Need Help Re-Doing Front Setup!!!

3301 Views 41 Replies 11 Participants Last post by tacoINtacoma, Apr 16, 2010

tacoINtacoma

Discussion Starter · Mar 16, 2010

Long story short, its never been great.

My front left bag has a tear in it now and I can't very well just replace it without fixing the problem that caused it.

I need new bag mounts. I need to either buy them or have new ones fabricated and welded in place. The ones I have now are too tall and provide too much lift and are likely not at the correct angle.

I need to try another shock kit, the last one I tried lasted 2 days I think.
I need to know where to buy them, mount them and what shocks to buy.

I want to get all 4 bags hooked up to gauges also, so if anyone has any recommendations post them.

I'm going to replace all the upper and lower ball joints as well.

I'm going with 6" single port Slam Specialties again.

I can't drive it until I get this stuff fixed, so any help you guys can offer is appreciated.

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planemos

· #2 · Mar 16, 2010

So what do you think caused the tear in the bag exactly?

tacoINtacoma

Discussion Starter · #3 · Mar 16, 2010

Its the angle of the mount when the bag collapses.

Also, the bag lifts too high to the point there is positive camber. This also causes the front end to be too squishy when partially deflating the bag to drive in a lowered position.

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tacoINtacoma

Discussion Starter · #4 · Mar 16, 2010

Fully extended

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JustinW

· #5 · Mar 17, 2010

With a little modification, Air Ride technologies has some really nice airbags. My pops is running them on his 67 f-100 with custom suspension.

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planemos

· #6 · Mar 17, 2010

It looks like some fabrication will remedy it. There are a few things you could do to re-design it. Remember that the bag is about 3" when collapsed so don't allow the mounts to collapse closer than that. Some bump stops might work. Somebody was using limit straps in another thread somewhere. It could have been on toyotaminis.com. You should look at some of the professionally done front setups. Some people notch into the side of the frame to make clearance and move the mounts inward. This creates more lift too. With a larger bag it will ride better.

tacoINtacoma

Discussion Starter · #7 · Mar 17, 2010

Please click one of the Quick Reply icons in the posts above to activate Quick Reply.

tacoINtacoma

Discussion Starter · #8 · Mar 18, 2010

I need something more specific.

Like how tall, what angle. I don't have the luxury of experimenting with different brackets since I don't have a welder and am going to need to find someone to do the work.

Like I said, I need to cut down on the height so theres more pressure in the bag when riding with the front low and be at the right angle so the bag doesn't tear when laid out like it has.

Noone mentioned the shock relocation kit and shocks yet either, if anything knows anything about them.

planemos

· #9 · Mar 18, 2010

You're upper mounting bracket looks like it needs to be lower. I bought some from Cando and they fit in the spring pocket and the flat bag surface is lower than yours. I think, if your arms are not triangulated, you must mount the shocks to the strut bar.

planemos

· #10 · Mar 18, 2010 (Edited by Moderator)

Maybe a pic of my cando stuff will help. The upper brackets are not installed but they are sitting in the cup snug and are in the right place. Notice the angle. Nothing is bolted in yet.

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planemos

· #11 · Mar 18, 2010 (Edited by Moderator)

Take a look.

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OGSpacePimp

· #12 · Mar 18, 2010

it looks to me like almost all your problems could be solved by redoing your lower bag mount, that ish is crazy looking...anyone redoing it for you can easily take a 3" block of square tube and mount it to your upper braket, lay the truck out, and make the lower bracket to mount up to the 3" block, this will give you correct alignment when laid out, and require zero extra pressure before lifting, and you should be set on alignment ar around 65-75 psi in the front...check out innovativeairsuspension.com for dual needle gauges, and T fitting to go between the valves that are tapped 1/8" npt to put in fittings for gauges, they also have the shock relocater kit that i am running, there's some pics of the install in my build thread, along with lots of pics of my bag mounts and angles too...good luck with it :waytogo:

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ChrisTaco

· #13 · Mar 18, 2010

That lower bag mount is sh!t. Cut it out. Actually the location of how the bag is setup is REALLY bad. No wonder why your bag rips.

