Well I got the day off and since i'm still waiting on my cam for my motor I decided to start on the air ride project. My rear bilstein 5150 shocks came in today. I'm still waiting on the joint ends from ballistic fabrication to all get machined and to come in, they should be here at the end of next week. I should be done with the suspension by the middle of the next week after that.

Here are some pictures of the rear brackets that I got around to today.
All hardware is 5/8'' grade 8 and everything is bolt on. I had two 4x8 sheets of 3/16'' steel laying around, so this is what I used, and designed the components accordingly to withstand more than enough force, even though I'm only using 3/16''.

Keep in mind, every part is cut by hand with a torch. Every dimension was chosen for a reason. And if you have a question about part of it, just ask.

This is the rear bar bottom axle bracket.


The rear bar top axle bracket, it sits directly on top of the 3x5'' axle plate for the springs, the 1/4'' thick angles on the bottom centers the bracket on the plate, and spreads the load out more on the axle as well. The bag bolts to the top.


This is about the correct gap between the two plates when installed. This also shows how they will bolt together with 4- 5/8'' bolts.



This shows how it will all go together, this is the bag bolted on top, completely deflated


This is the bag at what my ride height will be.


This is the bag at full height.

 

I think "Team Burt Reynold's Mustache" is better

 

u better get those rockers 35" off the ground with this set up or start over
ha ha ha glad someone else is doing an adjustable suspension

 

Lmao not bad princess
Lol I have no problem with doing that if you would foot the bill for some 44-46'' baja claws.
Either way, your truck is going under mine at RRE, we'll find a way bro.

 

Ziggy

How did you post those pictures? I want to start posting pictures and do not understand how.

 

You have to post them in your gallery or on Facebook or another website then enter the hyperlink in your post

 

Are those different than the regular air bags we're used to seeing? Seems like if you delete the springs and just rely on airbags, the ride can get awful stiff. Is there some sort of tank or adapter that give you some "spring" over bumps?

 

I've got a photobucket account, if you make one, then upload the pictures, and copy the "IMG" code for that picture, and post it in a thread.

 

Also Dave when you upload pics into your gallery it will give you a link you can post in the thread or photobucket or facebook to get the link as mentioned before.

 

Ziggy....those look like some nice brackets....how high is your truck going to be? But if you are going to delete the leaf springs, are you worried about the bracket assembly rotating on the axle at all? Sorry just thinking out load.........

 

It's not really stiff at all actually, remember air can be compressed, liquids cannot.

I wont get into all the math involved in calculating the spring rate and frequency of a volume of air compared with a spring steel, lol unless you really really want me to then I will.
But in short, the "softness" of the bag depends on the volume of air in the bag, and the rate of the bag...etc.

Believe it or not these particular bags, by themselves on the rear, are actually just a hair bit softer of a ride than factory.


These are Slam specialties SS8 bags. Jim Jam spoke highly of these bags, and for good reasons. Unlike most bags, the SS bags do NOT increase in diameter as they are inflated or deflated, they stay at 8'' diameter regardless. They also have internal bumpstops so you can let all of the air out of the bag and never have to worry about pinching the bag like rolling lobe bags. These are completely different and better quality than something like the firestone helper air bags if that is what you are thinking.

For the most part, larger, higher weight capacity bags are stiffer. So if you need to use a bag that is rated for more weight, but want a softer ride, all you have to do is increase the volume of air. Thus the reason you see some z-link systems on OTR trucks use "reseviors" or "ping tanks" to achieve a softer ride.
That is how you keep the higher weight rating, and the soft ride.
You cannot simply just put more air in the bag to increase the volume inside thinking it will soften it, because the bag rate changes according to height, and because all else being equal, it takes X amount of pressure for a bag to lift X amount of weight to X height. With the ping tank, you are keeping the same bag height, the same pressure, but larger volume, which effectively reduces the rate of the bag.

Also if you were to have a bag that was too soft, you could put a liquid inside the bag(like antifreeze, glycol, alcohol, etc..) something that wouldn't freeze or damage the bag material, it would reduce the volume of the air column, hence making the bag stiffer.


If that makes sense lol.

So in other words I'm using only the bags on the rear, and on the front I am using a ping tank made from a 3'' pipe, that will be 6'' long so that the front will be softer than the rear(otherwise it wont "feel" right). That is what I came up with in all the math that I did, and the frequency that that size tank will give me, will be about the same as that of what most luxury cars are.




But all of that is only part of what makes all of this work, the 4 link design is a whole other story lol. The bags only affect how soft the ride is. The 4 link affects everything else, like body roll, center of gravity, anit-squat, and anything else that has to do with handling other than how soft or hard the ride is.
All of the dimensions, bar length, height, separation, angle, etc.. all affect how it will handle.
For instance, if you design it wrong, and you are going down the road and stomp on the throttle, the back end of the truck could rise several inches....imagine that? It also works the other way too, you don't want it to nose dive when you are barely on the brakes either.



Chris I hope that all makes sense lol, its hard for me to explain. I'll try again if I need to lol

 

My truck right now is about 8'' of lift, maybe a smidge more. My standard ride height of the new setup will be about 9 1/2'' of lift in the front, 10'' in the rear.
If I choose to let all of the air out, or completely fill them, The lift range compared to stock will be 3''-13'' give or take. However if I was to try and drive it with the bags completely deflated or inflated it would be a very very harsh ride.

I'm not worried about the brackets rotating really. The 4 5/8 grade 8 bolts that hold the pieces onto the axle, when torqued to 98ft-lbs have a combined clamping load of 37,292 lbs.

Think of it this way. This design as far as this goes, would be no different that One Up offroads lift blocks with a ladder bar, like what Clay is running. And the factory u bolts are only like 9/16'' I believe. So I'm not too concerned about it.

 

...............My head hurts.

That is some serious work you put into figuring all that out. Very nice.

 

one of the guys in my club made is own three link for the rear and is sitting on big rig style air bags... he says it rides like a cadillac.

 

nice use of the gas axe mate. make sure you post pics when completed i cant wait to see it.