Suspension articulation with marks portal axles

[Muskee84]

I have Heavy duty control arms
Heavy duty panhard bars
New pedders springs
New old man emu nitro charger shocks
New pedders air assist adjustable air bags
Is there anything I should do with the airbags to get better articulation?

[blocko05]

Might be an idea to speak to a suspension specialist and see what they recommend. Or just hit some tracks and test it yourself adjusting as you go.

[Muskee84]

No worries

[happygu]

Not sure if I am the best one to comment, as I generally don't like anything Pedders as I think it is normally cheap stuff.

Did you fit the Pedders gear, or did it come with the truck?



OME Shocks will be great though as they are Quality Gear that will last, so it looks like they supply some really good gear ....

For heaps of flex, Poly Airbags would be my last choice to install, but keeping them at a minimum air fill will allow for the greatest flex in most situations.
I would refer to any documentation that comes their bags, as there will be a minimum PSI as they willl need to stay put and not get damaged with the coil action.

[Muskee84]

Pedders gear came with the truck. Eventually may go for a different spring setup

[the evil twin]

What happy said... deflate the bags to minimum but not 0 PSI.
FWIW I keep 5 PSI in mine but they are not Pedders.

[happygu]

I like to have rated coils to suit the application - and use no airbags, as most of the trucks that have trouble with their rear spring towers cracking use Poly Airbags, and the damage usually happens because the bags are over-inflated.

Well rated Coils and Shocks will just do their thing, and there are no other continual adjustments to make. Some people love making continual adjustments and tinkering, air in, air out, adjust rebound, etc - others just want to get in and drive, and I am probably the later.

There are lots of good coils out there to do the job - depending on what you are after the most, comfort or load carrying ability but you won't totally get both with the same coil -you get it to varying degrees, and you often need to compromise a little on one or the other. My compromise is that my truck is probably a little harsh unladen, but is fantastic when loaded up but has great flex either loaded or unloaded.

The only benefit of the airbags is where you can have comfort but still have carrying capacity, but there can be drawbacks to them also with reliability of airlines, sticks holing bags although they are fairly tough, shocks being under or overdampened depending on the amount of air in the bags, etc .... which introduces other compromises too.

You may find your Pedders Springs to be good and I hope that you do, but I have some mates that I go out with - two exact same Patrols - one with quality coils and shocks, and one with cheap junk, and the difference in the way they sit, ride and handle is huge ..... you would think they are different trucks altogether, and that is just looking from the back, without getting in. ( Not sure I want to get in, as it the cheap one barely gets round corners :( )

[Muskee84]

Great advice. The car came with airbags but would prefer better flex over load carrying capacity at the moment. I have no idea what size coils to put In tho as it has portal axles so all of the suspension geometry should be close to standard

[Sherro]

I wouldn't worry about the air bags to much i have air bag man bags with kevlar covers and i run them between 5 and 10 psi in the bush and no dramas with flex my 33s still hit the tray even after i lifted it another 25mm.

[BigRAWesty]

Bags will restrict flex a little but bugger all..

And anyone who blames air bags for chassis damage well imo is wrong..
You can get +400kg which will tear your chassis apart.. No airbags..
It is purely overloading the vehicle..
Airbags don't break it.. the load does..
If you carrying lots of load or even planning on treating the car rough tower braces would be high on the mods list..

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[Punderhead]

I have a 2 inch lift with airbags in my gu. Like others have said, it really doesn't limit your flex. With 5psi in the bag I still hit the bumpstop on full flex, so I would say it doesn't limit flex at all.

Cheers.


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[threedogs]

Bags will restrict flex a little but bugger all..

And anyone who blames air bags for chassis damage well imo is wrong..
You can get +400kg which will tear your chassis apart.. No airbags..
It is purely overloading the vehicle..
Airbags don't break it.. the load does..
If you carrying lots of load or even planning on treating the car rough tower braces would be high on the mods list..

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Dont the airbags give it a place to counter lever the load on.
too many broken chassis to disclaim it I think

[BigRAWesty]

Dont the airbags give it a place to counter lever the load on.
too many broken chassis to disclaim it I think
If chassis were breaking above the airbags then yea.. blame the bags..
But they all fail at the front spring hanger. .
So..
Just my rational thinking.
Airbags don't cause chassis issues.
They do hide an overloaded vehicle which then causes chassis failure.. but H/D springs will give the same false sence..

[Punderhead]

If chassis were breaking above the airbags then yea.. blame the bags..
But they all fail at the front spring hanger. .
So..
Just my rational thinking.
Airbags don't cause chassis issues.
They do hide an overloaded vehicle which then causes chassis failure.. but H/D springs will give the same false sence..

Yep. I agree that it is the weight that causes the issues, and the reason airbags are blamed is that they bandaid the overloading as it were.

Also, I'm pretty sure that airbags do cause issues with leaf sprung vehicles (because they apply weight to the chassis where it hasn't been braced) and this has just been transferred to coil sprung vehicles (which merely stiffen the spring as it were)

My $0.02.

Cheers


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