- We've all heard of air suspension, right?
Using air to support the weight of our vehicle,
additional cargo, heavy trailers, truck bed campers,
and the list goes on.
But have we ever considered
using air ride suspension on our off-road vehicles?
And not just high performance air shocks
like what we'll typically see
on purpose-built rock crawlers,
but I'm talking about fully converting
all four corners of our vehicles
to ride on airbags to support the weight
instead of coil springs or leaf springs.
And more importantly,
would it even gain us any advantages
to off-roading performance?
I mean, we are starting to see
more and more factory built vehicles
that come with adjustable airbags in all four corners.
Ram 1500 being one of the most recent ones
that I can think of,
but there have been plenty of vehicles throughout the years
that have come with automatically controlled air suspension.
So why not use them in four wheel drive vehicles
that are going to be seeing a fair amount of off-road use?
For one, you'd be able to flip a switch
and put air into the airbags to give you more height,
therefore more ground clearance, right?
Similar to how we would use our air lockers,
for those of us that have them.
You just flip a switch, it activates a valve,
controlling the pressure to a diaphragm,
of which then locks both the right
and left axle shafts together
giving you 100% power to both tires.
Another awesome advantage
would be leveling out your vehicle
in either off camber or sidehilling situations.
Or if you're trying to climb a really steep hill,
you would add air to the rear bags
and lets some out of the front air bags
to help not only level out the vehicle better
but this would also shift more of the vehicles weight
to the front tires to help try and pull the vehicle
up the hill instead of a majority of the weight
being put on the rear tires normally.
And then the rear tires
trying to push all that weight up the hill.
And same thing goes for going down a hill
but just the opposite, inflate the front bags
so that they lift the front of the vehicle
and let the air out of the rear bags
to lower the back of the vehicle.
To help distribute that weight more evenly,
shift the center of gravity
more towards the center of the vehicle
and not to mention,
feel a little bit more comfortable
while going up and down steep hills.
Plus an added benefit
for anyone that sleeps in their vehicle
or in a rooftop tent,
you can use the airbags to self-center your vehicle
and level it perfectly
on all different types of uneven terrain.
But if it's so awesome,
why don't we barely ever,
if ever see an off-road vehicle
equipped with a full air ride suspension setup on bags?
And I'm guessing there are several great answers
for that one.
One being until recently, I personally don't know
of any suspension manufacturers out there that specialize
in off-road performance who make air ride suspension
using airbags for off-road vehicles.
Therefore the availability of it wasn't there to purchase.
And I say until recently because
AccuAir Suspension had both a Jeep Wrangler
and a Ford Bronco at the SEMA Show
this past fall that were both sporting air bagged suspension
for use and off-road environments.
And guess what?
I went through a range of different emotions
and thought processes
as I was watching these two vehicles go up and down,
up and down and then the rear would go up
and the front would go down and vice versa,
or they would lean to the left or to the right and so on.
But at first I was like, "No effing way
are these airbags going to hold up
to that kind of abuse that coil springs or leaf springs
can hold up to."
I mean, just imagine taking one big ass bounce
sending the front of your Jeep or whatever
up into the air and coming down hard.
Are the bags really gonna hold up to that?
Or high speed through the woops and the rough terrains.
I'm thinking just the heat exerted through the rubber
would be enough to fatigue them
to the point where they might blow out on you.
Like driving on the highway would with a deflated tire,
eventually the sidewalls heat up so much,
they eventually just explode.
But then again, the team at AccuAir, they're no dummies.
These guys are the guys to go to
when it comes to any type of air suspension setup
for custom vehicles
as they've been doing it for over 20 years.
And there's no way they're gonna introduce a new product
without knowing if it's gonna work or not.
And besides this type of suspension
may not even be for you
if you don't feel it fits
within what you're wanting to do with your vehicle,
like high speed desert racing, for example.
But what about trail rigs?
Where most of the riding is done at a slower pace
and having the ability to adjust your suspension
to shift the weight where you need it most
to get the most traction,
might just be the best thing
since pneumatic tires were invented.
But you might be asking
if something like that is so great
and it's gonna hold up to the abuse,
then well, it's probably super expensive, right?
Well, is something actually considered expensive
if it pays you back in dividends?
Meaning the performance gained
for off-road use might ultimately be more
than the dollar amount spent.
And that goes for just about anything
you purchase for your rig.
Like the old saying goes, "You wanna play, you gotta pay."
And right now for everything you could possibly need
that's all of your hoses, wiring, switches, leveling sensors
air compressor, air tanks, relays, airbags, hardware,
and they even provide you with brand new shocks
to match the lift height of the bags,
in what AccuAir is calling
the ultimate package for Jeep Wrangler JLs or JL use,
retails for 5,500 bucks.
Now, we are in the process of acquiring all the data
needed to onboard the AccuAir Jeep Wrangler suspension
onto TrailBuilt,
And then once the Ford Bronco kit is available from AccuAir,
which is projected to be sometime around April,
we'll be adding that one to our website as well.
But the reason I wanted to make this video
is because I really wanted to get
all of your guys' feedback as to what you think
about running a bagged system on your off-road vehicle.
I'll just say me personally,
I think it would be absolutely a great investment
that would get a lot of use
and its money worth for off roading vehicles
and weekend warrior trail rigs.
Daily drivers who can lower their suspension
for better onroad handling
or to fit your vehicle in the garage,
even so that the dog or the dogs
can jump in much easier would be worth it.
And then get it to the trail,
add some air into the bags for some actual ground clearance,
up to six inches at full capacity if you really needed it,
otherwise it's recommended to adjust
up to four inches for normal off-road use.
But then you're all set to go and play for the weekend.
Or the overlanding rig that wants to level out their vehicle
while hauling a bunch of additional cargo and gear,
a camp trailer, or like I had mentioned earlier,
a super simple way to level out your vehicle within seconds
while resting for the night.
So yes, for the right circumstances,
I definitely think having an adjustable suspension
would be super great to have,
and I can't wait to start seeing the availability
of these AccuAir systems start to expand
in other brands and models of vehicles
as I do truly believe the value is totally worth it.
In the meantime, we are gonna go to work
on getting the data added to TrailBuilt
so that it will be available to purchase in the near future.
And plus we'll be working on AccuAir themselves
to see if we can get hands on one of their Wranglers
that are already set up with the airbag system.
Would be really great to be able to show you guys
how well a bag system really works for off-roading,
or doesn't work for off-roading.
Either way would be great to show all of you guys.
Till then, make sure and check out
all of the different suspension systems
we currently do have available,
by checking them out on our website
at trailbuiltoffroad.
Plus we'll have a link posted in the description below
to bring you right to there.
And guys, as always, we appreciate all of you
for watching and all of your support.
I'm Josh from TrailBuilt,
and we'll see you guys
out in the trails.
(gentle music)