Dumb air bag questions

Okee doke! So some questions that i cant figure out by searching thus far. More specific to the 3rd gen:

1). Airbags with nothing else, do they result in a lift? More air more lift? How much air gives you how much lift? (Air……..spring..right??) thinking of it like my old dakar pack.

2). At what point do you need a new shock? (Pertaining to the amount of lift toping out the stock shock)

3). Are they all free floating or do some attach to your axle/spring/ubolt/plate type location? I ask because i saw another post where somebody talked about the airbag acting as a limit strap.

Thats it for now, thanks for the help.

 

1: They can be used for lift, but its less than ideal, they are intended to resist squat, not lift past neutral height. Using 50psi to lift the rear axle for anything but a picture is crazy. They ride insane rough.

2: Shocks are usually replaced when leaking, rusted, or the ride quality is very poor. It's hard for most to tell because it degrades over time. I usually say 100,000 miles its time to replace them, especially factory junk.

3: Most simple air bag setups for tacoma are fixed and they will stretch with flex. The shock acts as the limiter first. I wouldn't use them on any kind of offroad build.

They are meant for variable load and to keep the truck level. avoiding too much down travel on the front suspension and too much up travel on the rear.

 

Not used for a lift at all. Like @Bishop84 said you use them if you have a heavy load in the bed, or are towing a trailer with a lot of tongue weight.

 

You can make them “free floating” by using a cradle like a cup on the axle. Daystar cradles are a good choice when used with the Firestone bags for leveling.

 

#1: Using an Airbag specifically as a lift will have a huge negative effect on your ride quality. It will not allow the leaf springs to work the way they are intended. They are normally used to help assist the leaf springs with heavy loads.

#2: Airbags in commercial applications are very good at popping the shock shaft apart at the top bushing. Literally snapping off the top bushing from the rest of the shock. They are quite powerful at producing upward force. It is not advisable to use stock length shocks if you intend to use airbags to lift your rear suspension.

#3: Depending on design, they can free float on one end, but will have some sort of pocket they slip into to prevent being folded over. And correctly sized bags for the application would not act as a limiter to suspension travel. Using an airbag as a limiting device will reduce the life of the bag... they tend to explode when used incorrectly.

Everything that I have experience with has been hard mounted top and bottom.

 

Daystar cradles are too think (in my experience) without a lift and will cause bottoming-out if used with the normal firestone bags. (Excessively limits up travel on a stock vehicle.)

 

watch the TV show Texas Metal, that's all they use to get trucks up in the air.
back in 1967 i put them on my camaro, used them when i towed a boat and they worked fine.

 

So with that being said, if i were looking to gain a few inches of ride height(leaf pack and new shocks), but also wanted the bennefits of airbags for towing my camper, would the bags not end up assisting until the truck sagged under weight back to around the stock height? Or are there options for extended travel/height.

is a new leaf pack the only thing advised for light off road trailer towing?

 

air shocks in the rear, that's if they still make them. just add air when you are towing the camper

 

These work Very well, but hard to find
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...adle-bump-stop-sold-out.638699/#post-22347725

 

Once you have your lift in place and you know the specs you need, then you can look for a kit.

 

Don’t wanna sound like a dick here but why does everyone say stock shocks are junk? IMO they are more than adequate. Hitachis shocks on my sport are great on road and off-road, just gotta slow down when it gets bumpy. My truck is almost 4 years old and the shocks still feel like new.

Stock shocks on my ranger were still
Good at 165k miles when I sold it. A lot of time spent off-road in that thing.

 

How does asking an honest question make you sound like a dick. Stock shocks are great for stock applications and stock uses. The Tacoma is built for the intention of off-road so that certainly seems to be a stock use. As for quality, I would bet that stock factory shocks will outlast most aftermarket stock shocks handly.

 

You are not wrong. Its just its an unpopular opinion on here. Same goes with the battery, my truck is almost 4 years and my battery is working perfectly, yet so many people talk shit about the OEM batteries. I dont see why I wont get a couple more years out of it. My truck is does not move 5 days a week by way, I only drive it on the weekends. I also blast my music when camping and its still works great.

 

I work at Toyota so my sample size is much larger.

The shocks are not adequate for hauling and subjectively ride poorly on the sport model. They also don't last with any kind of truck work.

They're fine if you treat a Tacoma like a car.

 

I hear you, but I definitely don’t treat my truck like a car. Had a yard of gravel in the back and took it on about a 45 min ride through mountain passes, no issues at all. I use my box all the time and haul all sorts of things. Plus, beat it up off-road pretty good.

I don’t have the yard of gravel pic but it’s in the Tacoma’s doing work thread.

Just a few examples:

 

Im aware of other options such as sumo springs, however I went the air bag route. Daystar cradles maintain full flex when offroading, and when your towing throw some air in the bags to level it out. I keep 5 psi in mine 99% of the time and dont feel them at all. I've got OME heavy duty springs and 5160 shocks in the rear, normally my bags are not even touching the cradle.