Suggestions for Leveling Out Suspension?

[vt_maverick]

Well I went ahead and ordered the air lift this afternoon, should be here sometime around the middle of next week. Unfortunately I'll be on my way to Phoenix when that happens, so it'll probably be the week after (same week we leave for Moab ) that I get to play with it.

Nothing like never-ending pressure to keep you motivated.

[VXorado]

Nothing like never-ending pressure to keep you motivated.

It's not fun unless you're working on a last minute install.

The airbags are a good choice and they should work well for your long trip.

[vt_maverick]

Okay so I've been super busy preparing and then actually traveling to Moab so I've been remiss in giving you guys a review of the Air Lift 1000 Kit. Without further ado, here we go:

I love them. They are amazing. I have absolutely no reservations.

They level the suspension back to the factory rake, limit what the Air Lift folks call "porpoising" (see-sawing when you hit bumps), and otherwise make the ride extremely smooth when carrying significant rear weight. They survived the bumps in Moab without a problem, and the installation is super clean. Here are some pics:

Passenger air bag:


Driver's side:


Valve and airline that feeds air bags. Tom's new hitch requires you to remove the lower cladding bolts, so the recess made a convenient mounting point for the valve.


There's a tee connector right behind the brake line in this picture that links both air bags with the valve in the rear cladding. The tee allows you to fill both bags simultaneously and balances the air pressure between the two bags. This comes in handy when you hit hard bumps with only one side of the VX, because rather than potentially popping the air bag the excess pressure is pushed to the other uncompressed bag. Pretty cool...


As we discussed on a previous page, these won't eliminate the hard bumps created by the stock bump stops / spring helpers. But if you ever tow or carry significant weight in/off the back of your VX you can't go wrong with these IMHO.

Questions?

[vt_maverick]

Forgot probably the most important picture: the side profile with the air lift installed. Before the installation the front would be much higher than the rear under full load, whereas in this picture you can clearly see the balance created by the air lift.

[deermagnet]

That kit looks like it's made for your exact issue.

Mark

I'm glad I could help ya out. So how is the ride changed with no extra weight? Is this something we could all use for daily driving with the stock bump helpers removed?

Mark

[vt_maverick]

The air bags are designed to fit inside the coil springs under zero load, so without the extra weight the rake is exactly the same as stock. The ride feel is directly influenced by your PSI setting, so the lower the PSI the more you'll bounce over bumps. I would think the bump stops would be unnecessary if you keep the PSI @ 30 or above, but certainly I wouldn't take that to the bank. I can tell you that you bounce more but not as hard with cut stops (which I have) so when you combine those with this air lift the ride is smooth as silk.

This may be the perfect way to balance the increased roll that blacksambo always points out as a disadvantage to cutting the stops.

[tom4bren]

Ash,

Both bags have a mark on them in your pix (at lower coils). Is that just an accumulation of Moab dirt or does it look like wear points?

Tom

[JAMAS]

This might be my next purchase

[vt_maverick]

It's just dirt. The installation instructions tell you to put a dab of grease on and around the bottom of the bag where it will rub the coil spring to eliminate wear, so what you're seeing is dirt caked on the grease.

[tom4bren]

It's just dirt.

Better save it. That Moab cinnemon (sp?) is worth it's weight in gold to us East Coasters.

[vt_maverick]

Anybody else try these yet? I'm so happy with mine that I'm having a set put on my wife's Axiom this week.

[VXorado]

How's the ride quality with them inflated? Do you leave them slightly inflated for everyday driving?

I'm rockin' stock coil springs now and wouldn't mind the extra stiffness for camping/hauling. I'm worried frequent coil spring flex offroad would ruin the bags. Then again, I know they survived your Moab trip

[vt_maverick]

I keep them at about 10 PSI when I'm not hauling and she drives like a dream. I live on this winding up and down mountain road and there are areas where you'd bottom out hard even on cut bump stops at speed. But now I can hit those hill transitions at 55-60+ and she just hunkers down and digs in. Absolutely amazing.

[papi007bulgaria]

Hello
Bought a VX recently and definitely looking into the airlift 1000 kit to get a creature comfort ride out of the it.
As it is almost 2015 , i would like to ask if this kit is still working properly? I'm in Bulgaria and i'd like to know if it's worth the hassle to get the kit? Especially since it's 80 USD at the moment, and all other rear spring solutions i've looked in to locally are at least triple the price!

Thank you!