Air ride!
I just installed an airbag suspension on my new '15 F350 dually and took it on the first camper trip. I will put at the end of this post the reasons for doing it to save the long narrative for those i...
Forum Discussion
Well, on my GM HD trucks (2500HD and 3500 HD), where the airbags pushup on is NOT remotely a weak area in the truck's frame as it's the same thickness, depth, and cross section all the way and is straight horizontally and very strong. Unlike some other brands of pickups which do have weaker area designs around the rear axle area. One brand of pickup rocks side to side so much more due to frame design and where airbags must and can be mounted and can even be somewhat dangerous with high PSI in the bags in high cross winds or fast cornering. Witnessed it at the proving grounds! A TC's weight and mass is almost entirely on the truck vehicles way above the truck's rear frame, suspension, wheels, and tires and usually the weakest one of these factors is the first to fail which isn't very humorous when it occurs. Wind resistance when at highway speeds only intensifies the vehicle's stresses and bad actions in a failure. Proceed very carefully and weigh the risks when altering an OEM designed and certified thru countless hours of proving ground testing vehicle! You life and your passengers lives may well depend on it.
My OEM springs are still on as they should be and take any side to side rocking out so that's not an issue at all with our over 11' floor length very heavy fully optioned out Lance TC. Tag on the Lance says it's weight is 3842 lbs with full fresh water tank and 60 lbs of propane. No cargo. None of my truck's individual components are loaded over their individual certified GWR's or load ratings as that's key!
Rides great and handles excellent and has for nearly 80,000 miles now of travel with the heavy Lance TC on the 2500 HD truck enhanced to 3500HD OEM specs and has the Air-Lift Systems 5,000 lb capacity airbags. I know the truck and frame very well and it's real capacities as I was involved in some components on it during development back in around 2000. Same exact frame as on the 3500 HD SRW and the 3500HD DRW truck!
Adding the airbags to a GM HD pickup dampens the transferred road shock action of the metal springs while the wider spaced metal springs carry the majority of the cargo load and resist rocking.
Only major issue I see with cantilever air ride systems and removing the OEM springs (while there's many good points) is in a bag etc quick failure, there's no backup support system at all and it can have very catastrophic results for control loss. One main reason it's not used as an OEM design for HD production pickups. However, the truck's owner can make changes as long as he's staying within his registered (in some states) weight and/or is not used for hire to carry persons etc.
My OEM springs are still on as they should be and take any side to side rocking out so that's not an issue at all with our over 11' floor length very heavy fully optioned out Lance TC. Tag on the Lance says it's weight is 3842 lbs with full fresh water tank and 60 lbs of propane. No cargo. None of my truck's individual components are loaded over their individual certified GWR's or load ratings as that's key!
Rides great and handles excellent and has for nearly 80,000 miles now of travel with the heavy Lance TC on the 2500 HD truck enhanced to 3500HD OEM specs and has the Air-Lift Systems 5,000 lb capacity airbags. I know the truck and frame very well and it's real capacities as I was involved in some components on it during development back in around 2000. Same exact frame as on the 3500 HD SRW and the 3500HD DRW truck!
Adding the airbags to a GM HD pickup dampens the transferred road shock action of the metal springs while the wider spaced metal springs carry the majority of the cargo load and resist rocking.
Only major issue I see with cantilever air ride systems and removing the OEM springs (while there's many good points) is in a bag etc quick failure, there's no backup support system at all and it can have very catastrophic results for control loss. One main reason it's not used as an OEM design for HD production pickups. However, the truck's owner can make changes as long as he's staying within his registered (in some states) weight and/or is not used for hire to carry persons etc.
