Rear Air Spring Replacement - Choices, choices, choices

[vtwinwilly]

Greetings all.

I have a 1993 Spartan MM chassis and the rear air springs are over due for replacement.

I called Spartan and got the Reyco/Granning Part Number 12884-01. Spartan wants $262.72 each for these. Yikes! Turns out that's full retail.

A quick Google search and I find the same air spring at AnythingTruck.com for $162.12.

I also found the Firestone equivilent at TruckSpring.com for $154.97

Additional searching revealed the Goodyear equivilent at Stengelbros.com
for $143.73.

So now my question...

Is there really any difference between the three? Is there any benefit of going with the Reyco/Granning, the Firestone, or should I just buy the Goodyear because it's cheapest?

Just looking for a little feedback on the pros and cons.

Also, I plan to change these myself. It looks pretty straight forward. Hardest part seems to be supporting the coach while doing the work, but a couple of 12 ton jack stands should take care of that. Any gotcha's that a first timer should be aware of? I couldn't find anything online about Air Spring Replacement.

BTW.. for those of you concerned I am very mechanically inclined and rarely let other people work on my vehicles. Also, many, many years ago I did work as a construction company fleet mechanic. So I'm not totally un familiar with heavy equipment... it's just been a good long while.

All feedback is welcome.

--BB

P.S. I did do a search before posting this and found very limited information. Sorry if I missed another thread on this topic.

[Ann n Gene]

No difference. Air bags of the same size and capacity are pretty much exactly the same, go for the cheap one. That is what we always did with our OTR trucks and never had any problems from the cheaper ones, rarely had to replace one for any reason, ever after 1 million miles. all just my experience and opinions

[Greg Spannan]

I was a airide development engineer for Firestone several years back. They were mad in Noblesville IN ( now in TN). At the time we made Granning Airsprings. I actually met Ole Granning the founder. Firestone used to be the absolute leader in Airsprings. I'm not sure about Goodyear. If you have any questions on air suspensions let me know.
Good luck,
Greg Spannan
spanny1212@comcast.net
PS: I have a 05 Journey with Firestones.

[sailor_lou]

There may not be any difference, but since you had pretty good luck with the original Reyco/Granning and the price difference isn't that great ($162 vs. $143), I'd stick will success. Good luck.

Lou
05 Travel Supreme Envoy