Airbag Suspension

Hi,
Travelled with a new Bushtracker to the Cape a few months ago fitted with air bags. If you plan on doing anything rough do not touch. Stick to the springs. Shocks thru the floor,welds breaking,bags failing etc. You will be waiting for ages to get fixed. Bushtracker replaced air bags at great expence to themselves. I am sure they would advise you not to touch them as other manufacturers such as Kedron have nothing but trouble with them. If you require advice from the owner of the Bushtracker give me your phone number and I will communicate with you. Stick to the Simplicity suspension as it is proven beyond doubt.
Phil

For anyone else that is considering the Air Bag suspension.... We have our reservations pending some on going R & D from the Manufacturer. The problem is that it has proven to be a little more maintenance intensive than anyone anticipated, when traveling on the rougher tracks at high speed...

The truth is, that it requires more mechanical understanding and attention than many Drivers actually want to give it. One person pumped the suspension up too much, and on the bounces the rebound overcame the shocks and ripped the retaining cables off and then pulled the shocks apart as it rebounded going slightly airborne over ruts in the road.

There is the problem of maintaining the correct air pressure in the air bags so it does not bottom out and put excessive force on the hinging points, or rebound with excessive force on the retention cables. There is this problem with varying loads on the air suspension, but there is also a problem with the shocks. If you travel too hard and too fast, the shocks heat up and the oil foams, and the shock goes worthless to allow the suspension severe rebounding that can destroy cables, shocks, and shock mounts...

In Summary, while the air suspension travels really nice, and has a nice ride, we have decided it is too complex for the average towing situation off road. Unless it is demanded, we are not recommending it for the average traveling person in the Outback; with exception the very large format in Tri-Axle Load Sharing on vans over 24'.
On smaller vans we would suggest it wait, pending further development of a small gas shock or other technological improvements.... While an exceptionally nice suspension, we are unsure of it in hard going off-road conditions. We wish them well in their on going R&D with this, but we wait with reservations pending their Engineering Development with it.

Best Regards to all, including the Manufacturer, from the Lone Ranger...

Quote....
{ The problem is that it has proven to be a little more maintenance intensive than anyone anticipated, when traveling on the rougher tracks at high speed...}

Could i make a point that the problem is possibly the "high speed" and not the suspension

We are in ther middle of a 7 months trip with Conrad and Niza who have the largest Bushtracker (27') ever built and by far the heaviest.

My observations of his van is that it does ride smoother than our simplicity suspension on our 21' van. They have a self levelling system which makes levelling on uneven ground a breeze, with just the flick of a switch. They did have a problem with an air leak in one of the valves for a while but when that was sorted out no further problems.

His BIG problem has been with the shock absorbers. The rubber bushes in the shockers is far too soft and they all chopped out, and 1 shocky has given up and was replaced with a Conie. When Conrad rang the manufacturer and complained about the quality of the Shock Absorbers he was more or less told that the type they fitted was done so due to cost, and people wouldn't want to pay the extra to get good ones like the Conie.

As for the earlier comment about the shock absorber coming through the floor, I have been told that the particular van in question was driving very fast for the conditions, and that was the main cause.

During the last 3 months we have been travelling at slower speeds over about 10,000 km of off bitumen travel, some roads being very rough, and apart from what appears to have been lower quality shock absorbers fitted by the manufacturer, I am very impressed with the performance of the air bags.

Steve

While you mentioned the ARB Nitrochargers, what about the ARB LTR's (Long Travel Remotes). Having that extra canister of oil does tend to cool the shockers a bit more. Have had them on the Cruiser for a long time and found them extremely good, especially on corrugations. A bit expensive but you gets what you pays for. You would probably have to shield them as well and I guess the other canister could be a problem as to fitting them.

Just a thought

Regards
Jeff