The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Big Bolts Air ride options for 2 ton

I was thinking it would be nice to be able to soften the ride when not hauling something in my 57. Have you guys seen an air over leaf setup that could be copied to put on the front of these trucks? I was thinking like one heavy leaf then an air bag from leaf to frame. The rear could be done the same or a heavy 4 link.

I think if you are going to load it near it's intended GVWR then you would still want the factory springs to handle the weight, big truck air ride systems are designed to carry the weight without springs. If you are keeping springs on the truck and adding air bags then each component has to handle the weight. I have no experience adding air ride to any vehicle.

This is my exact thought for my truck also. In no way shape or form would I only leave 1 spring in place. The springs locate the axles and taking the chance of leaving 1 spring leaves the door open for the axle to move side to side.

What I was thinking was to pull every other leaf out and install the bags from there. Also I would go with air bags that have built in bump stops or fabricate bump stops on the truck. Always account for a possible failure.

I have made a few custom suspensions over the years, nothing on a medium duty just smaller vehicles. After having back surgery my back doesn't like an extremely rough ride anymore. I though about a custom 4 link for the rear end also but decided against it. If I'm hauling 20k pounds say though the mountains one day and something doesn't stay together there isn't a failure that can be accounted for with a 4 link that is busted.

If you look at my picture link in signature and album for the 48 you can see air bags with internal bump stops added to the front between spring and frame. Also air helper springs added to the rear.
The springs I had made for my 1 ton but I moved them over to the 2 ton and added the air helpers front and rear for adjustable load capacity/ride.

Navistar used their corporate air ride on everything from school buses to class 8 trucks from the mid '80s until 2002. From 2003 until present Navistar uses an air ride similar to Freightliner's Airliner. But there is nothing wring with the "Z" spring they used up until 2003. I have so many of the "Z" spring suspensions laying around that I sell the for scrap iron. Back in the '80s and early '90s we converted a lot of spring ride to air ride. If I were to put air ride on a 2 ton, I would find a cutoff which is the frame cut right in front of the front hanger. They are everywhere and parts are still readily available. Anything you try to build will be reinventing the wheel. Here is a parts breakdown of the suspension.

http://www.truckcomponentsonline.co...ear-SingleTandem-Axle--Z-Beam_c_706.html

I buy most of my suspension parts from these guys.

http://www.stengelbros.com/

The only thing that goes bad is the air bags, the leveling valve and the bushings go bad in the torque arms.

If you know how to drill holes and can can cut the mount for the traverse rod off of the donor and weld it on to your housing, there is not a whole lot to it. We use Jancy slugger bits with a Fein magnetic drill press to drill holes in our heat treated frames,but '57 two ton frame rails are soft and will drill with high speed bits.

We use flange bolts to bolt suspensions to the frame.

https://www.imperialsupplies.com/item/0196400

But I think this is probably overkill on a two ton.