RW Air Ride Assist on Front Axel

[AZB755V8]

I have not seen anyone doing this here at BMT but it worked out really well for me. I needed a little more clearance for Floats on the front of the Superliner for fender clearance. I have Australian fender flairs on it and they decrease the fender opening about an inch all around. First was tiring to find springs to increase the height about 2 1/2 inches or so and not just add a block that would not give me more suspension travel. Or extra leaves that would make it "ride like a Mack truck" even more so. Ether way it was the dollars that it would cost to do the work. Most spring shops said that they had to have the truck to even start with. There are no spring shops in Arizona that would even consider doing what I wanted. This is what I came up with for a few hundred $$  The ride height can be adjusted from side to side if separate air is supplied to each, nice to get the front end perfectly level. I did see the systems offered for around $1000 but none were for a RW that I saw. This cost $180 for the bags, $14 for steel and bolts, $20 for air fittings and hose, $4 for paint, 3 hours time to do 5 with the beer break...

I need to make a shim and add a little clearance for the draglink bolt.

Edited December 28, 2017 by AZB755V8
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[Hobert62]

Is it going to take longer shocks?  

[AZB755V8]

1 hour ago, Hobert62 said:

Is it going to take longer shocks?  

No there is still about 2-3 inches of travel on the the shocks that were on it. The air bags are rated for around 3200 pounds each and only help the leaf spring. This raises the height about 2 1/2 with 110 lbs of air. There is a lot of difference in front end height if you look at different Superliners. There is more than one shock length made for the RW but these ones work fine. You can see the difference in height on the shock paint in the photos. There was no adjustment in the steering linkage to center the steering wheel ether.

Edited December 28, 2017 by AZB755V8
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[Hobert62]

I saw the paint line on the shock thats what made me ask.   My old phone's not the best for seeing details on pictures sometimes.   

[Lmackattack]

Looks like it will do what you need. Is the 110psi is needed to hold it up or will 50psi do the trick?

[AZB755V8]

4 hours ago, Lmackattack said:

Looks like it will do what you need. Is the 110psi is needed to hold it up or will 50psi do the trick?

Any pressure will take a percentage of the load off the leaf springs. The more pressure raises the ride height  Or if a load was on compensate for the reduced loaded hight. I am using the 110psi to get a ride height to clear the fender flares. It  can works like rear airride, the more air the more load you can put on and maintain a ride height. Just thinking a ride height valve can be used on the front axle like on the rear to self level.

[Swishy]

Clikity ........................................................ ClikClikClik

 

Cya

 

§wishy

[Timmyb]

I’ve wanted to put these on my kw for a while. Apparently they improve the ride, and I sit on top of the front axle so any improvement would be handy. 

[880joe]

There is a company out of TX called Donvel that makes similar air ride for all makes 

[Vladislav]

Except getting out of stock configuration of a classic truck I like the idea.

A friend of mine rebuilt factory air suspension of his 1967 Mercedes-600 car with such airbags. Had to rifle through the chart with load ratings and travel limits to locate sutable bags. And ain't Volvo VLX (or so) has such setup as a factory front suspension?

[Dirtymilkman]

On 12/27/2017 at 7:16 PM, AZB755V8 said:

No there is still about 2-3 inches of travel on the the shocks that were on it. The air bags are rated for around 3200 pounds each and only help the leaf spring. This raises the height about 2 1/2 with 110 lbs of air. There is a lot of difference in front end height if you look at different Superliners. There is more than one shock length made for the RW but these ones work fine. You can see the difference in height on the shock paint in the photos. There was no adjustment in the steering linkage to center the steering wheel ether.

That looks like a job very well done! But you don't want to ever run over 100psi in an air bag. That's when they burst from a sudden shock. You may need a bigger bag to be able to bring the pressure down some. But that setup looks awesome!

[harrybarbon]

Here is our air bag assist, improves ride and road stability, on parabolic springs, 1 air bag only.

Spoke to a Superliner owner, and he is extremely happy with his air bag assist, especially on unsealed rough roads

 

[Freightrain]

There was a fellow on here years back that did this with a B model.  Bill?  Dave?  Had a silver B67.  I had thoughts of doing the same, but never got around to it.  I could take a few leafs out and install the bag to hold the truck up.  I'm sure it would help drastically with the ride quality of the front end of a B model.

Donvel was a brand I recall.\

 

 

Edit:  It was Dale Hamilton

Edited January 30, 2018 by Freightrain

[Hobert62]

When I switched my front axle I took the bottom 3 short leafs out on each side to get the ride height I wanted.    Its a noticeable diffrence in the ride and I think the longest leaf was about 9".   It helped take the bang out of each bump

[Freightrain]

Just have to watch, as when I cut my rear leaf stack down, after about 6-7 yrs the main leaf broke from "excessive movement" that it was not typically used to.  50 yr old brittle springs.   I had to have new leafs made, which wasn't really expensive.  Not an issue now with the air ride.  I had the main leaf replaced on my LF spring pack a few years back.  The clamps were coming loose and the springs were not flat anymore.  They remade the main leaf(no longer available) and reclamped the pack.  

[R.E.D]

I would like to add this set up to my granite.Is the base of the airbag where the u bolts are a custom piece or is it sold by a the manufacturer mentioned above?