Best bet from what I see is to redo the front bag setup. Just go w/ the cando kit.

Weld in the upper and the tabs. Trim up the existing spring cup so you don't tear up your bags.

You could do it in a weekend honestly.

OGSpacePimp

· #14 · Mar 18, 2010 (Edited)

ChrisTaco said:
That lower bag mount is sh!t. Cut it out. Actually the location of how the bag is setup is REALLY bad. No wonder why your bag rips.

Best bet from what I see is to redo the front bag setup. Just go w/ the cando kit.

Weld in the upper and the tabs. Trim up the existing spring cup so you don't tear up your bags.

You could do it in a weekend honestly.

factory spring pocket is gone...you could honestly cut that lower circle plate off, cut that lower bracket tube off at about a 30 degree angle or so and weld that circle plate back on and it would be fine, maybe slot out the upper mounts and fitting holes to slide the top of the bag out a hair if needed, and flip those inner lower b/j bolts to clearance the bag if needed also...something like this

oh, and if you have pos camber at your preferred ride height, just get it aligned and they can add some shims to take that out

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tacoINtacoma

Discussion Starter · #15 · Mar 28, 2010

Alright,

Thanks for the advice.

I bought a new Cando front bracket kit.

I also bought 2 new RE6 Slam bags. (Supposedly they've been improved).

$270.00 with shipping.

Now I need to find a reputable welder to take the old crap out and put the new stuff in the right way.

I have a lot more to do but I think I'll start with that.

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tacoINtacoma

Discussion Starter · #16 · Mar 29, 2010

I'm hoping that with the new brackets I can run suffecient pressure even at a lowered ride height so I can avoid the hassle and expense of a shock kit.

I will sacrifice some lift height but it was over-extending anyway hence the problem with sloppy bags when I tried to drive with the front down.

I'm going to replace the upper/lower ball joints while I'm at it.

I still need someone to weld it but I haven't decided where to take it yet.

The question I have right now is how the brackets mount. Is there one obvious place or do I need to instruct the welder where to position them? I've seen some online instructions that show mounting brackets closer in or farther out depending on what you're looking for as far as lift / speed / ride quality etc.

At this point I'm looking for ride quality, especially since I want to avoid a shock kit if I can.

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ChrisTaco

· #17 · Mar 29, 2010

Why are you anti shocks? I ran the RE6 up front and I still had shocks. I don't think I'd change that either.

If you get them mounted correctly, you'll love it. I still think it was a bit bouncy w/o shocks on Slams.

tacoINtacoma

Discussion Starter · #18 · Mar 29, 2010

Well,

I need to know whose kit to buy, what shock to get and the proper mounting location.

planemos

· #19 · Mar 30, 2010

I suggest '69 Camaro KYB Gas-A-Just shocks. They have a few different kinds of these. Some are for a lowered application. Some are for the bigger V8 etc.
If you bought some shocks like the ones I suggested and gave them to your welder person before the job they could install it. I would also give them some bolts to to go through the shocks and a piece of 1/4" steel that they can cut up and make into shock mounts. The shocks should mount on the bars that run from your lower ball joint to the front frame.

If you have a grinder and not a welder you could make the shock mounts before you give them to your welder person to save money for labour and possibly parts(if you find some deals)

ChrisTaco

· #20 · Mar 30, 2010

tacoINtacoma said:
Well,

I need to know whose kit to buy, what shock to get and the proper mounting location.

I actually got the front shock kit from SD.com and then got a set of front shocks for a hardbody. I did the upper mount on the frame and the lower mount I welded on the strut bar.

You really have to check your movement since the strut bar rotates as the wheel moves up and down. It worked for my setup as I never rode high in the front except to clear stuff.

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