Added air bags...

[Desert_Captain]

Today was my first opportunity to try out the new air bags I had installed a couple of weeks ago. I bought the Air Lift Load Lifter 5000 Ultimate system {$270 for the bags and $269 for the install}. In 5 years and 50K+ miles I never felt the need for bags but I recently added a nice 6 X 10' {14'overall} cargo trailer to haul my Indian Springfiled - 862#.

Being a single axle trailer I have more tongue weight than a tandem coming in at 485# with the trailer loaded with the bike and misc gear that I moved out of the coach {BBQ, Compressor, firepit, LP Cylinder etc.}. Bike and trailer weigh 2,220 fully loaded on a GVWR of 2,990. My E-350 is rated to tow 5,000# with a hitch weight of 500 but given the way Nexus overbuilt the hitch I'm sure it would handle far more.

When I hook up the empty trailer my rear bumper at the hitch drops an inch from 24" to 23". Load the bike and it drops another inch to 22 but... pump the air bags to a mere 50# {max pressure is 100 so I have plenty of room to work with} and lo and behold the bumper is right back to its original, unloaded height of 24".

We leave in the morning headed up to the Pinegrove CG about 20 miles south of Flagstaff at 8,400'. Five days of goregous camping and motorcycle riding {South Rim, Route 66, Sedona, Jerome, Cottonwood etc} should make for a fine trip. This will give me a great opportuinity to test the performance of the air bags as we will be doing the interstate {I-17} going up and the back country 2 lane highways coming home.

I'll report back next week when we return but am expecting a good result.

:C

[Stim]

Back in the 70's I had a 1973 Buick Rivera that I did a lot of towing with.
I put air shocks on it and it made a world of difference!
Play with the pressure until you find a sweet spot and don't think more is better.
I had a 1989 Southwind with bags on the front that I had to change.
They worked great at 35 psi.

[bobndot]

I was thinking of adding bags too. My rear overhang
(hitch brackets) does drag at times while entering and exiting certain driveways and that's without towing a trailer.
I had to cut and raise my rear hydraulic jacks to gain 4" of clearance on the low hanging jacks.
AB's with an onboard compressor would be a nice addition.
When I talk to my DW, I will try some subliminal messages..."airbags......compressor...…"
Maybe someday she will offer to buy me air bags and a compressor. I'll just act surprised.

[Desert_Captain]

With the bags inflated to just half of their capacity the hitch does not drop 2"., it does not drop at all maintaining the 24' unloaded height. Hence the air bags. I will continue to monitor and adjust {if/as necessary}.

I did notice the front was definitely lighter before the air bag install which is why I went that route. After two trips it was obvious an adjustment was needed. I also adjusted some of the interior loading in the coach to bring more weight forward. As I said I'll know more next week and will report back on what I learn.

:C

[Harvard]

It is a slow day here so I am going to play with some numbers:

The question is, how much caster change at the front wheels with dropping the height of the hitch by 2 inches?

Estimated wheel base = 158 inches
Estimated distance from rear axel to hitch = 48 inches

There for 2 inches in (158 + 48) = about 0.58 degree +caster increase w/o the bags.

The front end will be about 150# lighter when the 485# is bearing down on the hitch.