Air Lift

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amr40509
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Air Lift

Postby amr40509 » Sun Dec 17, 2006 2:22 pm

I convinced the wife that I should take the Air Lift out from under the Christmas tree a bit early due to the perfect weather this weekend making it a much better time to work out in the garage.

I know a lof of you are running this kit now, are you using the 't' or running two inflation valves?

I put it in w/ the 't'. I ran the air line from the passanger's side to the drive's side, then ran both lines to the back bumper and put the 't' in there, mounting the valve pointing down under the back bumper.

It feels good, the manual said it would lose some pressure over the first night due to breaking it. I set it at 20psi last night, then checked it a couple of hours later and it was 18.5psi. This morning (drove about 50 miles last night) it was 18psi. I dropped it to 15psi since it will be unloaded this week.

I didn't notice much, if any, lift -- but I put the valve on the rear bumper so when I inflated it I was squatting down behind the truck, not giving me a very good perspective on it.

I am contemplating adding the second valve rather then the 't' though. I would think that compression of one side would result in a spike in the pressure on the other side that you wouldn't necessarily want when using the 't'. Right?

BUT the other thought is that if I'm towing the boat in the spring w/ and happen to blow an air line, pop a bag, or just have a failure in general at a bad time, I would want both sides to deflate evenly to keep things balanced, which the 't' would do.

How do you have your's hooked up.


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RacerZX
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Postby RacerZX » Sun Dec 17, 2006 9:19 pm

I use the T.

I doubt the air bags inflate enough physically to add much sprong to the opposite side when cornering. It more keeps the spring from compressing by bulging out between the coils, instead of actually lifting the truck more directly.

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Fofiddy
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Postby Fofiddy » Thu Dec 21, 2006 2:06 am

I use the T for now although I've been contemplating doing individual valves or perhaps getting the compressor (which extends the warrenty on the bags). I could see isolating the bags being an advantage when going through the twisties. In one hand the hose and valves are so narrow I can't imagine it pushing that much weight out of one bag to the other during transitions but then we are talking about 2 tons + here... enough pressure can make water cut steel, so without running it both ways with something like a G-tech I'm grabbing at air.
My rear suspension has taken more abuse than most due to my use of a joe hauler: http://www.joehauler.com/singlehaulers/ ... lers.shtml
I was feeling quite a bit more sag and sway than most people would with my milage.
I have to say I saw a huge difference. 15psi leveled my saggy butt, 20 it looked a little taller than stock and at 27 (the highest I took it) it looked jacked up.

amr40509
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Postby amr40509 » Thu Dec 21, 2006 8:55 am

How well does it hold pressure for you guys?


I set it at 20psi Saturday when I installed it, then checked it a couple of hours later and it was 18.5psi. This Sunday it was 18psi. I dropped it to 15psi since it will be unloaded this week. It was about 65 degrees when I dropped it to 15psi. Last night (Wednesday) it was about 45 degrees and it's at about 13.5-14psi. Does it sound like I have a leak to you?

I'm driving about 400 miles this weekend and will probably use my hitch carrier (like a hitch-haul, but about 3X the weight since a welder friend made it for me) and put 25-30lbs in them to compensate for a full load of Christmas crap in the truck and 200-250lbs on the hitch.

marked001
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Postby marked001 » Fri Dec 22, 2006 1:24 pm

I just ordered some for myself today.... gonna be towing my track car up to its new winter work spot in brooklyn next weekend..so that was my excuse ;)

Cracker
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Postby Cracker » Wed Dec 27, 2006 11:47 am

I use the airlift 1000. I have a motorcycle hauler similar to the Joe Hauler only mine carries two 250lbs dirt bikes. So you can imagine the leverage the outside bike puts on bumper. I'm likely close if not exceeding the 600lbs tongue weight! The airlift doesn't keep it from sagging but when going over bumps the springs go down once as I go over the bump and that's it--no "bobbing" up and down as the springs "settle". I have a little air compressor that fits into a shoe box so it's easy to take with me when I go dirt biking. Plus, I use the airlift for 1-2 days every other weekend or so and can easily top off the pressure if I need to. I've had as much as 35lbs in the bags. The problem with the Sure Set is that there isn't much room under the Path to place it. One could make a little metal or plexiglass shelf about 18 inches long and 7 inches wide and bolt it onto the frame just under the right-side passenger door (like a bookshelf bolted to a wall) and have plenty of room. This would also protect the compressor and related components from rocks coming up. But since the bags don't leak out too much and it's easy to fill the bags up I didn't bother with it. I don't use the T. If anyone is interested in seeing the Pathfinder fully loaded with two bikes and riding gear with the airlift bags at 35lbs you can send an e-mail to [email protected] and I can mail them to you.


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