Super springs vs. custom springs

[KD4UPL]

I've been running air bags on my last 2 trucks for carrying my camper. I currently have them on my '05 Chevy dually. They've worked pretty well but I'm always chasing leaks it seems. Lately as soon as I fix one leak 2 more develop.
I've had it with the bags. I was looking at Supper Springs but I'm really skeptical. I've got 8 leaves under each side now and that's not enough. 1 more is supposed to make all the difference?
The rig weighs in about 13,100 ready to camp. I carry almost 9,000 pounds on the rear axle. I'm thinking that having a spring shop make some custom springs would be a good way to go. Who has had that done? How much did it cost? Were you happy with the results? How is the unloaded ride?

Thanks for the help.

[jefe_4x4]

Kirsch,
Be careful about re-arching leaf springs. It all depends on the method used by the re-archers. Among other considerations the heating and oil quenching must happen at the right time and under the correct temperature and duration. I had the factory springs on my FJ-55 Land Cruiser re-arched to give a 3" lift. This was a very reputable business; the ride did not suffer; it was cheap and I was happy. After about 6 months of hard use the whole rig started to slowly and inexorably settle back down. It took about 2 years for the suspension to resume the position of stock, which was a drag since I owned the rig 14 years and put 185K miles on it. Bummer. So, from my experience, pass on the re-arching of spring packs and pay for whole new set of springs with your name, usage and truck weight on them; Unless they offer a money-back, no sag guarantee.
My favorite 'custom' spring company is National Spring in San Diego. It's a family business and they know their stuff and offer solutions. Deaver is another good outfit.
jefe

[mkirsch]

Thruway Spring here in Rochester NY re-arched my friend's truck's springs and added a leaf on each side for $150, and had it done in less than a day.

[jimh406]

11 years is a few years on air bags. I'd also consider replacing them or at least replacing the fittings. I'd also look at Timbrens if you don't want air bags.

[Naio]

I went the custom springs route, with my van. $600. EXCELLENT results. Gave me a slight lift, too.

I rarely drive without my gear loaded, but when I do it is fine.

[jefe_4x4]

KD,
Unlike travel nutdz, I've had nothing but bad luck with air bags. It's not just the fittings but the bouncy ride when you have any amount of air in them. Too much recoil for me. I worked my spring packs the same way I worked countless leaf spring packs on 4-bys I've had in the past, except with the Dodge I have 3 leaves on the secondary (upper overload) pack which don't come into play( added Stable Loads to make that happen at the right time) until there is the regular camper load on them. I added one more 3" lift 'helper spring' into the pack as the rear was a couple inches lower than the front with the Lance on. This actually helped the ride. Point is, I got there by degrees adding what I thought I would need only after seeing if the current upgrade was enough. Disposition of Stable Load with no load on the truck:

8 pack: 3 upper secondaries, two thin and one thicker; 4 main springs; 1-1800 pound, 3" lift helper spring; 1 useless lower overload spring. With the 7 springs above the overload, they will never compress enough to even touch the overload. I was thinking of just cutting it off to about 8" and realize its real use which is as a spacer.

Of course my entire rig is lighter duty than your mighty Chevy so you will have to figure out the edges in the process listed above.

[travelnutz]

Thanks, it aroused my curiosity a lot because neither me nor anyone else we know have had any leaks at all. Many trucks with Air-Lift bags etc, Over many years of use, and well over a million total miles of travel use combined. Not saying that nobody else has never had a leak as I'm sure it has happened. However, what you have experienced in having so many leaks occurring is simply off the chart times 2.

Of course, you could simply run a single air plumbing line fill to each side of the rear bumper and clip or screw the fills there and still have fully adjustable lift each side capability and you wouldn't even spend $10 doing it. I'd drilled a hole under the bottom side outside ends of the rear bumper and mounted the fills there pointing down so water and dirt isn't a factor and besides, each has a valve stem cap on it. Totally un-noticeable. Can always get to the fills anytime if necessary. Only 2 clamped hose joints to each bag that could ever leak and done right, they won't and never will! So simple to do and ultra cheap and lasts longer than you'll probably ever own the truck. Problem solved!

[KD4UPL]

Well, since you asked:
The bags don't leak. It's all the little air line fittings. I installed these Air lift bags with onboard compressor and dual gauges in 2009 on my 3500 SRW. I took them off in 2011 and put them on my '05 Dually. I've had the manual inflation schrader valves stick open slightly a few times causing a leak. One of the T push locks under the truck had a leak in it. Lately, when I noticed the compressor short cycling a lot I found a leak at the factory brass T on the back of the gauge assembly. I cut that back and put the line back on. Checking for leaks again reveled a leak where the line goes onto the bleeder valve to drop the pressure. I decided to do away with the little brass fitting and ordered some push-lock Ts. I installed them only to find that one gauge fitting is now leaking. So I've got bleeder valves, gauges, and fittings all leaking.
I'd consider replacing the whole gauge assembly but they don't appear to make that one anymore and anything comparable is close to $200.

