I am thinking of of running air lift bags

[JJS2]

I used Air Lift bags in an earlier station wagon, with good success.
For my Cherokee XJ, I installed air shocks to overcome loading sagging, and later to negate the sag from weakened leaf springs, and these worked great. I replaced them once, but the ones on the Jeep when I sold it probably had 90 -100M miles on them. A couple years later, I sometimes still see my old XJ around town and looking good (save for rusting due to Michigan roads).

I now have a 2015 JKU with a 2.5" Teraflex coil spring lift. I phoned Air Lift and was told that their Kit # 60819 would work for my application. I plan to order a set in the next week or so.

UPDATE, 2/2019: I did install the #60819 kit in December. I did a single-hose installation with the valve routed into the gas-fill area. I also added a gas door assembly. I keep it at approx. 7 lbs. until I am towing or carrying a load; I use a simple bicycle pump to inflate them. Rig was slightly raised, was firmed, but not harshly.

 

[ultraclyde]

Good reviews guys, thanks! Sounds like adding a set to my ZJ when we buy a bigger boat would be a good solution to help stabilize everything when needed

 

[RacerAV]

I used Air Lift bags in an earlier station wagon, with good success.
For my Cherokee XJ, I installed air shocks to overcome loading sagging, and later to negate the sag from weakened leaf springs, and these worked great. I replaced them once, but the ones on the Jeep when I sold it probably had 90 -100M miles on them. A couple years later, I sometimes still see my old XJ around town and looking good (save for rusting due to Michigan roads).

I now have a 2015 JKU with a 2.5" Teraflex coil spring lift. I phoned Air Lift and was told that their Kit # 60819 would work for my application. I plan to order a set in the next week or so.

Man sounds like my exact future situation!

Would the air bags pose any problem you guys think with wheeling? Getting pinched or pulled? Something like the Rubicon Trail.

 

[jscherb]

Man sounds like my exact future situation!

Would the air bags pose any problem you guys think with wheeling? Getting pinched or pulled? Something like the Rubicon Trail.

I do 250-500 miles per year off road, including Moab and Colorado mountain passes, usually with enough load so that I air up the bags to 20lbs. or so. Never had a problem with them on the trail.

 

[DharmaInitiativePhoenix]

I used Air Lift bags in an earlier station wagon, with good success.
For my Cherokee XJ, I installed air shocks to overcome loading sagging, and later to negate the sag from weakened leaf springs, and these worked great. I replaced them once, but the ones on the Jeep when I sold it probably had 90 -100M miles on them. A couple years later, I sometimes still see my old XJ around town and looking good (save for rusting due to Michigan roads).
I now have a 2015 JKU with a 2.5" Teraflex coil spring lift. I phoned Air Lift and was told that their Kit # 60819 would work for my application. I plan to order a set in the next week or so.

I was just looking into this after our first week long trip fully loaded in our 07 JKU and think I've decided to go with air bags over something like the Timbren SES due the adjustability of an air bag system. I'm also running the Teraflex 2.5" springs and have the Rancho RS9000 adjustable shocks. The shocks definitely helped the ride, but we were sagging a lot in the rear and did bottom out a few time. I would like to set them up with independent airlines to be able to adjust side to side as well. Anyone know what to get along with the 60819 kit for the lines and air valves? I don't think I need an on board compressor and prefer to save the money for another mod or repair right now. Just looking to route the lines out to valves on the bumper or somewhere handy to fill and deflate as necessary based on the load.

 

[autism family travels]

I ran them in my JK. I am now going to be installing them in the suburban. I wish I could also install them in the patriot but I have to settle on sumo springs for the rear when loaded with gear in the back.

 

[Bullseye240]

I was just looking into this after our first week long trip fully loaded in our 07 JKU and think I've decided to go with air bags over something like the Timbren SES due the adjustability of an air bag system. I'm also running the Teraflex 2.5" springs and have the Rancho RS9000 adjustable shocks. The shocks definitely helped the ride, but we were sagging a lot in the rear and did bottom out a few time. I would like to set them up with independent airlines to be able to adjust side to side as well. Anyone know what to get along with the 60819 kit for the lines and air valves? I don't think I need an on board compressor and prefer to save the money for another mod or repair right now. Just looking to route the lines out to valves on the bumper or somewhere handy to fill and deflate as necessary based on the load.

You can inflate them with a bicycle pump as they only require a max of around 30 PSI and try finding a pump with more volume than pressure. A good one would be a vertical pump designed for mountain bike tires. If you can, be sure to use compression fittings as most of the push lock fittings I have tried leak if you don't get it exactly right, not much of a problem on a tractor trailer that has a large engine driven compressor, but quite annoying when you have to pump them up yourself. As for side to side adjustability, I don't see a need for it as a Jeep just isn't that wide in the cargo area. Tractors and trailers that run an air ride suspension don't even have side to side adjustability.

 

[jscherb]

...As for side to side adjustability, I don't see a need for it as a Jeep just isn't that wide in the cargo area. Tractors and trailers that run an air ride suspension don't even have side to side adjustability.

