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Your car, truck or SUV has a whole lot of different systems that manage the various goings on. There’s an electrical system for sending power various places; engine management for the engine; a suspension system if you have mag ride or something similar; and there’s a ton more, too. When you add air suspension into the mix you’re also adding another system, and it needs to be watched and maintained as well.
One of the big things to think about with air suspension is proper air pressure. If you don’t have the right amount in the right place, you could cause some damage. So let’s go through some of the details and figure it out.
Sleeve Bags have a Minimum PSI
There are single and dual convoluted bags, and then you have sleeve bags. These sleeves roll over a center post when they inflate or deflate but take up less space than your traditional dual convoluted bag. In these situations, you have to be sure your sleeve air bag maintains air pressure.
If you need to put your car on a lift to work on it, you need to have a minimum PSI in the airbag. This is based on the manufacturer’s recommendations, but Universal Air, for example, says you need to keep at least 40 PSI in it. Otherwise, the bag will not roll correctly and you will damage the air bag.
Your Air Bags May Have Bump Stops
If you are running a double convoluted airbag, it likely has an internal bump stop. This is a way to keep the bag from bottoming out and damaging the end plates. It’s a nice feature to have.
Thing is, you don’t want to hit that bump stop all the time. If you do, you risk damaging the air bag. Therefore you want to keep enough PSI in the bag to be the height you want, but not hit the bump stop throughout the course of normal driving. Some of this comes down to how you set up the bag to begin with, too.
Your Tank has a Maximum PSI
While we don’t think about it that often, your air tank also has a maximum PSI. This is the rating at which above that PSI — which, in case you didn’t know, is pounds per square inch — it will fail. Failure in an air tank can either mean a tiny leak will develop, or, in rare circumstances, it can explode. And that’s very, very bad.
A tank under 200 PSI of pressure releases a whole ton of energy. It can pop your eardrums, bend sheetmetal and really screw up your vehicle. If your pressure switch goes bad and leaves your compressors running constantly, you can pop your tank. If you have a steel tank that isn’t maintained properly and rust forms at the bottom, it can cause the material to weaken and then the tank goes boom.
You don’t want any scenario where your tank fails violently. Make sure you keep the correct PSI in your tank(s) and maintain them regularly.
Stay Safe Out There
If you have questions about any of this stuff, don’t hesitate to let us know. We’re here all the time, and you’ve got plenty of ways to reach us. Just give us a shout and we’ll see how we can help.
