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Air bags that work with gooseneck hitch

SnowDrift

SnowDrift

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anyone have experience with air bags for leveling when they have a gooseneck hitch, as well? My hitch wraps around my frame, so I will need a set of bags with the upper bracket that mounts under the frame, instead of to the side of the frame.

Any suggestions?
 
Have u contacted any of them yet? I would think that is a
Common issue. They probably have some adapter plate I would guess? There is always timbrens. Some light duty air bags appear similar to more like timbren location
 
Google "air bag it"

They have just about everything you could imagine when it comes to air bags! :thumbsup:
 
Another useful link that comes in handy.
hitchanything com
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I bought a Hellwig kit, thinking it looked pretty straight forward and soon realized that it's not that simple, like the instructions say. My "no-drill" kit had one of the first things to do as "drill your frame." Ok, I am over that because it was only in the web - no big deal. The next thing was that the brackets in the kit are for smaller bump stops - probably a half ton, like the picture showed. I call the company and am told I need to drill my flange on the frame. I said no because I'm not drilling the flange, primarily, but secondarily, I am less than interested in pulling out my rear axle to do so. I asked for help on the brackets and was told there was nothing they could do. Certainly I'm not the first guy to call and tell them their kit won't fit a 2500 chassis.

I'm less than pleased about this.

So, I've designed some brackets and am fabricating them.

Stay tuned...
 
Guys I know I sound like broken record and late for you Ryan but activesuspension.com really is a KISS solution to extra weight capacity that has worked on mine now since 2002, I have done the air bag thing before and with advent of the Roadmaster setup would never go that route again. Never did a Hellwig kit myself even though they have been around for a long time, FWIW my RM kit was a "plug & play" out the box installation.
 
Turbine Doc said:
Guys I know I sound like broken record and late for you Ryan but activesuspension.com really is a KISS solution to extra weight capacity that has worked on mine now since 2002, I have done the air bag thing before and with advent of the Roadmaster setup would never go that route again. Never did a Hellwig kit myself even though they have been around for a long time, FWIW my RM kit was a "plug & play" out the box installation.
Click to expand...

I might check them out after I get my new Deavers on my Dmax. I need all the stability I can get and with fresh springs I think Active suspension might be a good helper, only problem is my bent frame that has been reinforced with angle iron...
 
Turbine Doc said:
Guys I know I sound like broken record and late for you Ryan but activesuspension.com really is a KISS solution to extra weight capacity that has worked on mine now since 2002, I have done the air bag thing before and with advent of the Roadmaster setup would never go that route again. Never did a Hellwig kit myself even though they have been around for a long time, FWIW my RM kit was a "plug & play" out the box installation.
Click to expand...

I was a skeptic as well, but after having an incident last year where I looked out my drivers window and could see our travel trailer out it(it got a bit sideways after I passed a semi doing 60, a cross wind caught me, and I was doing 80) I tried a set. And I will say they do work as advertised. It didn't eliminate the axle wrap problem that I have, but they did dampen it ALOT. The bURB also corners now like it is on rails, feels a bit wierd goign arounbd corners in something that big and it stays flat instead of leaning. If I was hauling a gooseneck or fifth wheel though where I was adding 3-4K pounds of tongue weight, I would still look into a set of airbags. It would be nice to be able to let the air out and sit at stock height, and then air up for towing to keep it level. The roadmasters didn't do a whole lot for me as far as leveling goes. They do keep me off the bottom overload spring, but not like I was hoping for. Then again I set them to the minumum tension as that raised me up almost 2 inches in the back.
 
One thing with the activesuspension IIRC, they don't work with over loads.
 
I've rolled to 5K# on the rear axle and rides level as can be, I have mine set at max setting, but that is a truck & not a burb. I have stock GM springs & not overload springs, also Bilstien shocks, ride on mine does not change when unloaded, I like the progressive spring stiffening as load is added and mostly "normal" ride with the RMs unloaded riding on factory suspension mostly.
 
Yeah, Tim, I gave that a lot of thought over the years. I know you're a believer in the activesuspension, for sure. I came to the conclusion of the air bags, just due to a need for lifting the rear and needing adjustment on the fly. With our "new" camper (slide in) I gross 6000# on the rear axle and it squooshes it down a bit more than the last one. Actually, not bad, but once I go putting a trailer on the hitch, I'm pushing it down further - Not sure of the loaded tongue weight, but it usually puts the rear down an additional inch.

I didn't like the original brackets, anyhow, so maybe it was a blessing that I am fabbing my own brackets. I've boxed the frame with the new ones and have eliminated the huge cantilever situation the original brackets would have created. I've actually though about sending them photos and a bill when I'm done, just to see what they say. I'm guessing they're somewhere in the neighborhood of 20x stronger, minimum, although I haven't officially taken the time to calculate the forces. It's not really the force I've changed, but just the dynamics of where the force enters the frame rail.

