1st Gen Armada/QX56 air suspension question

[dra2120]

I've been doing some thinking about the air suspension on my 2010 QX56, and I wanted to run my thought by some other people to see if I'm missing something. I like having the air suspension in the truck; it rides nice, and obviously adapts the truck to different load outs. My thought though was; as prone as the stock system is to fail, why not replace the air shock with a nice adjustable shock from Bilstein or Fox or one of the better brands, and then replace the coil spring with an air spring from airlift or another reputable brand. This seems to be how many of the newer "high end" air systems are setup. Now obviously the problem is that if your airbag gets a leak then the whole truck will sink down to the bump stops, but it already does that if the air shock goes bad. The spring location seems more protected, and those types of airbags seem to be much more heavy duty. Thoughts?

 

[broncobowsher]

With the stock setup you are only lightly on the bumpstops. There are still springs giving some effort. What you propose you would be hard on the bumpstops.
Would it work, I don't see why not. Just remember to calculate the lever action in figuring the springs. The stock coil has about twice the load but only half the travel of the tire. Not sure what the exact ratio is. You can measure.

Now the compressor. Not sure that the stock one will support all the weight. I think you could reuse the stock electronics. Use small diameter solenoids to keep the speed slow. If they are fast the computer will likely overshoot the target height. I had issues with overshooting a target ride height when I made a controller for the airbags on a trailer. When it was slow it could stop on target. When fast it went too far before it shut off. There was some smoothing logic to the height sensor so it doesn't go off on bumps and dips.

 

[dra2120]

With the stock setup you are only lightly on the bumpstops. There are still springs giving some effort. What you propose you would be hard on the bumpstops.

Maybe switching to the Timbren bump stops would be a good plan with what I'm thinking, that way there is more of a progressive "stopping" of the swing arm instead of the "hard stop" of the factory unit.

 

[broncobowsher]

Riding on a bumpstop, hit a bump. The suspension will completely unload, and land hard. With the stock coils in place, the springs will keep the tires in contact with the ground and when it lands again it will land softer. Squishy bumpstops will help a little as long as you are on the stops. But when off the stops, completely different.