Suspension Airbag Durability?

[Allof75]

I'm looking to strengthen the rear suspension of my Pathfinder, as currently it crashes over bumps and sags way too much with a load. So I'm looking into suspension airbags, as I want to keep the stock height. The only kind available for me are in-coil 1000lb capacity units.

My questions are:

Do any of you have experience with their long term durability? -I have one friend whose airbags tore when off road, but on the other hand, the 5k ones on our Ram have held up fine and dandy, so I'm unsure.

Can you attain a smooth ride with them? I have rear Bilstein 4600s which I popped in but a few months ago, the ride quality is very good now, minus the crashing over bumps of course, which I'm hoping will be eliminated by the bags' installation. I do not want a bouncy, truck-like ride.

I'll probably think of more questions, I'll be sure to post them here.
Thank you!

 

[78Bronco]

How about some hydraulic bump stops to decelerate the axle. You can get a stiffer coil made by a good spring shop for stock height.

 

[Mighty Dodge Ram]

I have bags which are probably very similar to yours. They are mounted directly between springs and frame. With simple Schrader valves at the license plate frame, these bags have been on the truck 16 years with zero failure. In terms of smoothing out the ride, this only happens under heavy load...heavy. The chief function is raising the rear back to proper ride height. :sombrero:

 

[Sock Puppet]

They can tear in serious off roa conditions d if you don't use limiting straps. If one side of the rear axle drops while off road (in a ditch, for instance), the bag may not be able to stretch as much as the leaf springs, which can result in a torn bag. Either use limiting straps, or understand the limitations of air bags. Each vehicle/bag combo is different, so they may not be required on all applications. For the record, I ran them on my 2002 1/2 Ddge for 2 years without issue, and currently have them on my 2012 F-150. My primary use is leveling while towing my camper and/or hauling heavy loads.

 

[crawldit]

How about air shocks? I've got Monroe Max Airs on my f150. 1100 lbs of load leveling with 150 psi in them. And they are plush with about 90 psi in them. Best part? I got them off of Amazon for $62. That's total price for 2 shocks and the airlines/fittings.

Gabriel makes some too but they were about $30 more for the set.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Buckstopper]

I had firestone airbags on my F350 for over 10 years and I was hauling an overweight hard side camper and pulling a big heavy boat. I had no problems with the airbags and they made a huge difference in the handling of that truck. Your application is totally different since the F350 was leaf springs but I can say that I put those bags to the test and they passed. The airbags outlasted 3 transmissions in that truck...ouch.

 

[bfdiesel]

The in coil spring bags have more rubbing on them than the leaf spring helper bags, so mud and sand are going to slowly grind them away off road. Kind of a borrowed time thing. I know little about pathfinders is there any room to make your own bag set up with 3k ( or 5k bags )? The bags are typically 6.5 inches tall if I remember right.

 

[bfdiesel]

This has a bag with dimensions http://www.truckspring.com/products...ir-Spring---268C-Style---38-NPT__FIR6760.aspx

 

[brian90744]

Air bag help

Normally the Air Bag is one piece & ties the frame and springs as a unit, However when off roading sometime the rear wheels are restricted by the lengh of the airbag and may tear. I installed Daystar Air Bag Cradle which cycles Up & down with the spring and not attached to the airbag. Wheel droop is no problem. It may save ripped Air Bag damage.

 

[Allof75]

They can tear in serious off roa conditions d if you don't use limiting straps. If one side of the rear axle drops while off road (in a ditch, for instance), the bag may not be able to stretch as much as the leaf springs, which can result in a torn bag. Either use limiting straps, or understand the limitations of air bags. Each vehicle/bag combo is different, so they may not be required on all applications. For the record, I ran them on my 2002 1/2 Ddge for 2 years without issue, and currently have them on my 2012 F-150. My primary use is leveling while towing my camper and/or hauling heavy loads.

I'm not sure if limiting straps are available for my application. It's not lifted or anything, so I'd imagine I don't really need them assuming the bags are a stock length. I have rear coils so the leaf spring issue isn't one.

How about air shocks? I've got Monroe Max Airs on my f150. 1100 lbs of load leveling with 150 psi in them. And they are plush with about 90 psi in them. Best part? I got them off of Amazon for $62. That's total price for 2 shocks and the airlines/fittings.

Gabriel makes some too but they were about $30 more for the set.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using Tapatalk 2

I just installed new Bilstein 4600s in the rear, so new shocks aren't in my future for at least a few years. Good idea though.

The in coil spring bags have more rubbing on them than the leaf spring helper bags, so mud and sand are going to slowly grind them away off road. Kind of a borrowed time thing. I know little about pathfinders is there any room to make your own bag set up with 3k ( or 5k bags )? The bags are typically 6.5 inches tall if I remember right.

True, and as far as I know, the only kind available are 1000 lb units, which go inside the coil. There's nothing else to mount it to unfortunately.

Normally the Air Bag is one piece & ties the frame and springs as a unit, However when off roading sometime the rear wheels are restricted by the lengh of the airbag and may tear. I installed Daystar Air Bag Cradle which cycles Up & down by not being attached to the airbag. Wheel droop is no problem. It may save Air Bag damage.

I really like the idea of that one, I'll have to look into it. Seems to avoid the running out of flex issue.

Thank you for the replies thus far! I'm still weighing it in my head, seems like most don't have much experience with the in-coil type. But the on-leaf seem to stand up well...

Keep them coming! :ylsmoke:

 

[Binksman]

One of the offroad magazines built a ZJ years ago. A few years after that it was rebuilt and one of the failures they addressed was the "in-spring" style air bag they used on the rear of the Jeep. If I recall, the owner liked the backs, but they developed a hole or were pinched by the coil spring.

That said, I have experience with the leaf spring mount bags and love them. I have the set from my last truck (used for weekly heavy loads for 4 years) and am lazily looking into making them work on my ZJ, perhaps with a cantilever-style mount since there isn't a lot of room under the rear.

My only durability problems were with the air hose connections included with the kit. Leaked like cloth diaper, but I fixed that with brass fittings from NAPA.

 

[Allof75]

One of the offroad magazines built a ZJ years ago. A few years after that it was rebuilt and one of the failures they addressed was the "in-spring" style air bag they used on the rear of the Jeep. If I recall, the owner liked the backs, but they developed a hole or were pinched by the coil spring.

That said, I have experience with the leaf spring mount bags and love them. I have the set from my last truck (used for weekly heavy loads for 4 years) and am lazily looking into making them work on my ZJ, perhaps with a cantilever-style mount since there isn't a lot of room under the rear.

My only durability problems were with the air hose connections included with the kit. Leaked like cloth diaper, but I fixed that with brass fittings from NAPA.

Hm, is that article anywhere? I'm having a hard time finding evidence either pro or con. Seems like it may work for my application, depends on the mount I guess. ZJs should be similar.

 

[Binksman]

Hm, is that article anywhere? I'm having a hard time finding evidence either pro or con. Seems like it may work for my application, depends on the mount I guess. ZJs should be similar.

Here you go:

http://www.fourwheeler.com/projectbuild/129_0712_1996_jeep_grand_cherokee/viewall.html

 

[redthies]

I like the airbag "cradle" idea, but I'm not sure if my 3500 dually flexes enough to justify it!

 

[SuperCal]

I'm running the Daystar Airbag Cradles in my '08 F-150 supercrew. Definitely works well at letting the truck flex as intended. I originally had the bags bolted in and it severely limited flex but the Daystars gave it all back.