DSC_0076.jpgDSC_0075.jpg

Here are the main brackets. This will yield two opposing "C" shapes with the frame being one c and this being the other. Essentially it's boxed and I'm using the upper and lower flange to transfer my force.

The lower two brackets are still at a shop down the road from ours getting formed. There are two tiny bends we just simply can't make, but they have some knife dies and can do it. I hope to have this thing together by next weekend. I'll post photos when I'm done.

These will be held in place by two bolts from my gooseneck hitch and two from the lower flange where the bump stop used to be. They fit perfect, so far. Let's hope all the rest is equally as smooth.
 
Well, it's all installed. I got the last two brackets finished yesterday. It took a few hours today to get everything right. I ended up having to drill and tap both spacers since they were an odd 7/16 bolt size. I drilled it out 27/64" and tapped at 1/2-13UNC, so it's normal. I had to re-countersink the bottom plates, as well, for the larger bolt head to fit. Also, I had to peen down a shock bracket on each side, so the bottom plate would sit flat. Basically, I bought a set of bags and fabbed almost everything else. If I had to do it over again, there are a couple things I'd do differently, but for the first time and since I'm not in the business of designing air bag kits, I'm pretty pleased with the outcome. Really, if I had to do it over again, I'd buy a different kit.

DSC_0085.jpgDSC_0086.jpgDSC_0087.jpgDSC_0089.jpgDSC_0091.jpg

Here are a few installed photos. I ended up putting the valves through two existing frame holes. They're a little shallow, so I'll have to find a different solution in the near future. Eventually, I'd like to put a compressor on, but this will work for now.
 
Thanks. Way more work than I anticipated, but should give years of good service.

Anyone here with bags? If so, what did you do with your emergency brake cable? It rubs right on the side of the bag and there's no good way to move it that I can see.
 
Wondering what diameter your bags are, & how you like them, now that you've run them a while?

I'm considering airbagit's GMT400 kit - http://www.airbagit.com/1988-1998-CHEVROLET-C1500-Towing-Kits-p/towkit-gm88xb.htm

Don't know if there's an airbag vendor supporting the site; if there are, I'm happy to remove the link.

Reason I ask about bag diameter is that I find Airbagit's marketing message of "fit the largest diameter bags you can - they'll ride better" seems logical & the few folks I've spoken with that have done airbags on multiple projects seem to agree.

I've got the common B&W hitch, but don't mind a little fab work if necessary. Also considering boxing the frame in places for a little additional rigidity. Maybe even incorporate a round, tubular crossmember like the newer truck's frames have - noting each of the big 3 brands now do this, I would guess this acts the same as a "torque tube" on the longer gooseneck trailers, resisting twist?

I'm not a structural engineer by any means, so welcome any thoughts suggestions on how/where one might improve the frame with a little reinforcing.
 
Keep in mind that the newer trucks have designed Boxed frames. If you only box part of the frame you're keeping that portion of the frame from twisting as much which means the area directly in front of or behind what you boxed it will now have to twist more than it used to. If you do any work between the suspension run (from the front to the rear of the rear axle where it's hanging from) Do the same treatment the entire way don't change it partway through. You also want to go back and remove the bed to do a very thorough examination at 3,and 12 months after having done it so you can stay on top of any problems that could be occurring.

I used to own a truck equipment shop for a few years and we lengthened and shortened frames as well as beef them up and change suspension design in trucks all the time. Don't be afraid of doing it, the only way to learn is to do it and you can fix pretty much anything you do wrong as long as you stay on top of inspecting it. And yes the larger diameter airbag the more controllable the ride will be. More control means being able to lower the pressure slightly and give yourself a better ride. You can also achieve a similar effect by using two smaller airbags per side if you don't have room for one larger one on each side.

A little bit of research about an "outfitter" might be worth the time to you to learn good and bad modifications.
 
So do the same treatment/mod - eg. adding plate to box things consistently front to back, so as not to create places where stresses could focus at the edge of where any reinforcement stops?

Searching "Truck outfitter" keeps coming up with places the sell lots of truck accessories, but I believe you mean folks that build boxes, flatbeds, dumpbeds, etc., the things you'd put on a chassis cab or heavier truck, or other companies that modify frames as needed?

Also, did you use any type of round tube crossmember(s)? That all the newer frame designs I see have these, strikes me interesting & possibly relevant. Guessing it resists twisting via the tube - way more than the rest of the stamped shaped crossmembers. Seems like the tube is in a similar location front to back around/over/just in front of the leaf springs.

Would also imagine the bigger bags/lower pressure makes it easier on a mounted compressor/tank setup. Could use a lower tank pressure setpoint, if you didn't need as much peak bag pressure.
 
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