Big Blue's Transformation

[Gary Lewis]

Gary, on my Innovate, it is mounted at the short cross tube where the factory 1990 O2 sensor went. I used the Ford bung that was already there. I did have the original sensor fail, but I really don't know how old it was when I bought the whole thing used.

Oh yes, I forgot that bit. The wideband worked perfectly today. So I may call on Monday and talk to Steve to see what he thinks the problem might be, where the sensor is to be mounted, and how far in/out of the pipe it needs to be.

[Gary Lewis]

Gary, on my Innovate, it is mounted at the short cross tube where the factory 1990 O2 sensor went. I used the Ford bung that was already there. I did have the original sensor fail, but I really don't know how old it was when I bought the whole thing used.

Oh yes, I forgot that bit. The wideband worked perfectly today. So I may call on Monday and talk to Steve to see what he thinks the problem might be, where the sensor is to be mounted, and how far in/out of the pipe it needs to be.

Did some checking on the air bags. I've downloaded the installation instructions here, and looking at the illustrations therein it looks pretty straightforward. I need the upper and lower brackets as well as the bracket straps & inflation valves.

I think I'll call tomorrow and see if I can order those for a reasonable price.

[85lebaront2]

Gary, on my Innovate, it is mounted at the short cross tube where the factory 1990 O2 sensor went. I used the Ford bung that was already there. I did have the original sensor fail, but I really don't know how old it was when I bought the whole thing used.

Oh yes, I forgot that bit. The wideband worked perfectly today. So I may call on Monday and talk to Steve to see what he thinks the problem might be, where the sensor is to be mounted, and how far in/out of the pipe it needs to be.

Gary, if they work well I would consider de-rating your rear springs from the K code down to something softer for running lightly loaded. It will also help in overlanding as the rear will be more flexible.

[Gary Lewis]

Gary, if they work well I would consider de-rating your rear springs from the K code down to something softer for running lightly loaded. It will also help in overlanding as the rear will be more flexible.

I wondered about that, Bill. But the truck sits level now. So if I pull a leaf out then I think I'd have to run a bit of air in the bladders to compensate. Would that help the ride any?

And, might I have to be topping the air system up periodically to keep them up to pressure?

[85lebaront2]

I wondered about that, Bill. But the truck sits level now. So if I pull a leaf out then I think I'd have to run a bit of air in the bladders to compensate. Would that help the ride any?

And, might I have to be topping the air system up periodically to keep them up to pressure?

I believe I recall a minimum pressure for those air lift or air lift clones to keep the bladder positioned properly. I know the air shocks I had on my 64 Falcon had a minimum pressure.

[Gary Lewis]

I believe I recall a minimum pressure for those air lift or air lift clones to keep the bladder positioned properly. I know the air shocks I had on my 64 Falcon had a minimum pressure.

Yes, the minimum is 5 psi, and the max is 100. I wonder how much it would take to make up for 1 leaf? And, would that be as stiff as the leaf spring? In other words, will it really help?

[85lebaront2]

Yes, the minimum is 5 psi, and the max is 100. I wonder how much it would take to make up for 1 leaf? And, would that be as stiff as the leaf spring? In other words, will it really help?

It wouldn't be as stiff, but would carry the load. I have driven air suspension cars (Mercedes-Benz 109 chassis) and they ride very nicely, but not a harsh ride. I have an air suspension car I hope to get to after the konvertible, a 1995 Lincoln Continental.

[Nothing Special]

It wouldn't be as stiff, but would carry the load. I have driven air suspension cars (Mercedes-Benz 109 chassis) and they ride very nicely, but not a harsh ride. I have an air suspension car I hope to get to after the konvertible, a 1995 Lincoln Continental.

I had air bags on the rear of my '95 F-150. I bought a "lightweight" slide-in camper right after moving from an F-250HD to an F-150. The half ton really wallowed with that much weight up high.

The air bags definitely helped it handle (over)loads better. It was no problem carrying the camper with the air bags.

I never worried about a minimum pressure. I pulled the valve cores and put them back in when they quit hissing and ran them like that. I'm not saying that's a good idea, but it's what I did and I never had any issues with it.

For inflation pressure I measured the ride height before I added a load, then added air until I was back at the same height. With the camper that was around 50 psi if I recall correctly (which is doubtful now 17 years later).

I do think it's important to know what you want from them and plumb them accordingly. I wanted sway control as much as (more than?) more load capacity, so I plumbed them separately. But if you wanted to stiffen up your springs but maintain articulation it would be better to have them plumbed together with as big a line as you could to let air flow from one side to the other.

But articulation brings up an issue you might want to look into before doing anything that's hard to un-do. At least the bags I had (also Firestone Ride-Rite) didn't have as much travel as my leaf springs. I hit the bump stops in the air bags before I hit the stock stops on my (lifted) truck. And the air bags also functioned as limiting straps. I didn't do any hard-core 'wheeling with that truck, but parking at my folk's cabin, or with one tire starting up a snowbank would stretch the airbags out pretty far.

I was fine with it in that truck for the way I expected to use it, but I don't know that I would be in a truck I expected to use like you intend to use Big Blue. If you could set it up to let the lower mount drop away (and then be confident it would land correctly again) that might be a different story.

And writing that seems familiar. Did we have a conversation about this before? Or maybe it was with someone else on the other forum.

[Nothing Special]

It wouldn't be as stiff, but would carry the load. I have driven air suspension cars (Mercedes-Benz 109 chassis) and they ride very nicely, but not a harsh ride. I have an air suspension car I hope to get to after the konvertible, a 1995 Lincoln Continental.

If I didn't let the air out of the airbags on my F-150 it rode pretty harsh when it was empty. But that's different than what I think you were talking about, using the air bags when needed. My F-150 definitely wasn't harsh with the air bags inflated and the camper in the back. But then again, none of the trucks I had after that (2008 F-250, 2002 F-350, 1997 F-250HD) were harsh with the camper either. If you aren't over-spring for the load it isn't harsh. And that's what's nice about air bags, you don't have to be over-sprung for light loads while still being able to carry heavy loads.

[Nothing Special]

.... But articulation brings up an issue you might want to look into before doing anything that's hard to un-do. At least the bags I had (also Firestone Ride-Rite) didn't have as much travel as my leaf springs. I hit the bump stops in the air bags before I hit the stock stops on my (lifted) truck. And the air bags also functioned as limiting straps....

... and then right after posting that I watched

(starting around 1:00) showing a close-up view of Trail Mater's rear suspension as he bombed into one of the trails near Moab. If you aren't familiar with Trail Mater, it's a rock buggy / tow truck. He does some incredible 'wheeling with it, sometimes with a Jeep hanging off the back! In this video you can see him stretch out his air bags pretty far, and he does have limiting straps to prevent them going too far. But he does have pretty good articulation.