Hi guys its been awhile and the poor old girl has been asleep for awhile. Im planning to take the van in 2yrs or less (hopefully) on the Gibb river road. WA. 700km of dirt and corrugation thru the Kimberly . Since the road is rough and I've seen plenty of van that have travelled it I'm wondering should i add airbags to the leaf springs to help for a smoother ride for the van so as not to break springs and shake the don't be rude out of it. Has anyone done this mod. cheers
17' Series 17.56.2OB leaf spring with air bag assist.
- Thread starter seanparky
- Start date
Not sure the airbags will give you a smoother ride used like that @seanparky you are actually increasing the spring rate or resistance. There is an airbag kit avaiable for Caravans but it's more for using to level them I think. (which in itself is a pretty good reason to get them, but they are $$$$)
To achieve a better ride using airbags I would think you would need to remove a leaf of spring to soften them and then the airbag will be used for the final spring rate if that makes sense?
To achieve a better ride using airbags I would think you would need to remove a leaf of spring to soften them and then the airbag will be used for the final spring rate if that makes sense?
Is it possible to change out the leaf springs to the new J Tech system. Might be a bit softer with coil springs.
In theory yes, there's a guy n Myswag who put cruismaster independant (simalar to JTech ) under a sterling but it would be $$$$$$
Drive slower, let the tyres down on both car & van, buy a good compressor to pump the tyres up when needed. Should cost no more than $500 and a bit of time - my thoughts
Agreed, leaf springs and common sense have worked well for years, and much simpler fix if things break. Amazing what some fencing wire can do on the side of the road.
There's a guy who writes for "Caravan World" who took his Expanda along the Gibb River Road and only thing he damaged was the sink & shower outlets from stone damage.
The gibb is not what it use to be, several mates have done it and if all goes well i will be taking the basestation up it next year with one of them(he now has a starcraft). Last mate that did it was on the "shitbox rally". He did 3/4 of it in his hilux towing a car on a car trailer and flat towing another behind that.
Its all about tyre pressure and speed, but dropping some leafs out and running air bags will help a heap, but the extra movement might also crack the remaining springs aswell???
Its all about tyre pressure and speed, but dropping some leafs out and running air bags will help a heap, but the extra movement might also crack the remaining springs aswell???
thanks guys. yeh have looked into it and decided airbags not the go. probably better changing standard rocker box system to a roller rocker set up so the two axles rant fighting against each other. And yes slow and steady with a lower tyre pressure would be the key.
