Air Bags for Dually?

[Art]

Have any of you dually drivers ever put air bags on the rear axle to "soften" the hard ride over bums in the road? I certainly do NOT need them to haul around MORE weight but my wife would sure appreciate a softer, less jarring ride--both empty and loaded. If so, could you aim me in the manufacturer's direction?

Thanks,

[Mrs. CountryGuy]

Art,

Are you talking the air pin or an air hitch??

IF you have the Trailair pin, just a thought, have you looked at the shocks on your tow yet??

We had the Isolator installed (similar to the trailair pin, engineered by the same men), and on the way home we were still bottoming out. It was a jarring experience, and we could actually hear metal smacking metal.

Took the OEM pieces of crud, err, shocks, off and replaced with the "B" (see the sig line), and the difference was VERY noticable. Solo and towing it made all the difference in the world.

18,000 miles and the OEM shocks were trash, would not recover, so we were bottoming out.

Your comment that you are getting hard ride solo and with the Montana hitched, is what caught my attention.

Now, for that chucking or porpoising, well, even our air pins won't totally stop that.

That said, Trailair is working on, has in a test market right now, a pin that will address both situations.

Good luck with finding a solution that works for you.

[LonnieB]

Art, the answer to your question is no. Adding air bags to an already stiff suspension will not soften the ride, just make it stiffer. If you have your rear tires aired up to the maximum, 80 psi., you may want to lower them to 55 or 60 psi., depending on the weight that axle is carrying. As Carol said, replaceing the factory shocks with a higher quality shock will also help. The fact of the matter is, it's a one ton truck, and it's gonna be stiff.

[bigmurf]

Try this test. Walk sbout 50 ft. from your truck and turn around and count the tires on the read axle. If you count 4 or more then it is a dually and will ride rough. LOL That being said LonnieB is right about the pressure. We run 50 psi when towing and 30 psi when empty (like now in AZ. for the next 5 months). Wealso installed a set of Ranch RS9000 adjustable shocks with the remote kit (can change the ride for rough roads or bouncy ride.

[Cat320]

quote:Originally posted by LonnieB

Art, the answer to your question is no. Adding air bags to an already stiff suspension will not soften the ride, just make it stiffer. If you have your rear tires aired up to the maximum, 80 psi., you may want to lower them to 55 or 60 psi., depending on the weight that axle is carrying. As Carol said, replaceing the factory shocks with a higher quality shock will also help. The fact of the matter is, it's a one ton truck, and it's gonna be stiff.

Agree, won't help a bit...but it's a dually, it'll haul just about anything...the price you pay is a rougher ride. Re the TP noted above, my max TP is 65, not 80. Check your truck before putting too much or not enough air in the tires.

[Art]

Thanks for your responses! I appreciate it!