My BaseStation

Neil

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Jan 30, 2014
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Base23, love that you have done the air suspension retro fit.
I’m looking at doing the same just have a couple of questions.
When you lower it all the way down dose it sit on the bump stops? Or are the shocks the limiting factor?
Cheers Neil.
 

Brente1982

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Oct 7, 2019
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Should be the bumpstops as that's what they're designed to do in protecting the other components. I got a quote from airbag man to fit to jtech 2.0 suspension as attsched. Installation extra
 

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Base23

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Jan 17, 2016
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Base23, love that you have done the air suspension retro fit.
I’m looking at doing the same just have a couple of questions.
When you lower it all the way down dose it sit on the bump stops? Or are the shocks the limiting factor?
Cheers Neil.
Hello Neil,
When I let all the air out the van sits on the bump stops. There is not a lot in it but it but yes it is on the bump stops.
The air suspension is great, makes setting up and levelling the van so easy.
Tows great and there would be no way I would own another van without air suspension.
Cheers
 
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Neil

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Brente1982 that’s an interesting quote. They quoted me on a mk1 version for a 2014e 22.68 Starcraft.
I wonder what the difference is?
Base23, thanks for the response. I’m trying to get mine as low as possible purely for when it’s at home due to the area I have to store it. I was wanting to not use their top weld in mounts and remove the existing spring locator at the tap and bolt airbag directly to that.
 

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Brente1982

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Not sure to be honest. I know the kit changed a bit between mk1 and mk2 suspension setup on the vans. But it's a fair price difference.
I was lead to believe there was no modification needed in the jtech2.0 but I don't think that's correct. There is still welding needed.
 
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Base23

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Jan 17, 2016
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Brente1982 that’s an interesting quote. They quoted me on a mk1 version for a 2014e 22.68 Starcraft.
I wonder what the difference is?
Base23, thanks for the response. I’m trying to get mine as low as possible purely for when it’s at home due to the area I have to store it. I was wanting to not use their top weld in mounts and remove the existing spring locator at the tap and bolt airbag directly to that.
Could definitely get it to go lower by changing the mounting points like you said and changing the shock mounting brackets also but you would also not be able to raise the van up to its full height as you starting point would be lower.
You only have about 110mm of suspension travel with the air bags.
 
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Neil

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Jan 30, 2014
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Could definitely get it to go lower by changing the mounting points like you said and changing the shock mounting brackets also but you would also not be able to raise the van up to its full height as you starting point would be lower.
You only have about 110mm of suspension travel with the air bags.

Base23,
Thanks for the extra info, the 110mm travel is great to know.
I'll defiantly do so measurements when i get the van home next before i go buying a kit.

Brente1982,
Confirmation from Airbag Man, Mk2 is for 2019 on wards, mines a 2014 so Mk1 kit.
Not sure what the difference they didn't say.
 

achjimmy

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Jan 24, 2011
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Base23,
Thanks for the extra info, the 110mm travel is great to know.
I'll defiantly do so measurements when i get the van home next before i go buying a kit.

Brente1982,
Confirmation from Airbag Man, Mk2 is for 2019 on wards, mines a 2014 so Mk1 kit.
Not sure what the difference they didn't say.

from what I’ve seen there will be a fair bit of difference. The jtech2 looks a lot easier to convert then the original Jtech ( jtech2 doesn’t look as solid a suspension either so it’s win/lose imo ) . If you do the original watch the bottom shock mount very closely. Where they have you weld them I believe is borderline on the shocks bump which long term will damage them. You (or somebody ) will be welding the lower shock mount on so have the option of putting it a few mm lower . **BTW that shock mount is upside down , the instructions aren’t overly clear**
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coled1970

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May 27, 2012
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Hunter Valley, Newcastle
When i converted mine i sat it on the bump stops and then adjusted the mount so that the shock wasn't bottoming out at full compression. I am pretty confident that they would never compress that far under normal operation unless you lost pressure to that side airbag in which case you would have an almighty lean on the van. In saying that i know when i built my trailer (camper) and fitted airbag suspension kit from cruise master they were able to travel at 80km/h on the bump stops giving you a chance to get somewhere to get it repaired if there was a failure. Not sure about the airbag man ones though i would imagine the would need to be the same incase of this issue.
Mine also had different shocks supplied to the originals as they could not get the originals for some reason.
 
