DIY Airbag Man OA6011 install in 120 Grande

[kevdebbi]

Hi again, I finally got around to straightening and reinforcing my drivers side mount. It was only distorted by 1-2mm but I have been having all sorts of problems with my drivers side blowing out. I have strengthened the front and back of the mount with some 10mm x 5mm steel. It now seems much stronger and I don't think it will flex under load.

[speed_racer]

Hi guys I have just installed this kit too but have the same issue as Kevin here. Has anyone had any issues with the locating spigot sitting directly on the axle as opposed to the bottom of the airbag sitting properly in its seat?

Hi Paul I have had a similar
problem and am still trying to identify the exact cause. The retaining pin on both of my airbags seems to be 3-4mmm too long which is stopping the bottom of the airbag from sitting fully on the bottom mount. On my prado the pin hits the diff tube, this seems to be making the bottom of the airbag unstable. The drivers side bottom mount plate has started to bow down by approximately 2mm at its rear edge. Possibly you are having a similar problem?

Kevin

[ATTACH=CONFIG]14388[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]14389[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]14390[/ATTACH]

[Pradolot]

You win the satisfaction of helping another pp member... The best prize of all
Thanks for the heads up about ratios, I was going to make a few out of 1.2 stainless so I can adjust if needed later on.
Sorry cool. May of worded that wrong, it may be completely possible to adjust the sensors each side of the rear to get desired hight but I believe this isn't where my problem is, I don't think concentrating on the rear at this stage would be relevant without first starting on the front and getting it dead level as I know for sure this does affect the rear similar to the 150 series I've read about on here. I'm having trouble understanding how you could raise one side without effecting the other as you'll be raising off an axis point. Would make sense if rear was ind suspension as they would obviously be completely independent of each other. As I said it's defiantly the front of the car in my case as a good starting point as this is where the weight is and guessing back follows front. If I get a chance I'll hook a load on the rear If it comes level it will confirm

[1coolbanana]

Wrong............they are independent circuits, you obviously have something else going on and other issues.
I can add 5 mm spacers to one side and that side comes up 15mm.
Look at the manual and follow the circuit schematics.

What do I win?!?!

You can add a strut top spacer to try and even out the front. Just remember that it is a 2:1 ratio. A 1mm spacer will = 2mm lift.

[Pradolot]

Drum roll....!!!!!!!!! And the winner is.....
Amts
The rear heights can't really be altered from side to side. However, if alter the front height on one side, it will affect the rear on the same side.

This is true... I've tried everything. You cannot adjust there rear independently from side to side. The lower side on the front is affecting the rear, unless my chassis is twisted.. Actually might be a possibility. But in the end I jacked up the front low side or the car level worth high side and this fixed it. Within reason anyway. I'll let the front settle for a few more trips out bush and goes on for wheel alignment Tuesday. After all this I'll recheck everything. If it still out at the front looks like I'm making a spacer for front. After changing load around to see if I can fix it that way... I'll let you all know the final outcome if someone has this drama with theirs. Thanks for all your help. Mullins

[Pradolot]

Ok. Thanks for your help 1cool. I'll have another crack tomorrow starting with what you suggested. I'm unsure weather the car was ever level to begin with as I drove home on the bump stops. And couldn't get any starting measurements. But in saying that. Both sides were level give or take a couple mm after first installation of new bags. Only when I added the extra washers to gain more hight there's been an issue that I know of
Thanks Mullins

[Pradolot]

Yup, just checked. Airbags are defiantly the same and diff mount on drivers side (low side) seems to be in good condition and not warped/bent/flattened
Thanks. Mullins

[1coolbanana]

Ok, a few facts, the bags have no influence on the height, they just hold the vehicle up.
The sensors controls the height regardless of what bag is holding it up by applying pressure until it thinks its where it should be.
The sensors are independent and can be adjusted seperately to give different heights side to side if not adjusted properly.
This is so the auto leveling also levels side to side for uneven loads, not just front to back and also how they are set at the factory..

The spacing ratio is about 3:1 so if you want 30mm, you need a 10mm spacer.

I would remove all the spacers, cycle it up and down a few times to settle, adjust the lever arms so it becomes level with no extra spacers (thats why they have long slots in them)
Once you get it level side to side, add the spacers you need for the required lift cycling a few times up and down to make it settle.
If this doesnt work, you have a sensor issue.
Cheers

[Pradolot]

Thanks Amts.
Just checked the front and the low side of car there's a 6mm variance at the from side to side. Is this enough to throw it out ? Rather than adding more/ less weight to the side of car. Any other ideas on how to level the front more? I could get a bigger started battery. Move high lift to other side of car? Is it even worth continuing..? Like is the front eventually going to settle and become level? I just think a 25mm variance is a bit excessive in the rear. And I'd like to get it as close as possible if possible. Cheers. Mullins

Maybe also check that you got the same length bags. There are standard and raised airbags. It might be a long shot that the factory packed different airbags into the same box.

