air bags question

[jmurphy5]

I have firestone air bag with places on rear bumper to put air in and the stems for the front bag are under front of RV. My question is can i add a compressor and a controller to level rv when parked?

[JimM68]

Now that is a really cool question!
I bet you can. But I don't know who makes such a system.
For that matter, you could probably set up an active suspension system to reduce sway when rolling down trhe road.
These guys RideTech.com - Air Suspension Specialist are pretty much the know all be all of air ride.

[tekrsq]

Firestone makes an onboard compressor for use with their air bags (I had one one my last work truck). You would probably have to rig up some type of valve system that would allow you to control air/pressure to each bag individually in order to make the coach level.

[dgapilot]

Take a look here

http://www.airliftcompany.com/produc...pressor-system

[jmurphy5]

Thats going to be sooooooo cool. Now got to get some cash so i can get this started.

[ahicks]

Before getting too excited, I would check the available range of travel/adjustment? Maybe check with no pressure, then at 90 or whatever your max is.

Second, even if it does work out for you, you'll still have a good case of the "jiggles" inside the coach when somebody other than yourself is moving around?

[jmurphy5]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ahicks Before getting too excited, I would check the available range of travel/adjustment? Maybe check with no pressure, then at 90 or whatever your max is. Second, even if it does work out for you, you'll still have a good case of the "jiggles" inside the coach when somebody other than yourself is moving around?

I think your right. I won't have but a few inches of adjustments. This thing has air bags. leaf spring.sway bar and shocks in the back. And coil springs.air bags.shocks and sway bar. So its seems pretty stable. I don't know how hard and how expensive it would be to add real hydraulic or air jacks.

[whem2fish]

for the cost unless your have more money than me but my only question is i hope you have 4 places to add air and not two

[jmurphy5]

Quote:

Originally Posted by whem2fish for the cost unless your have more money than me but my only question is i hope you have 4 places to add air and not two

Well there are two places on back bumper and i would have to add an adaptor and hose ontwo front air bags. Im not sure if i can work out the details but it sure would be cool if i could. Id put the 600 plus in the project if i knew it would work. But 600 would go a long way toward other projects.

[whem2fish]

you want 4 if you tie together in a turn say to the left rv leans to the right it would compress the air that would force the air to the other side causing it to lean more

[Dave78Chief]

In this case, the air bags were only intended to provide ride suspension adjustment not campsite leveling. I would suspect your 84 Southwind has a GM P30 series chassis (454 engine). Front bags were original GM and basically set and forget (periodic checking). Rear were most likely a user add-on to correct a sagging or body sway issue.

Dave

[Winnebeater]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave78Chief In this case, the air bags were only intended to provide ride suspension adjustment not campsite leveling. I would suspect your 84 Southwind has a GM P30 series chassis (454 engine). Front bags were original GM and basically set and forget (periodic checking). Rear were most likely a user add-on to correct a sagging or body sway issue. Dave

I have to agree with this comment. I just put brand new air bags in the front spring and once completely aired up I would say that the front end only gained about 1/4" of ride height. The front don't bottom out as easily as it did before. If you go onto Firestone's web site you can see that the front springs can only support an additional 500lbs each. In my opinion I don't think that is enough to level the RV. With my hydraulic jacks, sometimes I have to lift the front or rear 5"-6" to level the motorhome. Also the shocks and sway bars are going to resist individual adjustment side to side and make it harder to level the vehicle. This may not be correct for all systems, but all the systems that I have seen are frame mounted, so the suspension is actually helping the lifting process rather than hindering it. A nice bonus with the hydraulic lift system is that you can get the tires off the ground if you get a flat.

[ahicks]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Winnebeater I have to agree with this comment. I just put brand new air bags in the front spring and once completely aired up I would say that the front end only gained about 1/4" of ride height. The front don't bottom out as easily as it did before. If you go onto Firestone's web site you can see that the front springs can only support an additional 500lbs each. In my opinion I don't think that is enough to level the RV. With my hydraulic jacks, sometimes I have to lift the front or rear 5"-6" to level the motorhome. Also the shocks and sway bars are going to resist individual adjustment side to side and make it harder to level the vehicle. This may not be correct for all systems, but all the systems that I have seen are frame mounted, so the suspension is actually helping the lifting process rather than hindering it. A nice bonus with the hydraulic lift system is that you can get the tires off the ground if you get a flat.

On the bold, same experience here. I bought the coach with bags that wouldn't hold air thinking once replaced I could air them to the point they would lift the front a little. That didn't work out. Even if I let the air out, lifted the front off the ground with the jacks, THEN aired them, I would still only gain a 1/2" or so. That's why I replaced the springs with the heaviest I could find. That lifted the front end up.....

That experience is why I suggested the OP check out the available lift range prior to getting too excited regarding his plan.

[leadman]

Same experience here with the front air bags. Did very little to lift the front end. They do keep the front end from bottoming out so easy.
I put air shocks on the rear of my 24" Itasca and can get about 2" out of them.