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With an trip from Brissie to Birdsville coming up in July, and being advised by LFaR on a seperate post that air bag assistance for the rear spring will take care of the extra weight I will be carrying, I decided to take the plunge and install an air spring package. Being an ex-techi myself (and a 6th generation Scotsman!!) I decided that I could do the job myself and save a few dollars. I read numerous posts on PP (eg Drews post from May 2007 - viewtopic.php?f=20&t=722&st=0&sk=t&sd=a) regarding Polyairs, Air2000 and Firestone Coil Rite. Polyair seem to be the only one commercially distributed and available in Oz, but at a best price of $289 I decided to look O/S. Thanks to another post by LFaR, I went with the Firestone Coil Rite kit. There are a number of overseas distributors that will post to Oz, but I decided to go with a mob call Trucksprings (http://www.truckspring.com) mainly through reading alot about them and their reputation. The model Firestone Air Spring I went with is the 4135 which in the States is compatable with the FJ Cruiser and 4-Runner which I believe is the equivalent of the Prado. The kit cost me a total of just under $A190 delivered to my door and all up it took about a week from ordering to get here. You can also keep track of where your package is via a clickable internet link (eg, dispatched US, cleared Customs etc). The picture below is the package as it arrived at my house:
As with the Polyair package, the Firestones turned up with the 2 air bags, ample tubing and all fittings. A comprehensive set of instructions are also included.
Drew's post and pictures on how he went about installing the Polyair helped me heaps, so I decided not to post any pictures on how to do this. I will say though that along with removing the panhard arm, make sure you drop the sway bar link!! With a lot of huffing and puffing we managed to remove the LH spring without dropping the sway bar, but found that by dropping the sway bar on the RH side and using a 3rd jacking stand under the axle on the LH side, we were able to drop the RH side just about to the ground (slight exaggeration!!). Anyway, it made life alot easier - the spring came out and went in easy. Also watch the hoses and tubing that run along the axle and diff - make sure you remove the flexible tubing with its clips to allow plenty of axle movement without damage to the tubing. Installed air spring below:
The only problem I encountered was post install. The LH side accepted air - sweet!! The RH...no air was going to the air spring!! After a fair bit of head scratching and moaning about buying faulty O/S components and warranty etc etc, we decided to pull the RH side out and have a look. 2 seconds into the removal I found what the problem was. When I had routed the tubing from the top of the air bags through hole in the top of the modified/cut down bump stop I was not taking enough care and put a kink in the tube. That was why no air would get through. We rectified this and both side accepted air and sat perfect!!
The final decision was where to mount the 2 valves. We decided to use a piece of aluminium angle and attach it to an already existing bracket that holds my trailer plug. It sits up nice and high and out of harms way. Not to hard to access for inflation either (see below).
I did a measurment pre install with no load (from the base of the alloy to the highest wheel arch point) which was 780mm. Post install with 15 psi in the air springs I have gained 15mm - up to 795mm.
As with the Polyair package, the Firestones turned up with the 2 air bags, ample tubing and all fittings. A comprehensive set of instructions are also included.
Drew's post and pictures on how he went about installing the Polyair helped me heaps, so I decided not to post any pictures on how to do this. I will say though that along with removing the panhard arm, make sure you drop the sway bar link!! With a lot of huffing and puffing we managed to remove the LH spring without dropping the sway bar, but found that by dropping the sway bar on the RH side and using a 3rd jacking stand under the axle on the LH side, we were able to drop the RH side just about to the ground (slight exaggeration!!). Anyway, it made life alot easier - the spring came out and went in easy. Also watch the hoses and tubing that run along the axle and diff - make sure you remove the flexible tubing with its clips to allow plenty of axle movement without damage to the tubing. Installed air spring below:
The only problem I encountered was post install. The LH side accepted air - sweet!! The RH...no air was going to the air spring!! After a fair bit of head scratching and moaning about buying faulty O/S components and warranty etc etc, we decided to pull the RH side out and have a look. 2 seconds into the removal I found what the problem was. When I had routed the tubing from the top of the air bags through hole in the top of the modified/cut down bump stop I was not taking enough care and put a kink in the tube. That was why no air would get through. We rectified this and both side accepted air and sat perfect!!
The final decision was where to mount the 2 valves. We decided to use a piece of aluminium angle and attach it to an already existing bracket that holds my trailer plug. It sits up nice and high and out of harms way. Not to hard to access for inflation either (see below).
I did a measurment pre install with no load (from the base of the alloy to the highest wheel arch point) which was 780mm. Post install with 15 psi in the air springs I have gained 15mm - up to 795mm.
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