Trailing arms with air bags?

87_bigbadzuk · Jul 26, 2018

I was at bricks and watched this bouncer that had air bags on back. Looked like the shorter 2 pancake style bag. Never seen this rig before but seemed like a legit built buggy. What would be the pros and cons of an air bag trailing arm? Freightliner bags could have 14 inch travel just in the bag so seems travel could be huge on a trailing arm. Still would need a good shock with it

87_bigbadzuk · Jul 26, 2018

https://youtu.be/YwV_3Tgj5Mw
Buggy is the silver one with rear steer.
Also, never messed with bags, would the arm still require wobble stops on one end or would they resist turning. This guy's arms I'm pretty sure had no bend in them

paradisepwoffrd · Jul 26, 2018

Bags had been used on offroad rigs for years, so this wouldn't be much different.

The arms would definately still require something to keep it from wobbling.

A bag isn't really any different than a coil spring or coil carrier, except its adjustable pressure/rate on the fly. It is also less resistant to punctures/ damage on the trail. You also still need the shock, like the one in the video.

xjtony · Jul 26, 2018

Bags will work with limited travel or if set up in some lever setup for longer travel suspension. Bag placement on lower or upper arms have to be centered on the link to avoid twisting, poly Bushing ends instead of heims, etc. firestone air bags only have 6" or so stroke in the double convoluted ones, they do make triple bellow bags as well. I'm familiar with air ride from my days of the low rider trucks.

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