Questions about air bags

[4Wheelin]

I have been playing with the thought of bagging my truck in the future but don't know that much about how they work. I was curious if anyone knew how they are set up on the truck itself? What parts do you need to do this? and Can you keep the truck at stock ride height and still have them?

 

[joker]

there are many diff. ways to lower, in the front you'll need:
- drop beams: $400-500
-air bags
in the rear:
-you can leave the leafs, or you can go with a 4-link, 2-link, or a tri. 3-link
you need lines and tank and compressors, and you have to cut the frame.

unless you a really harsh ride i would say go with the drop beams in the front with coils for a 5" drop and de-arched leafs and blocks in the back for a six inch drop.

but if you want to do the bags more power to ya, i'm still thinking about doing it to my x with 20's but that 2500-3000 dollar price tag is alot of money

 

[4Wheelin]

Can I put the bags on and leave it at stock height or have it a little lower?

 

[joker]

yes but why waste your money.
just do the torsion twist and blocks or something

 

[4Wheelin]

I would but i wanted to be able to have an adjustable shock on each corner so I could tilt my truck to one side or drop the air from the front or back. Kinda like this:

 

[RFR2212]

Uh, call me crazy.. but don't ya need bags or hydralics to do what that pic has?
Pete

 

[rockymntnhi]

Not worth it .

That's what the post is about , Bags .... Unless your willing to go all out , it's not worth it . Do you 4wheel ? If so forget it . Are you willing to spend 2grand +? If not forget it . I would invest your $$$ into sumthin' else . Goodluck .

 

[section525]

I've seen that Explorer in Calabasas, CA. Where'd you get that pic??

 

[Godfather 1138]

bags on a 4x4

It's generaly not worth the time or hastle to put bags on a 4x4 suv b/c the front of the system usualy needs to come out. You can probably leave it in if you get really tricky with the instal, but I my self would not mess with it. I have bagged 3 trucks, and put hyraulics on 1 so I'm not an expert, but I do know what I'm talking about (most of the time, so don't hold me to that )

It sounds like you were asking if you can have bags to play with (to throw a "side") but leave the truck stock, the answer is no. To get the effect you are wanting you will need to do like the others are saying and drop the truck...this will consist of removing some factory parts, and replacing others to acomidate the bags.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I say forget the bags, and use the 4x4 for what it was meant to be used for. If it was a 2x4 I'd be all for it, hell I'd probably volentier to do the install as a learning experience.

reference so you know I'm not full of crap:
Trucks that I've bagged (in conjunction with friends, I'm not claiming full credit on any of these except the '92 Nissan that was my old truck):
'92 Nissan Hardbody
'89 Nissan Hardbody
'95 Ford Ranger (hell yeah)
Truck that I juced:
'96 S-10


If you are really serious about doing this you can email me, and I'll do some checking around to find out what is possible.

Greg

 

[4Wheelin]

Thanks for all the info. I will probably just scratch the idea due to the huge price tag that the bags involve. Does anyone know anything about air shocks? Could I accomplish something like this with those?

section525 - Check out explorerunderground.com for more info about his truck.

 

[Godfather 1138]

Same thing.....
to throw a side the truck must first be dropped due to the fact that the bag, shock, cylinder, canister....you get the idea....all lift the truck. What you are seeing is one side of the truck staying neutral in the dropped position, while the other side is lifted to the highest point that the system will allow.
Also, you can not get that much lift from an air shock in the front b/c the weight of the engine is too much (rear: easily 6-8" depending on the shock, front: about 1-2" regardless of the shock)

Hope this helps, even though I'm kinda screwing up your plans.

Greg

 

[4Wheelin]

That is EXACTLY what I thought it was doing. That makes more sense to me now. Could I drop just the back or just the front with the air shocks if I let the air out of them?

 

[Godfather 1138]

yep,
If you drop the back with lowering blocks (around $20) or just pull some leafs out of the pack the you could raise and drop the back at will. You will need a compressor to be able to do this while driving, but I actually used a cheep "emergency tire pump" on my Nissan for a while (you can get them at Wal-Mart, or any car parts store...cheaper at walmart. make sure it is rated for around 200psi b/c it will take alot to lift your ex). This can be fun to have for messing with people's heads, but there are drawbacks to the air shocks as well. They are un-Godly slow, and will ride very stiff when aired all the way up.

My suggestion is to drop the front a little (maby 2 or 3" or more if you're me ) by turning down the torsion bars (make sure you make the same amount of turns on each side). Then drop the back a little more than you did the front (if you go 3 in the front go 5 in the rear...you get the idea) and add the air shocks. By doing this you will be able to ride level and not have the shocks aired all the way up (intheory), and should be able to lift the back higher than the front, and drop it lower than the front. It should end up being a pretty cool setup for 1/10 the price (air shocks are pretty cheep).

 

[4Wheelin]

That's a real cool idea. I will definitly keep that in mind for the future. Thanks for all the help.

 

[Godfather 1138]

No problem...
You can email mail me if you need anything when the time comes.

 

[BislamJoe]

Joker - He can't twist the torsion bars. He doesn't have any. It's a '93 4x4 with the TTB front end. I've always heard that you can't keep 4x4 and lower a '91-'94 Explorer because of the diffy hitting things. As far as I can tell, the only way to get more than maybe an inch of drop on a first-generation 4x4 is to lose 4wd and get drop beams.

 

[Godfather 1138]

I wasn't sure about the t-bar part, but I was going by the industry standard that most 4x4's have t-bars. Does his Ex have coils or what...I guess I should hunt one down and check it out. Thanks for clearing that up.