MB (28th January 2021)
That was the wacky plan to be able to check coil bags psi each side without a tyre gauge. Any recommendations for a decent pair of bullet proof outdoor gauges Mate?
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Yeah I was gonna say mate. That gauge will last 5 minutes. Then you'll have no air. If it were me. Get some decent steel braided air lines made up to fit where the gauge is sitting in your pic. Then either run the new line up to a gauge out of the way, or plumb it into a gauge in the cab. The latter is what I would do, then you can keep an eye on the gauge whilst surfing the whoopdies of the VHC.
MB (29th January 2021)
Cheers Mate! Have to agree it was great fun watching the heavy GU utes full on-air bellow gauges incab on the whoopdies![]()
Quite handy too for chassis protection as you could really visualise the strain she was going through sometimes witnessed massive 60-100psi fluctuations side to side out there fully loaded.
Should be ok this time around as the little GQ has been weighed up for some Dobinson rear variable coils of 50mm lift and a 200kg constant load rating with the inner coil bags only as ride levelling backup this time around.
Shouldn’t need to watch the gauges so fiercely and they’ll hopefully run below 5psi most times unless highway towing or a quick external top up if hauling firewood back to camp out there
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@MB, the air lines are imperial, 1/4" from memory, not as readily avail as the metric stuff and from experience 4 times the price. I would get a 6m length and a couple of in-line joiners as well.(let me know if you cannot get the joiners as I have a few here you can grab.)I run my airbags inside 3/8 clear/reinforced airline as well. The gauges have never worked for me in-cabin as the bend radiuses to the gauge and from the air bags, plus the flexing, I found the hoses came loose and leaked over time behind the gauge. I think if I go this way in the future I will go this electronic gauges instead of the mechanical. Regards the location and use of that gauge, look, if you protect it it and maybe relocate it out of any line of fire or foot thumping, tree bashing, it will be fine. Focus for me would be the bending of the airline and as @mudski suggests a hose will be better than a plastic line, but saying that, there are 100,000's of air locker installations out there running 5mm airline in very severe locations without issue i would say. Protec the line and the gauge and the little cheapie will do the job - they are an industrial application gauge and you don't need oil filled for this application, and accuracy is not a priority. Vehicle is coming along well it looks, going to be well set up for the battle.
MB (29th January 2021)
Do you really need in cab gauges for airbags? Thought you said KISS
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MB (29th January 2021)
Must’ve misled youz with my dribble again, definitely not putting in cab gauges in again, trying to keep inside as OEM as possible too, no pillar pod this time etc....
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FWIW: Have had 30psi max inner coil bags in the family GU wagon for years towing varying weight lunging forward horses and many a half gnarly off-road adventure shared too.
Was a most simple KISS wagon standard install with the two rear air valves routed up to each underside of the steel Kaymar rear bar.
It only ever had one failure on the rear left plastic line down on Climies Track Tasmania where the exhaust was kindly redirected upwards and burnt through a loose line
Pain the arse well protected valve location though as you have to climb underneath to check how things are going.
FWIW-2: Amazing how much airbags psi changes throughout even a short weekend in the high country areas ranging from 140m - 1,400m ASL trekking
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Thanks again for the lead Chrisso Legend!
Spoke to a lovely young helpful lady at Ocam late last week and today....free delivery to work as I was in no rush
First impressions so far, they appear extremely well heavy cast, certainly a stronger contour mounting design from the old farm spec mirrors I was truly worried about peeling the door panel open if ever clipped.
Bottom holes unfortunately didn’t line up, no big problem and no doubt the old farm doors issue and not Ocam’s.
Again not Ocam’s design problem but I will deliberately look to voiding my warranty by delving deep inside their folding mechanism to hopefully achieve an easy extra 10-15 degrees off their OEM bump stops for gnarlier track needs/wants
Standard driving position is an incredibly strong ‘lock/click’ can honestly say I’ve never passed a Road Train wild enough to flop these rippers back IMHO
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You could keep it simple from a plumbing point of view and use a cheap tpms as an in cab gauge for your airbags. No lines required just give the tpms reciever unit ignition power.
MB (29th January 2021), MudRunnerTD (29th January 2021), PeeBee (31st January 2021), Winnie (30th January 2021)