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Airbagit - 4 Link Air Ride Suspension kit

36K views 27 replies 13 participants last post by  skank 
#1 ·
#4 ·
I just installed a leveling kit in the front and put 35s on my truck as well.

Honestly I don't think the price is that out of wack, if you look at a set of firestone bags and their comparable compressor that will control all 4 corners your over 1K in price.

To be able to lower the truck 4inches and raise it 4 inches above stock ride height has some huge advantages.

The only problem I see with this kit is that the mounting brackets for my rear B&W hitch would interfere with where they mount the bracket for the rear air bags on the frame.
 
#7 ·
I've had some dealings in the past with airbagit. My honest opinion...

stay away.

I think thats the 4th or 5th name they've had in the past few years because they've had so many issues in the past. they quality of their work is sub-par and their bags are about the same (a lot of the stuff is imported).

I've learned all to often "you get what you pay for"
 
#9 ·
Just another name for Aim/Chassis Tech....stay away.
I needed some drop shackles in a hurry for my truck once and could only find theirs locally...the urethane bushings were GONE within about 6 months. I thought I heard some clunking....that was why.
 
#10 ·
So....sounds like good and bad reviews....any other suggestions on a 4 Link air ride for all 4 corners?
 
#17 ·
Looks like Trever at Precision metal fab build some pretty cool stuff. I also like how he'll build the kit around where you're going to "ride" in the truck.

All I would want is to ride at a front height to clear 35s and stock rear height, then I'd like to be able to raise and lower the truck 4 inches from that.

Wonder how much his kits run on price.
 
#18 ·
Have you thought about building your own air ride?

A member on here did a fine job building his own and has a thread with a lot of nice detailed pictures. His user name is me2, PM him or search for his thread and check out what he put together.
 
#20 ·
I just don't have the time to build my own
 
#21 ·
JAKE I'm hoping that you start a thread filled with pictures of your build, I'd like to see that come together.
 
#22 ·
I did my build in '99 and lost all my build in process pics on the old computer. I can get some pics of the current setup. the new setup is going to work much better. It is definately worth the time and money. When I do start the new build I will have pics, I have almost everything ready to go through the cnc cutter, but with everything going here I have not had enough time to get the stuff buttoned up
 
#23 ·
I looked at that kit before I built mine.

I feel the control arms are too short and they used the wrong bags. If you measure out the geometry of it and run it in a 4 link evaluator you'll find it has some funny roll characteristics.
 
#26 ·
I bought stuff for my mustang from them valves lines fittings auto drain accumulators. I have not had a problem with them granted i have not really bought anything with a lot of moving parts. The valves are awesome well made. I wouldn't hesitate on this kit if it was a bit cheaper.
 
#27 ·
For the record, my air ride system is working great. I've got over 10K miles on it and I haven't touched a single thing. I pulled 12K over 2,000 miles in the last month.

The ride quality is very good. The bushings are working out very well... totally silent. It has no squat or anti squat. The roll characteristics are a little bit higher than I would like but perfectly acceptable given how soft my bags are and that I don't run a stabilizer bar.

The kit in question concentrates the axle torque on the rear leaf spring mount. It was never designed for that. It was designed for up and down forces, not huge torque. If you look at my build, my frame link mount is 18" long and my mount point is 10" in front of the rear leaf spring mount.

The control arms on the kit in question are pretty short. The shorter the control arms the more the frame will roll when turning.

The kit in question uses small, high pressure bags. My setup uses large volume Goodyear bags. Much lower spring rate, much greater capacity. 5200 pounds per bag at 100 PSI. For those that aren't aware, air bags can have an extremely high spring rate if they aren't sized right. Like 500 pounds per inch. The Goodyear bags I use have a spring rate of about 250 pounds per inch unloaded. The stock leaf springs on an F250 are 320 pounds per inch. The spring rate of an air bag can be much softer than a leaf spring because they are way more progressive. It takes a while to explain it.

The kit in question has the upper axle control arm mount fairly high above the axle. I am pretty sure it would hit and dent the underside of the box if the axle ever hit the frame bumpstop. But I am pretty sure that the bags won't allow that to happen. I think the axle travel is pretty limited due to the bag limitations.

The kit in question appears to use bushings that have very little rubber content. Lots of road noise will be transferred to the frame. I use a high quality leaf spring bushing which is designed to isolate noise.

The kit in question runs the bags between the axle and the frame. Result: very low volume bags. High spring rate, stiff ride. I mounted my bags behind the axle so I could use big bags. Lower spring rate, much more progressive, better ride, better ride quality.

One has to be careful about air compressors. The quality varies a lot. I bought a Viair 450 Industrial Grade compressor.

As far as the front goes, be very careful about clearance between the bag and the frame and the front wheel. I'll be bagging my front axle in the near future with 7" bags.

I am pretty sure that one could get a lot of one of these kits built at a welding shop for a lot less than $4K. Mine cost about $1K with the Viar compressor and height valves, plus my labor. Once you get the design figured out, its only a few weekends of cutting, drilling and welding. I'm sure that Jake and I would be willing to offer guidance to anyone who wants to build their own.

A good air ride suspension totally changes the character of these trucks. They stop being "the lumberwagon" and start being a cruising machine. My pregnant wife and I did 700 miles in my truck in one day pulling our 12K 5er two weekends ago. We pulled several mountain passes where the heavy trucks had been running chains and the road was all chewed up. My suspension is particularly adept at soaking that stuff up. The ride was really good. So, so much better than it was with leaf springs. I wasn't even that tired at the end of the day.

I hope this helps someone.
 
#28 ·
I put the full airbagit kit on my 04 f250 years ago. I ended up having to fabricate and modify a lot of the parts to make it work ok. I had to change the smartride air managerment system out to a newer one after a year, rebuild the air compressor, upgrade to bigger bags on the front for my diesel engine, upgrade all the heim joints to get rid of all the rattles and bangs, make custom brackets for the plug and play, build custom brackets to be able to use my sway bars again, build new spacers and brackets to get the rear the right height, install different air valves to control the air bag speed, build an adjustable front drag link, on and on and on... It has been an experience for sure. I have had it working ok for a couple years now with not much issue but I would never ever do this to another truck unless I spent the extra money and did a Kelderman kit. Now my biggest issue I have is I need some custom valved shocks to control the huge movement in the bags. It bounces and bucks you about out of the cab when hitting bumps. I think I need some aggressive rebound dampening to keep it from bouncing 3 times after a bump. Anybody have any advice on what I need for shocks???
 
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