[travelnutz]

KD4UPL,

I have to ask why you had and/or having so many leaks with airbags or their lines? Our first airbags were put on our 93 2500 Chevy truck in the fall of 93 and are still on and have never leaked at all. Always had a 9-1/2' Lance on it while we owned it. We sold the truck to a friend in 2004 and he has over 400K miles on it now and we see him and the truck and talk several times each year. He's an asparagus farmer and works the truck hard on his farm which it next to some acreage we own in Michigan. These airbags are now nearly 23 years old and still do not leak and work fine!

Our 2004.5 Chevy D/A 2500HD CC LB 4X4 truck with over sized tires and Rancho 9000X shocks and the same Air-Lift Systems model airbags that were put on less than a month after the ordered new truck came in have never leaked at all and now have close to 200K on them. The truck is only used for RV'ing carrying our 11'4" highly optioned out Lance TC or our heavy Carriage Carrilite 5th wheel behind and usually with our 100 Gal diesel aux fuel tank in the bed. These airbags are now 12 years old this month and still not one leak!

Also, none of our RV friends who have airbags on their trucks have ever said they have had any leaks. Some even have the Firestone airbags also. Not knowing which brand of airbag you have, I'm thinking it's a line clamp type issue used on yours or something simple to correct as leaks are far from normal if installed and line clamped properly. I'd never go back to any type of hard overload spring add-ons like we used to use or the rubber type overloads we had on a couple of my business pickups. Very stiff jolty unpleasant riding when lightly loaded and NOT adjustable with out getting under the truck and wrenching and moving things around. Our 52nd year of carrying of TC's and/or pulling RV trailers so we're not novices.

Meanwhile, airbags are infinitely adjustable for needs or side to side lift variations wanted or needed with any even simple cheap 12VDC or 110VAC air compressor or even with an onboard pressure control. OEM ride when unloaded or 5,000 lbs of additional rear suspension lift in seconds max! You control any and all variations. We had the Air-Lift onboard in cab control/compressor system on the 93 truck and bought one for our diesel truck but have never installed it and probably never will. New and still in the box because the truck is always loaded with either the very heavy big Lance TC or has the 5th wheel and aux fuel tank on. When wintering in Florida, simply drop the bag pressure to 5-10 lbs for a fine ride going to grocery stores etc and then inflate back to 70 psi for the long return trip home and switching back to the big Lance TC for nimble summer and fall use anywhere/anytime and for also taking one of our boats along. We're long retired and it's "The best of both
worlds!"

[GeoBoy]

Have you looked at Maxloader springs, or Timbrens?

[KD4UPL]

I did forget to mention that part. There were two versions of the Super Spring listed for my truck. I assumed I would want the heavy duty model. The part number was SSA23. So I guess that one has 2 leaves then.

[rider997]

KD4UPL wrote:
I've been running air bags on my last 2 trucks for carrying my camper. I currently have them on my '05 Chevy dually. They've worked pretty well but I'm always chasing leaks it seems. Lately as soon as I fix one leak 2 more develop.
I've had it with the bags. I was looking at Supper Springs but I'm really skeptical. I've got 8 leaves under each side now and that's not enough. 1 more is supposed to make all the difference?
The rig weighs in about 13,100 ready to camp. I carry almost 9,000 pounds on the rear axle. I'm thinking that having a spring shop make some custom springs would be a good way to go. Who has had that done? How much did it cost? Were you happy with the results? How is the unloaded ride?

Thanks for the help.

The SSA-16, single blade, is rated to "support" 1,650 lbs.

The SSA-13, double blade, is rated to support 3,000 lbs.

You would definitely want the double blade model.

[Tom_Anderson]

KD4UPL wrote:
I'm thinking that having a spring shop make some custom springs would be a good way to go.

You can buy new springs in different rates from General Spring for a lot less than you would probably pay for custom ones. You would have to know the stock spring rate, though (which I don't).

This is the route I would go with my truck, except that it's lifted and all the springs on the website are for stock height trucks.

[big_whitey]

Just had 1,read 1 leaf added to my spring pack. It was very $pendy to the tune of $700. That said it raised my truck 2 3/8 inches. Only drove it a short distance but my initial impressions are positive as the change is quite noticeable both in ride and appearance. Good luck.