Are Air Bags the Cure All? Truck rides BAD

[Jemo]

I've had my '59 on the road for a few hundred miles and just clinch my teeth whenever I drive over any bumps or unsmooth pavement. The front end feels like it's going to shake loose and the rear feels like a rock. I have a Mustang 2 in the front with coils/shocks and leafs in the back. I changed out the coils for QA1 coil overs thinking that would make it better - no change. It rides fine on highway but anything less than that and it's awful.

I like the stance of my truck and don't want it to change. I have no interest in dropping it low when I park, etc but met a guy with an almost identical truck last year with air bags and he said it rides better than his new car...best upgrade he's made. Now I'm wondering, do I go back and just change it.

Since I don't want it to go up and down, thought about just putting bags on the rear only for now and plumbing it to a Schrader valve and filling it at the house. Can be done relatively cheap and not very complex.

[Tork?]

A pair of bags with Schrader valve setup will be reasonable cheap.

I suggest calling one of the vendors to make sure you get the right bag to match your goals.

[BR3W CITY]

Bags are great, but I can tell you from experience that trucks can ride bad when bagged too....just a different bad.

If your truck feels like a logging cart, first thing to check is all the bushings/balljoints and any serviceable joint. Heavy ladder frames on garbage midwest roads can shake a car to bits, and if one or two starts to go, it sucks the life out of other joints in the system.

Then take a look at your coilover setup in front. Too stiff a shock or too heavy a spring rate will cause lots of "crash" over bumps. If your using Mustang stuff with car coilovers, make sure that your components can handle the corner weight of that vehicle, and that you aren't riding on the bumpstops or maxxing out the suspension.

Oh, and if your on steel wheels or big rims, the rotational weight will suffer from that "crash" over uneven surfaces.

My '66 had a few issues in the beginning like this, but a few changes and its extremely comfortable even for me (destroyed spine).

[BigDan3131]

Is your tank still behind the seat and the battery in the stock location? If it is all of your weight is forward and besides the bed there isn't anything back there to hold it down. Either get a couple of those large sand bags for the bed or figure a way to mount weight from under the truck if its a show truck.

[Kudzupatch]

This is a very interesting subject to me too. My Suburban has a leafs on the back with overload add on bags. I keep just a little air in them and when the leak down over time, I can tell because of the change in ride. SO much smoother with just a little air in them. Had me thinking along the same lines.

[Tom]

Originally Posted by Kudzupatch

This is a very interesting subject to me too. My Suburban has a leafs on the back with overload add on bags. I keep just a little air in them and when the leak down over time, I can tell because of the change in ride. SO much smoother with just a little air in them. Had me thinking along the same lines.

Same here on my 98. The more weight I add along with the increased air pressure in the bags the better the ride. I love trackdays with 2 bikes, generator, stands, fuel etc loaded in the bed and 85psi in the bags. Softest riding truck I've ever been with that setup.

[Kudzupatch]

Has me really wanting to covert to air ride! But it is a lot of work and so little time.