[Pradolot]

I'll get out there tomorrow again if not solved. I'll try jacking high side of car up. Then switching to high setting in dash. Hopefully this pumps more air into low side than high side and in the prosess before it gets to full hight I'll switch car off hoping it's pumped up low side enough to be even? After this. Only other thing I can think is take jack off. Jack up on chassis again. Deflate airbags completely, jack up rear diff ect ect as If I was just installing them. Because it was fine and level when I first put them in. Only when I added washers and played with it it's become unlevel. Any other ideas?
Thanks in advance. Mullins

The rear heights can't really be altered from side to side. However, if alter the front height on one side, it will affect the rear on the same side.

[Pradolot]

Thanks Jesse. I've been in shed for last hour trying different things. I've looked over the factory adjustment arms. And they all seem exactly the same. So at first I just took spacers from lower side thinking it would drop that side of the car down, then I could put back in and it would see it's way to low. And pump this side up level with other side. Didn't work. This actually lowered both sides. The one with no spacers to 790 and one with to 805. So pulled all spacers out back to factory. This didn't work either. As even the factory settings now have a variance of about 25mm. So I put it all back together with spacers and washers in. Now I'm getting 790 on the low side and 805 on high side... I really have no idea what's going on. I've unplugged battery. I'll leave for half hour. Then head out the bush quickly before work. Try settle it this way? I also noticed the low side of the car is the side with the high lift jack and shovel bolted to roof rack... Maybe this is problem? I wouldn't think it would drop one side by a full inch thou?
Thanks for your help. Mullins

[mypradogrande]

Hey everyone,
So after buying my 2005 petrol grande and putting it through its paces. I can defiantly say the standard airbags will split in half (in my case drivers side) set to high through some serious wombat holes.
So after much reading studying and phone calls I decided to go airbag man 2" raised with bilsteins and king springs. Heavy duty ones. Now if anyone could shed some light. I'm having an issue.
After putting all new suspension was put in (at home by myself... If it matters) I ran a tape over what lift I had achieved. From bottom of the standard alloy toyota rims to wheel arc I have approx 815 after some bush bashing and settling. Need a wheel Alignment as camber is way out and at a guess. May drop Another 5mm. Now when I measured the rear it was only sitting at 790. So was face up a lot. So left it for a couple days. No more sagging at front. And rear hight the same. So next logical step was to space out the leveling sensors a little more in the rear to achieve more lift. As airbag man ones only lift the rear 30mm not 50mm to align better with the gxl 50mm raised struts because grande are 20mm higher than standard gxl aparently. Anyway so I needed 50mm in rear. Not 30. Pulled down sensors and added approx 7-8 mm of washers. Perfect... No. What thus has done now is raised one side of the prado on the rear to 830 (the hight I was trying to achieve) but not other side. So back on the phone. I'm informed the 2 airbags have a tolerance or +/- 15mm. To allow for obvious reasons. Uneven parking/heavier driver ect ect otherwise the compressor and relive valves would be never ending on and off. So question is.. How do I fix this? It's been about 100ks on car and on and off. Playing with in dash hight switch and it hasn't moved. Still uneven. So next step is to remove all spacers. Hope car goes back to factory height and then put all back in and start it up crossing my fingers.. As doing this in my view will make car Sence it's out by more than the allowed variance and set itself back to an undeformed looking Prado. I'll post results tomorrow night after I try fix it. If I can. Just wondering if there's and easier way? Or a definitive way to fix this if someone has had this issue before. Thanks in advance. Mullins

I had the exact same setup installed on my 03 Prado Grande, The rear had not been bought level or higher then the front and when accelerating felt like the front of the car was lifting off. I added about 10 mm of washers in addition to the 5mm it already had which bought the back to 830 +/- a few cm each side and depending on load, inclines etc. I'd be making sure the spacers are adjusted evenly on both sides first, but I also noticed looking at the sensors a joint piece that looks like part of the sensor adjustment. Wouldn't be game to adjust them myself but may be something to investigate ? I have read somewhere on the this site the 150 Prado Kakadu's have a similar issue with the rear not being level after adjustment... Cheers, Jesse