Swede

Anyone out there running airbags and the LC coils in the rear?

BajaRunner

I was about this close on doing it...

Yeah the FZJ80 coils suck with a load, I think that it would work good to have some air bags. I planned on just buying stock 4Runner air-bags.

j-man

heres a link from mud which i just put on my cruiser. The bags are worth it in my opinion.

http://forum.ih8mud.com/100-series-c...0-install.html

earth1

I was just had the same question! Just loading the cargo with gear sags the LC coils, and my trailer really drops the back.

The Firestone bags, which I like solely because they're blue (and incidentally are what Sonoran Steel sells), have the same ratings for both the LC and 4R applications. They are probably different lengths so that is the question. I think either should work. I'm going to find one that is either 3" longer, trim the conical bumpstops as instructed- or use stock 4R airbags and trim less.

josh

Swede

I see that neither the airlift or firestones are available for the (front) LC coils.

earth1

That sir is a very good point.
In any case, that 4" coil inner diameter (or whatever it is) is probably used in other applications so a longer bag should be easy enough to find. If not, cutting less off the bumpstop should work also.

After thinking about it now, I would probably prefer to cut more off and have a larger surface area of the cone material to contact the airbag, rather than cutting further down the tapered part of the cone and using the "stock" bag. Maybe that wouldn't matter...

Swede

But don't they provide "pucks" with the bags that would spread to load out too? Not sure.

Swede

Well I ordered a set of the air lift bags, I'll figure out what I'm gonna do when I get under there.

earth1

Cool, please follow up and let me know how it turns out.

Swede

Update:

Well they're in! What I ended up doing was cutting off only 2 of the 4 sections of the cone. Here's the pics of the install and remember that in all of the images, the vehicles is sitting how it normally would, height and weight wise if that makes any sense. For the record, I'm probably packing an extra couple hundred pounds in the rear as I've got my sub and sub box, amp, inverter, second deep cycle battery and 3rd row seat back there. Enjoy!

FJ80 coils before install:





This image shows the modified cone and bag in the coil. The black spacer is supplied for use in a different application but I showed it here just for reference. If I needed to I would cut some more off the cone and use the spacer there just because it has a larger area of contact between it and the bag:



I had some scrap air hose laying around and decided to use it to go around the airline where there was a possibility of chaffing on sharper areas:



Here it is installed. I put the valve right next to my auxiliary back-up light on the top of my hitch:



Another shot of the bags, remember that they have not been pressurized yet.



There is about a 1/4" gap between the cone and the top of the bag, again they're not pressurized:



This shot is with them inflated to 5 PSI:



And at 5 PSI the gap is gone now:



And these last 2 pics are with the bags at their maximum inflation of 35PSI:





I drove around town briefly to a few spots where I remember the rig wallowing in some large dips in the road and this is what I noticed with the ride. At 35 psi, it is slightly firmer but definitely not harsh by any means. The rig feels a bit more stable but that's basically it. Ride height is the same at 35 psi as it was without the bags which was a surprise. I dropped them down to the required 5 psi but I haven't driven it yet at that pressure. My guess is that I won't even noticed they're there. It'll be interesting to see how it rides with some weight in there!

Now to focus on getting my gears done!

earth1

Cool, thanks for following up. That sounds about perfect that they only contact fully inflated and that the ride didn't change much.

You pulled the springs to install, right?

Swede

Yup I pulled the coils out. You have to in order to cut the cones and I also drilled out the top of the cone in order to fit in the protective hose in there. Just to clarify, the bags first made contact with just 5 psi in them.

I went for a spin around town again yesterday with the required minimum 5 psi in them, and surprisingly, the ride was slightly different than the original set-up. It seemed more controlled especially when hitting some dips. Awesome!!!

Swede

Just thought I'd do a follow-up update on this set-up. It is simply one of the best mods that I have done to my rig. Anyone who is running the LC coils in their 4Runner owes it to themselves to put a set of bags in there! The ride quality is much better and much more controlled. The 4Runner is way more stable with them in. I've towed a 18' travel trailer around the country last summer too and I can't imagine doing this without the bags in there to help with the load. I love them!!!