Quote:
Originally Posted by Traveler2162
I have a 5 ton aluminum car hauler that I use to carry just about anything and I intend to tow it behind my RV with my toys on it.
The suspension is simply too rigid and, with less than 4k on it, it seems to spend most of its time in the air which leads to terrible chucking. Enough that driving it 400 miles with only 2500 lbs on the trailer basically gave me whiplash. Get 4k on it and it is a treat.
I was looking at the Lippert Center Point Air system and wondered what others thought. I have been told by another vender that they are not really effective but he is trying to sell a complete air suspension system for twice what this will cost.
He said that the bushings were nylon and they wear out fast.
Has anyone installed this and what did they think of the results. I need the trailer but I need to get ride of the chucking because it is going to fatigue the trailer and then it will break.
I know this is not going to be as good as a complete air ride system but I don't need lots of up and down elevation changes. I need the suspension tamed. Can you comment on the construction.
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I have a 30Ft toy hauler that weighs somewhere around 11K that I installed the center point system on myself. I never towed it with the original suspension as I completely remodeled the interior and knew I wanted better suspension - so I can't comment on improvements over stock.
The unit itself is quite heavy and looks to be quite durable. The moving parts on the unit itself are non removable and permanently lubed (no grease fittings and they recommend no lubrication). Just to clarify - there are NO nylon bushings - everything looks super heavy duty.
The kit came with everything I needed to install it as well as bronze bushings and wet bolt kits for replacing the existing nylon bushings on my springs as well. So basically I now have a full wet bolt setup.
I did the installation myself and had no issues with their components (had some issues with the existing springs that I was able to work out).
It does indeed raise the trailer a couple of inches once you are done.
The kit expects you to tee the two bags together for the air lines. Unfortunately the way my camper is constructed it is heavier on one side than the other - so I plumbed the air bags to two separate air fittings. The kit uses standard lines you would use for any air bag system. I just bought an extra air fill valve.
One side I air up to around 25PSI and the other side I inflate to around 40PSI to get the trailer level side to side.
It is easy to check the inflation levels because the air bags themselves are mounted to plates that ideally are parallel when properly inflated and resting. So I just peek under the trailer and if I see the plates not parallel I can change the inflation (this really helps with changing weights in the trailer depending on loading). Inflation is pretty forgiving.
I don't have any pictures of the installation to share - but checkout the manual online - it gives you a pretty good idea of what needs to happen.
I did the entire installation in less than a day (I put the camper on cement blocks so I had free access to play with the axels and springs).
I ordered mine (tandem axel) from Amazon for $1,400
I have only used the system for 1 year of camping and put around 7000 miles on it - so can't give you long term results.
I chose the system because I wanted a smoother ride for the trailer (which I believes it provides) and was not willing to make the major changes and costs involved in the "better" systems. There is a video on the Lippert site that shows a video of the system in action as well.
This was the best compromise I could come up with between functionality and price. Being able to install it myself saved a bunch of money.
I am happy with the operation of the system and would do it again.
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