X2. I have mine plumbed together and in almost 250,000 miles with them in two different Jeeps (and now in my JKU), I have never felt the need to adjust them separately. See my earlier post in this thread.

 

[ultraclyde]

Years ago I had a '70 Impala that I ran old fashioned Gabriel air shocks on to level the rear when the massive trunk was full of luggage on road trips. I found that with both shocks plumbed together it increased body roll significantly. All the air was essentially in one chamber, so when one side of the car would load up it would force air into the unloaded side's shock. it was like the videos you see of one person jumping on an air mattress and launching someone who was already on it. I replumbed with separate lines and it made a huge improvement. I always just set the pressures the same but it was a much better handling and riding car after separating the lines. I did know someone using air shocks with different pressures to control launch behavior on a drag car, but that's a different thing entirely.

Unless the airbags have some check valves somewhere I'd bet you'd see a similar effect on a lifted Jeep. Any of you guys running single-plumb try it both ways and have a comparison?

 

[RacerAV]

Years ago I had a '70 Impala that I ran old fashioned Gabriel air shocks on to level the rear when the massive trunk was full of luggage on road trips. I found that with both shocks plumbed together it increased body roll significantly. All the air was essentially in one chamber, so when one side of the car would load up it would force air into the unloaded side's shock. it was like the videos you see of one person jumping on an air mattress and launching someone who was already on it. I replumbed with separate lines and it made a huge improvement. I always just set the pressures the same but it was a much better handling and riding car after separating the lines. I did know someone using air shocks with different pressures to control launch behavior on a drag car, but that's a different thing entirely.

Unless the airbags have some check valves somewhere I'd bet you'd see a similar effect on a lifted Jeep. Any of you guys running single-plumb try it both ways and have a comparison?

definitely a good point... and kind of what i was thinking in my head and why i was leaning toward beefier springs instead. individually stronger. plumbed together would be preferable for ease of use but if the jeep is off camber it could get exponentially worse with air bags...

 

[jscherb]

Years ago I had a '70 Impala that I ran old fashioned Gabriel air shocks on to level the rear when the massive trunk was full of luggage on road trips. I found that with both shocks plumbed together it increased body roll significantly. All the air was essentially in one chamber, so when one side of the car would load up it would force air into the unloaded side's shock. it was like the videos you see of one person jumping on an air mattress and launching someone who was already on it. I replumbed with separate lines and it made a huge improvement. I always just set the pressures the same but it was a much better handling and riding car after separating the lines. I did know someone using air shocks with different pressures to control launch behavior on a drag car, but that's a different thing entirely.

Unless the airbags have some check valves somewhere I'd bet you'd see a similar effect on a lifted Jeep. Any of you guys running single-plumb try it both ways and have a comparison?

AirLift air bags work differently than air shocks and differently than some other air spring systems. The Air Lift bags stiffen the springs by providing pressure from the inside against the inside sides of the springs - they don't exert any pressure against the spring perch or the bump stop until almost full compression of the spring. If one side of the vehicle is more heavily loaded than the other or one side hits a large bump and compresses a lot, that could force more pressure into the opposite side bag if they're plumbed together, but the result would be that the higher pressure would stiffen the suspension on that side, which actually dampens oscillation. Because the Air Lift kit isn't about lift, it's about stiffness, oscillation as you describe with air shocks isn't how they behave.

Having many miles on my Jeeps with the Air Lift system, I've never felt any oscillation or any other negative effects from having them plumbed together.

 

[Bullseye240]

I'm with Jeff on this one. Mine have been plumbed both ways and having a single point to adjust the pressure is much better than having to go back and forth. Also like Jeff . mine has never oscillated with them plumbed together. You can plumb it individually but in my experience there is little to no gain in doing so and only added work in adjusting the pressure.

 

[DharmaInitiativePhoenix]

Great point on the plumbing together versus seperate. My only thought on plumbing them seperate is that my fridge and my gas tank are both on the right side and I get a drop on the right when both are full. Sounds like the way the airlift system works may eleviate that without the hassle of individual lines.

 

[ultraclyde]

I'm still dubious that running a single fill gives the same roll resistance as a double, but you guys have actually run them and I haven't, so I'll defer to your experience. I had one schraeder valve for each shock mounted behind the flip-down tag on the Impala so it was simple to fill them both. Even so I toyed with the idea of plumbing in a tiny ball valve in one line and using a single fill. open valve, air up, close valve to create isolated circuits. Heck, if I put in air bags on the Jeep I might do that just to see if it made a difference towing something large.

 

[Bullseye240]

I'm still dubious that running a single fill gives the same roll resistance as a double, but you guys have actually run them and I haven't, so I'll defer to your experience.

It has to do with volume and pressure. Air shocks run 35-75 PSI of air at a lower volume which allows the air to move through the line from side to side quicker. The air bags we use max out at 30 PSI and rely on volume to do the lifting rather than pressure therefore it cannot move as fast through the line. If you have ever seen air lift recovery bags used to right a tractor trailer they only run 7 PSI of air, but because it is spread out over a larger area they lift more weight than smaller, higher pressure bags could.