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One of the original reasons for installing air suspension in your vehicle was to optimize it for towing and hauling. That’s right, whether it was a bag that fit inside of your coil spring to add extra support or one to carry extra weight off a tow hitch, air bags have been helping people tow for decades.
So how do you do that? What steps do you need to take to optimize your air suspension for towing and hauling? Well, there are two basic types of air suspension setups you can use for this scenario.
Option 1: Fully Bagged
We see this all the time; some of our friends have shops dedicated to bagging duallies, the one-ton monsters that can still pull a fifth-wheel trailer packed with vehicles. In this case, the entire truck or car is bagged, front and back. It can lay on the ground and lift back up when it’s time to roll. It’s a full package.
In these scenarios, you have to consider the rear suspension. Many times the stock leaf springs are discarded and replaced with some kind of link system, be it a parallel four-link, two-link or something else entirely. This should be solidly built using DOM steel tubing with the appropriate thickness for the vehicle. You want that to be bulletproof, because it is holding the rear end of your truck to the rest of the vehicle, and that’s important.
When it comes to the bags themselves, placement becomes the big issue. When you have a link system, you can mount the air bag somewhere down the length of the link to provide added lift. This creates a scenario where you may have a 2:1 or 3:1 lift ratio, which means the rear of your truck can get pretty high and, with very little pressure, drive very smoothly. It’s all about leverage.
The downside is you lose capacity. You can’t tow much weight in the back because it will exceed the weight ratings of the air bags. As a result, we suggest putting the bags directly on top of the axle. It’s the best way to get the most strength possible, and it allows you to even mount a fifth-wheel hitch on the bridge notch so you can tow the big stuff.
Option 2: Helper Bags
If you don’t want to go all out, a helper bag system is your next best bet. These are brackets that allow you to mount an air bag to the rear suspension (typically a leaf spring) to give you extra support. These are meant to be supplemental and do not replace the stock suspension. The two work in tandem.
In this case, you want to ensure your rear bag mounts are solid. They do a lot of work when you’re towing, so make sure they’re made of good steel and not something cheap. Having an onboard controller is nice too, because then you can set the height without having to manually air it up. You’ll also want a compressor and tank so if a leak occurs you can manage your height appropriately.
We’re here to help
We want to be sure that you enjoy your air system, and if you have questions about how to set your vehicle up for towing the right way, give us a call, stop by the shop or hit us up on social. We’ll do our best to get you going down the right path.
