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Equipment Tests > Airbag Man Suspension
Airbag Man Suspension
Words and photos by John Denman
One of the great things about the Australian 4WD aftermarket industry is that there is always someone around who is ready to question the established ideas and push the boundaries a little bit. Often the best ideas come from people not directly associated with the 'mainstream' aftermarket industry and come at things with a different perspective. One such person is Richard Clamp.
Richard runs a business called Airbag Man in the Brisbane suburb of Brendale. The company is primarily involved in the sales of suspension components for heavy vehicles, most of which these days use air bags as the major part of their suspension. Richard could see no reason why this sort of technology shouldn't be adapted to 4WD use, and purchased a Nissan Patrol 2.8 turbo diesel as the company's research vehicle. Airbag suspension on passenger vehicles is not all that new. Since the early 1930s airbags have been experimented with in a variety of applications, sometimes as a helper unit to springs and sometimes used in place of springs. It is into this latter category that the Airbag Man kit fits.
In the case of the coil sprung vehicles like the Patrol, the existing springs are removed and an air bag kit is installed in their place. There is no modification required to fit the new suspension and the whole job is finished in a couple of hours. The original shocks must be replaced because the valving on them is not compatible with the new set-up. Airbag Man kits now come with shocks from either Koni or KYB depending on the buyers budget. When we drove the Patrol the shocks were still being specifically developed and the shocks in the vehicle at the time were Rancho's, as they had valving that was close in standard form to being compatible with the new set-up.
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One of the good things about an airbag suspension, as any truck driver will tell you, is the better ride quality it offers over standard springs, particularly leaf. With this airbag suspension you will have the option of varying the ride height of the vehicle to suit the conditions without any affect on ride quality or suspension travel. If you want to do long distances on bitumen and want to lower the centre of gravity, or if you want to get your 4WD into an area with low roof-top clearance, you can lower the air pressure or dump it completely. This lets you drop the height of the vehicle down to the bump stops, and because the airbags used in this kit have their own built in bump stops, no damage will be done to the bags. Another option available to the airbag-equipped driver is to raise the ride height in heavy going. Imagine being hung up over a log on the track and being able to push a button to raise the height of the vehicle to get clear. As well, each corner of the vehicle can be raised or lowered on the move and individually, with each of the four units having its own gauge and control button.
But all this is no good if the vehicles suspension travel suffers. We took the Patrol out into the scrub with Airbag Man's technical representative Brett Curtis. On the bitumen, the first thing you notice is the firm, precise handling of the Patrol. Airbags don't oscillate as much as springs do and while the Rancho shocks were by no means the finished product, they combined well with the bags to control pitching and re-bound over rough bitumen. On the dirt, it was the same - badly pot-holed gravel failed to throw the vehicle off line and only a washaway with fairly steep sides jarred things a little. But it was on tougher 4WD terrain that the real value of this suspension comes to the fore. Axle articulation in this sort of going is of paramount importance, and the airbags did not disappoint.
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One of the great things about the Australian 4WD aftermarket industry is that there is always someone around who is ready to question the established ideas and push the boundaries a little bit. Often the best ideas come from people not directly associated with the 'mainstream' aftermarket industry and come at things with a different perspective. One such person is Richard Clamp.
Richard runs a business called Airbag Man in the Brisbane suburb of Brendale. The company is primarily involved in the sales of suspension components for heavy vehicles, most of which these days use air bags as the major part of their suspension. Richard could see no reason why this sort of technology shouldn't be adapted to 4WD use, and purchased a Nissan Patrol 2.8 turbo diesel as the company's research vehicle. Airbag suspension on passenger vehicles is not all that new. Since the early 1930s airbags have been experimented with in a variety of applications, sometimes as a helper unit to springs and sometimes used in place of springs. It is into this latter category that the Airbag Man kit fits.
In the case of the coil sprung vehicles like the Patrol, the existing springs are removed and an air bag kit is installed in their place. There is no modification required to fit the new suspension and the whole job is finished in a couple of hours. The original shocks must be replaced because the valving on them is not compatible with the new set-up. Airbag Man kits now come with shocks from either Koni or KYB depending on the buyers budget. When we drove the Patrol the shocks were still being specifically developed and the shocks in the vehicle at the time were Rancho's, as they had valving that was close in standard form to being compatible with the new set-up.
read on below advertisement
One of the good things about an airbag suspension, as any truck driver will tell you, is the better ride quality it offers over standard springs, particularly leaf. With this airbag suspension you will have the option of varying the ride height of the vehicle to suit the conditions without any affect on ride quality or suspension travel. If you want to do long distances on bitumen and want to lower the centre of gravity, or if you want to get your 4WD into an area with low roof-top clearance, you can lower the air pressure or dump it completely. This lets you drop the height of the vehicle down to the bump stops, and because the airbags used in this kit have their own built in bump stops, no damage will be done to the bags. Another option available to the airbag-equipped driver is to raise the ride height in heavy going. Imagine being hung up over a log on the track and being able to push a button to raise the height of the vehicle to get clear. As well, each corner of the vehicle can be raised or lowered on the move and individually, with each of the four units having its own gauge and control button.
But all this is no good if the vehicles suspension travel suffers. We took the Patrol out into the scrub with Airbag Man's technical representative Brett Curtis. On the bitumen, the first thing you notice is the firm, precise handling of the Patrol. Airbags don't oscillate as much as springs do and while the Rancho shocks were by no means the finished product, they combined well with the bags to control pitching and re-bound over rough bitumen. On the dirt, it was the same - badly pot-holed gravel failed to throw the vehicle off line and only a washaway with fairly steep sides jarred things a little. But it was on tougher 4WD terrain that the real value of this suspension comes to the fore. Axle articulation in this sort of going is of paramount importance, and the airbags did not disappoint.
next page »
