Rear air bag suspension ideas

[formercruiserhead]

So the idea came up because my k5 wont fit in the garage. 5-6" lift with 37 hummer wheels and tires. I am about 2-3" too tall. I currently remove the rear wheels and put on some rollers to get it in the garage for the week and swap for the weekend. Would be cool to maybe 4 link the rear with airbags and control them with an in cab controller. Then drop it down to get in garage, help the family get in ect. Also adjust for towing boat.
So what airbags and do they flex? This is an all around vehicle, 4wheeling, boat towing, cross country travel, go get ice cream.

 

[centexk5]

I’ve got the same problem. I just air down to 5psi and roll it in. But I’ll be watching because I’m interested in the air bag solution.

 

[KirsL]

Air bags will definitely work for what you want to do. The biggest problem is that long travel air bags are few and far between. You'll have to get creative with bag placement if you want to maintain a certain level of suspension flex. A good air compressor will be needed along with a decent size air tank.

Again, it's very doable. But it's not as cut and dry as it seems.

Personally, I'd cut in a larger garage door . No chance of forgetting to lower the truck to get in/out of the garage then.

 

[formercruiserhead]

Ive tried airing down but sidewalls dont flex much. And I have also thought of putting an 8' door in as I used to hang doors for a living, but the expense and telling my wife I am modifying the house for the blazer right now would go over like a turd in a punchbowl.

 

[ktmoutfront]

I have designed a long travel, linked system for the front and rear. Or should I say redesigned? A number of times. Have not built it yet. Looking for the right truck.

I have the tons, 6.0 LQ9, 4l80e and transfer case.

Needs to tow a boat 2000 miles at freeway speeds. Tow 700 miles to wheel in Moab for a week and drive 1700 miles home still towing.

It will happen. I may be 80 years old, but I will try.

 

[red EOD]

Vixen makes some air bags with about 10" of rated movement. Not as physically large of a bag compared to the typical commercial truck ones.

One option I really like with air bags is a mod a fellow mechanic did on his service truck, plumbed in a 1 gallon air tank that is dedicated to each individual bag. Made the ride even smoother.

Make sure each bag is plumbed individually. Common mistake where both bags on an axle get plumbed together and ends up causing excessive body roll and handling issues.

 

[AJs72K5]

I'm going to show my very limited understanding of link suspensions and bags, but wouldn't trailing arms with bags potentially reduce the need for long travel bags?

 

[ktmoutfront]

I'm going to show my very limited understanding of link suspensions and bags, but wouldn't trailing arms with bags potentially reduce the need for long travel bags?

Depends on where the bags are mounted. I am looking at a cantilever system.

 

[shady]

Modifying the garage door may still be cheaper than 4 links and an airbag set up. Like half probably

 

[Blue85]

Most installations of 7' doors don't give you all of 7' and it's possible with some setups to get a little more than 7'. At my old house I did some simple mods to a 7' garage door to fit my K5 on military 37s in. Details are fuzzy, but here's what I remember:

• 1" tall strip of wood on the top of the door
• weatherstrip attached to the door instead of the header
• A layer of lumber removed from the door header and replaced with vinyl fascia type material.

If I drove slow nothing hit, but if I tried leaving the garage fast the topper rubbed. The slope of the driveway plays a big part, as does the direction you pull in and whether or not the top is on.

 

[Smokinthehippies]

Depends on where the bags are mounted. I am looking at a cantilever system.

My first thought was a cantilever bag system also.

 

[formercruiserhead]

So tried letting the air out of the tires again and just pulled the valve stems cores. That got it low enough. My door opening is about 6'11ish. I will still look into the airbag idea but the lack of flex concerns me. I saw a show that they installed some cylindrical looking ones that flexed alot but dont know the name.I also thought about a suckdown winch kinda like what the crawler buggy guys do? Basically attaches to axle and frame and compresses the suspension, however I would think it would have alot of tension on it. For now does anyone know the name of the deflaters that go on your valve stems that you just set and they stop at a certain pressure? If I can do that then just figure out the perfect pressure to clear the opening and just pull and go. Then again I do have hummer wheels anyone adapt the CTIS system to something other than a hummer?