peterbilt here in houston, idk which trk manufaturer you work with but i know that our cab suspension bags are pretty tiny (in comparison to a suspension bag used on a light duty application) my concern would be if they were rated for enough load (i know that the cabs arent light by any means but a suspension bag goes through alot more abuse than a cab bag being that the cab bag only absorbs whats left after the suspension bag has done its job). now the air rocker switches should work just fine. i do have a buddy thats using a United Pacific compressor out of the add on train horn kits on his truck and it works just fine just takes a long time. i would prob recomend just footing the extra cash for a good compressor.

[dropd80s]

No on the bags. Switches, fittings, and line should be fine. I have seen a guy use bags for the cab on a helper set up on a toyota and they didn't even work very good on that.

[1425956]

Thanks for the reply. I work for Freightliner. The cab bags we carry are Goodyear and Firestone (And of course OEM Freightliner). I ran across some Goodyear bags that are a little wider and shorter than the typical replacement Firestone bags. I see what you are saying about the cab bags absorbing what the suspension bags do not and it makes perfect sense. The one thing I wonder about it the mounting set up on these. The tops of all of our bags are plastic, unlike the aluminum bracket the bigger suspension bags use.

I'll check out the compressor you mentioned. I do not have any real desire to inflate/deflate the bags often. I am looking for a comfortable ride more than anything else. I do not haul anything of any weight in my truck so added suspension strength is not important.

I really do not know much about air bag suspension and am curious how the rear suspension set up would work. I can't imagine keeping the rear leaf springs in place if you want to increase ride comfort. Unless I guess they were flipped under the rear axle and the bags take all of the pressure for immediate ride comfort and control. If the leaf springs are removed completely, there has to be something else in place of them to center and support the rear axle.

Now, adding bags as a load helper makes sense because the bags would take the immediate place of the shocks and also allow you to level a heavy load.

Anyone know of any good tech articles for bagging these trucks?

[notrailerqueens]

im guessing yours look alot like theses.
but mostly all the sleeper/cab air bags do is absorb extra shock and they arent really built to handle the stresses of a suspension like application. imo i wouldnt use them.

[mooseknuckles]

I think that you wolud have a lot of stuff that you could use, fittings, switches, gauges, airline, tanks,....maybe not the exact bags used in the big trucks, but if you deal with firestone, goodyear, or airlift, im pretty sure you could set yourself up with the correct bags!

[snapdaddy]

Killing it customs uses freightliner bags for the back of there dually builds there huge t
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