Grande Airbag Retaining after a Lift

[whiplash willy]

A 2" lift with standard airbags is quite ok. The standard airbags only dislodge when long rear shocks are fitted, not as a result of a lift. If you limit the rear shock length to about 580mm, you should be fine.

Pinning the standard airbags is ok for shock lengths up to about 595mm, beyond that I believe the standard airbags are too close to length limit unless some sort of spacer is used.

Airbag Man airbags are ok for shock lengths up to 625mm and are long enough not to require pinning or retaining.

So Bilstien 5100s (597mm) with stock airbags would be too long, and could pop out the airbags at full articulation? I have KDSS as well, so if the 5100s are close to the limit, the further articulation that KDSS allows would probley cause issues right?

[1coolbanana]

Not sure as to whether they are better quality, ask me again in another ten years and see if theyve perished.
They do appear to be good quality and are twice as thick by the feel of them.
I have no regrets at all and would do it again if I needed too.
Cheers

[Troy1]

Hey Guys,

Just a couple of quick questions.

For those of you who have seen or have the after market air bag man bags, do you find them of better quality then the original ones? I have had mixed feed back on them and am curious as to what others think. My Prado is a 2005 model, so i figure the original ones are probably a bit perished anyways.

Also I am thinking of possibly ditching the airbags altogether and putting in a spring set up, other then losing the auto leveling in the rear, can anyone else share any pros and cons they can think of..

Thanks

Troy

ill post this in the other airbag thread to get maximum exposure too

[Troy1]

Troy,
Mine are now Airbagman ones after the driver's side blew up during a trip to Robe.

Thanks Andrew,

Looking good

Troy

[Troy1]

If I was to go with Auto-craft -(ATS Geelong) kit do you still need the spacers?
Is there anything else I should be mindful of with this kit?
ATS have noted you still retain the high/low function, but lose the soft-hard settings as the factory/tems shocks will be replaced. Anything else I should be considering here before handing over hard earned??

The reason for replacing the shocks is one or the rears is starting to weep and will need to be replaced shortly.

Car is a 2009 D4D Grande.

Cheers

Hello,

Have you had this done yet ? I was also looking at getting something done by them, although if i do 2" ill use the after market airbag man bags. If i was to go 3" with the slinky long travel shocks, Darren said he could modify and put a conventional spring set up in the back. Thats why i was sort of thinking maybe i could keep the air bags and still do a 3" lift using the spacer and the after market extended air bags.

Troy

So far so good. Haven't been able to do much off roading of late.

[Pete6]

High Andrew, Just about to get my 2007 Grande suspension upgraded and wondered how your MK11 spacers are going with the Airbagman kit? Thinking of running:

Front - F4BE5-A712-M1 shocks + King Springs KTFR101HD

Rear - Bilstein F4-B46-1478-H1 and AMTS MK11 50mm spacers

Thanks

Pete

[awd2.0t]

I'll jump this across to the - DIY Airbag Man OA6011 install in 120 Grande, as I seemed to have taken this a bit off topic

Link: http://www.pradopoint.com/showthread...0-Grande/page4

Post 50

[macaroon1]

How does this sound? -
Autocraft kit, minus the welding - (given plastic base on the bags)
+ Airbag man extended air bags (Reason - thicker & stronger than factory), with a plan to drill a 4mm hole through the base pin and then fitting a 3 mm "R" pin to hold it all in place.

Cheers, Sean.

Sean....amts Mk2 spacers if keeping OE bags. No need for the above the new OA6011 kit is now retained from the top housing holding it nicely all in place. A coutentersunk bolt goes through a pre-drilled hole in the top plastic spigot as is held in place by a Nylock nut. Sits right next to the chassis. PIta to get it all in but certainly doable. I'll post some pics.

If your factory airbags are fine, going the spacer route is the cheaper option. How old is your Grande and how many kms has it done?

I wouldn't drill through the spigot of the Airbagman airbags as they are plastic.

Peterpilot has communicated with Airbagman and the advice was that no spacers are required with their airbags. I've just got the spacers in mine to test them out. The spacers would be more suitable with factory airbags.

[awd2.0t]

How does this sound? -
Autocraft kit, minus the welding - (given plastic base on the bags)
+ Airbag man extended air bags (Reason - thicker & stronger than factory), with a plan to drill a 4mm hole through the base pin and then fitting a 3 mm "R" pin to hold it all in place.
Link: http://www.pradopoint.com/showthread...l=1#post330755

Or will the spacer still be a better option, due to alignment of the bag at various settings? My concern is if the bag popped out of the current set up, as per the link, in a perfect storm could it do the same with the spacer? Hence, me trying to fix it with the R pin.

Thanks for you input to date Andrew!!!
Cheers, Sean.

I think the struts have height adjustment,

Yes, by moving the circlip of the spring seat up and down. This can only be done with the strut disassembled. So best to get the circlip position right the first time

but not sure that they have a specific valving for Autocraft.

As far as I know from a long time ago when Autocraft was on PradoPoint, he offered shocks/struts with his own valving.

I'd also rather not have the base welded. If I go with the longer Airbag man bags, do they do away with the bag popping out and also stop the requirement of having the base welded? Or will I still need a spacer?

There was a recent incident involving the Airbagman airbags. Not really sure of the full cause of the failure. Details are here
http://www.pradopoint.com/showthread...l=1#post440445

The Airbagman airbags come in 2 versions and according to the supplier, if you get the extended version, you won't need the spacer. You can't weld the base of the airbagman as it is plastic.

[awd2.0t]

I think the struts have height adjustment, but not sure that they have a specific valving for Autocraft.
I'd also rather not have the base welded. If I go with the longer Airbag man bags, do they do away with the bag popping out and also stop the requirement of having the base welded? Or will I still need a spacer?

The Mk2 spacers that I'm working on now have several advantages:
1. It retains the bottom of the airbag without welding
2. It spaces the bottom so that the airbags don't over stretch with a lift
3. It corrects the angle of the airbag so that the airbag moves in and out along the axis.

If I were you, you can get the ATS kit but get the spacers instead of getting the airbag welded, or you might also want to consider getting just the normal Bilsteins BE5 without the Autocraft valving. I don't have experience with either - just laying out the options for you.

[awd2.0t]

So if I went with their kit, would it be better to have the spacers put in, so they don't need to weld it?