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achjimmy

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Jan 24, 2011
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When i converted mine i sat it on the bump stops and then adjusted the mount so that the shock wasn't bottoming out at full compression. I am pretty confident that they would never compress that far under normal operation unless you lost pressure to that side airbag in which case you would have an almighty lean on the van. In saying that i know when i built my trailer (camper) and fitted airbag suspension kit from cruise master they were able to travel at 80km/h on the bump stops giving you a chance to get somewhere to get it repaired if there was a failure. Not sure about the airbag man ones though i would imagine the would need to be the same incase of this issue.
Mine also had different shocks supplied to the originals as they could not get the originals for some reason.

yeah that’s what we did and when we realized they need to be about 5-8mm below the axle.

airbag man say it can be driven on the bump stops But I woundnt want to go far or on a rough road Hey . I carry a few bits that should enable me to jury rig the system in the event of an issue
 

Base23

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Jan 17, 2016
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Put the bike in the back of the Basestation and went to Willow Springs Station in the Flinders Rangers for a 5 night getaway.
The Camp site we had was absolutely stunning, it was unpowered but had a great fire pit, park bench and a long drop toilet.
The new lithium batteries worked perfect and even let me use electric blankets at night and batteries were fully charged by solar and ready to go again the next night, Had to move the portable solar panel around during the day to catch as much sun as I could but it all worked well.

Did 320 kms of riding on the bikes and had a blast. So much to explore and will be going back sometime soon.

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Crusty181

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Feb 7, 2010
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Mentone, VIC
Put the bike in the back of the Basestation and went to Willow Springs Station in the Flinders Rangers for a 5 night getaway.
The Camp site we had was absolutely stunning, it was unpowered but had a great fire pit, park bench and a long drop toilet.
The new lithium batteries worked perfect and even let me use electric blankets at night and batteries were fully charged by solar and ready to go again the next night, Had to move the portable solar panel around during the day to catch as much sun as I could but it all worked well.

Did 320 kms of riding on the bikes and had a blast. So much to explore and will be going back sometime soon.

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I spent more than a few minutes admiring the brilliant large beer fridge mounted in the wall at the back of the storage area ..... and then I was disappointed
 

Base23

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Jan 17, 2016
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Its been a while since I posted on here so I thought I would add a few photos of the latest camping trip.
Went free camping last week and the lithium batteries and inverter worked a treat, Made the trip very enjoyable for everyone.
Ran electric blankets all night and charged batteries during the day. Had to run the generator a few days because of cloud cover and solar was not keeping up with
overnight usage.

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Boots in Action

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Mar 13, 2017
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Ferny Grove, Queensland
Its been a while since I posted on here so I thought I would add a few photos of the latest camping trip.
Went free camping last week and the lithium batteries and inverter worked a treat, Made the trip very enjoyable for everyone.
Ran electric blankets all night and charged batteries during the day. Had to run the generator a few days because of cloud cover and solar was not keeping up with
overnight usage.

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Nice camping spot @Base23 and no crowds around either!
 

Base23

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Jan 17, 2016
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Nice camping spot @Base23 and no crowds around either!
Yes it was a nice spot called Cordola Camping and Recreation. Basically a fruit farm on the Murry river near Morgan South Australia.
There are 26 river front camping spots and many more lagoon sites. It was the first week of school holidays and there was only 6 sites being used for most of the week. The weekend it was a little busier but no where near crowed.
 

pauljygrant

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Apr 1, 2015
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Adelaide
Lots of measuring and lots of double checking and I now have 2 solar panels on the roof of the Basestation.

I had to remove the original solar panel first to get to the junction box to connect the wires for the new panel using bluepoints, I also fitted a cable gland to the box as jayco just silicon the cable in
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I did not want to run the cable from one panel to the other on top of the roof so I decided to fit a junction box on the roof for the new panel and run the wiring through the roof.
First hole drilled through roof
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Juncting box fitted , sika flexed and wired up
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Then to drill more holes in the roof for panel mounts
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Fitted the panel to the roof with sikaflex 291 and peel riverts at front brackets and sikaflex and screws in to roof beam at rear brackets
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2 panel up on roof all wired and ready to go.
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Now just have to wait until we get the van out of the shed in a few weeks to check it all works.
Just reading this thread as I prepare to fit a solar panel to my Basestation. With the benefit of hindsight, would you mount the panels the same way?
Trying to locate the timber supports in the roof, I suspect that I might be able to locate the panel with a beam at the front edge but unlikely at the rear so will need to use rivets instead, both with Sika and aluminium angle brackets like you fabricated.