oly884
03-22-2007, 09:35 PM
As many of you know, I've got a Four Wheel Camper (http://www.ultimateyota.com/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=26&board=98.0) sitting on the back of my truck.
While for a camper it's light at 550 lbs. it is by no means light for the Tacoma's rear suspension. In fact, the rear suspension on the Tacoma sucks, well sucked.
I purchased some air bags from Air Lift (http://www.airliftcompany.com/indexAL.htm) so that when the camper was off the truck, I could still maintain the stock ride. It wasn't more than a month into having the camper on the truck that BOOM! One of the air bags blew up. I wasn't a happy camper, literally and figuratively.
So, I ended up buying a new bag at the tone of $100 shipped. Well, I got the bag in, and not 3 weeks later, BOOM!
Ok, so by this point I was tempted to take some 3.5" 00 buckshot to these things. So, I was determined to find the problem.
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y86/oly884/DSC_0647Small.jpg
As stated, that hook would bend up, just over time, causing the bag to move forward and snapping off the top.
So, I contacted Airlift about this, well they sent me another bag, free of charge and were very very helpful. I installed the bag, but it was about a month and a half later that I noticed the exact same thing happening. So I was done, they tried their best, but it just wasn't working for me.
I ended up removing the airbags and contacting Deaver spring (http://www.deaverspring.com/) and having them make me some custom springs to handle the weight of the camper. Well, the springs are on, and they are very nice. However, they are still a bit too light duty for what I need, so I'm going to be getting another set probably this summer to handle the camper weight better.
By no means am I saying to stay away from Airlift, they are a great company and have great customer service. Their product just didn't work for me. I was willing to sacrifice the ride without the camper on to have a much more permanent solution to my suspension issues.
If you have any Q's feel free to comment here or contact me.
While for a camper it's light at 550 lbs. it is by no means light for the Tacoma's rear suspension. In fact, the rear suspension on the Tacoma sucks, well sucked.
I purchased some air bags from Air Lift (http://www.airliftcompany.com/indexAL.htm) so that when the camper was off the truck, I could still maintain the stock ride. It wasn't more than a month into having the camper on the truck that BOOM! One of the air bags blew up. I wasn't a happy camper, literally and figuratively.
So, I ended up buying a new bag at the tone of $100 shipped. Well, I got the bag in, and not 3 weeks later, BOOM!
Ok, so by this point I was tempted to take some 3.5" 00 buckshot to these things. So, I was determined to find the problem.
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y86/oly884/DSC_0647Small.jpg
As stated, that hook would bend up, just over time, causing the bag to move forward and snapping off the top.
So, I contacted Airlift about this, well they sent me another bag, free of charge and were very very helpful. I installed the bag, but it was about a month and a half later that I noticed the exact same thing happening. So I was done, they tried their best, but it just wasn't working for me.
I ended up removing the airbags and contacting Deaver spring (http://www.deaverspring.com/) and having them make me some custom springs to handle the weight of the camper. Well, the springs are on, and they are very nice. However, they are still a bit too light duty for what I need, so I'm going to be getting another set probably this summer to handle the camper weight better.
By no means am I saying to stay away from Airlift, they are a great company and have great customer service. Their product just didn't work for me. I was willing to sacrifice the ride without the camper on to have a much more permanent solution to my suspension issues.
If you have any Q's feel free to comment here or contact me.