Has anyone played with airbags and leaf springs?

[pongo]

Im just wondering if anyone has played with them. I mean removing a leaf or 3 and using airbags to take a fairbit of the weight. My patrol will be loaded most of the time, but id like to try and have a smooth ride when the weight is off it.

I have the bags here, but managed to score some 2 inch lift leaf springs that a heavy duty yet to be installed.

Thoughts?

[11_evl]

removing too many leafs will cause axle wrap

[Wozza244]

I have taken 3 leaves out of mine each side rear, and 2 out the front each side, airbags in rear if i need the help but my leaves are so stiff they wont wrap and can still handle more than half a tonne easy without the bags.

[rockcrawler31]

removing too many leafs will cause axle wrap

True, assuming you go too far.

I would have thought that with a little experimentation you could remove enough leaves so that you have a comfortable ride while empty and still control wrap, but any extra load after that gets taken care of by the airbags.

I would also suggest that you take a holistic approach to it and consider getting longer shackles and longer main and wraps if you want any lift in the equation as longer flatter springs with an appropriate shackle angle will always give a better ride than standard length leaves that have been re-arched for lift.

[Suspension Stuff]

Once you sort out axle wrap the secret is in the type of bag used but there is other stuff you can experiment with such as using an external bag plumbed to the main bag to get more comfort.

[Tumtum]

THE WORK UTE I DRIVE IS HEAVILY LOADED ALL THE TIME, AND I FITTED AIRBAGS TO THE REAR AXLE WITHOUT REMOVING ANY LEAF SPRINGS AND IT WORKS FINE