Advice on bagging a truck

[OKLAGMCRUISER]

Originally Posted by thecodeman

Prolly a phord guy tryin to start some chit...

[truckin92pu]

Ok i have a few of questions, i apologize in advance if they are stupid but i am interested in bagging my truck and dont understand how the supension must be set up.

1) I would like to use the air ride coolride uca/lca set up in front, where does the bolt on shock mount go? and what does 04_low mean by saying he pulled the bolts out of the frame? is that a common problem?

2) When installing a new uca for air bags how do you set up the eccentric for camber adjustment? Can the eccentric be marked and just reinstalled in the same position. Can it be aligned at a shop if the suspension is now on airbags?

3) Is the pinion angle affected when using airbags. How should the angle be setup or does the suspension kit installed in the rear compensate or find the correct angle itself?

This has been very informative and i would greatly appreciate any info. Thanks for the help.

[04_low]

What I mean buy pulling the bolts out of the frame is....one the upper shock mount you drill 3 holes and install self tapping screws. There is no way to get nuts on them. I have a 04 Silverado I don't know if this is a problem on the OBS. I've only had my truck bagged for 6 months. I don't know when it happend or why it happend. I seen a post talking about breaking off the bottom shock mounts and made me go look at my truck to find out the upper shock mounts where pulled out. I don't know, maybe I drilled the holes to big.

[Mike]

If you need to you can weld the upper shock tab to the frame along with bolting it in. Most 4-links have adjustable ends so you can set your pinion angle at the height you want to drive at, called ride height. Once you have completed installation of everything and have determined your ride height take it to an alignment shop to have the fronte end aligned. You may have to try a few places since some are weird about working on bagged trucks.

[truckin92pu]

So everything just has to be setup to be in alignment at a given ride height. I figured it would be simple. Just out of curiousity how big of a notch has to be cut in to the frame to clear the tie rods?

Thanks for the info mike

[Mike]

I think most people cut a piece of 3" pipe in half and use that recessed into the framerail.

[Beyond Static©]

Well, another freakin lower shock tab broke in half on my dad's truck! I welded it back on, along with welding a washer on top of it to give it strength. If they keep breaking, we're gonna put some stock lca's on the truck. Usually, pinion angle is set 1 degree down

[NCBIGGJ]

Baggin a truck is all up to the owner and the shop if they are diferent. I have had many bagged trucks and have one at home right now that I am working on. I have had 2 links, 4 links, bags with leaves. all different set ups. 99% of the time you want to use some spindles up front to help keep the camber in check. I will post a pic of the rear set up of mine right now. maybe give you a little idea of what it consists of and how it looks.

[Rollin20s]

Originally Posted by Beyond Static©

We just did an install for the front of a '99 using

airlift 2b7 bags-$65 a piece
cups from innovative-$50 a pair
4 used blitzluft valves-$125 on ebay
airlift 8.5 gallon tank-$55
Viair 450 compressor-$200
compression fittings for the front-$90
KP gauge-$30
50ft of 1/2 line-$30
20 ft of 1/8 line-$5

that would be my truck lol, also the valves were only $90 shipped. and the cups were ART and i paid i think $45 shipped over a year ago.

[seansmitty42]

a fullsize chevy will lay on stock control arms with two inch spindles and that saves hella money

[Izzy]

Originally Posted by NCBIGGJ

Baggin a truck is all up to the owner and the shop if they are diferent. I have had many bagged trucks and have one at home right now that I am working on. I have had 2 links, 4 links, bags with leaves. all different set ups. 99% of the time you want to use some spindles up front to help keep the camber in check. I will post a pic of the rear set up of mine right now. maybe give you a little idea of what it consists of and how it looks.

That's a nice lookin' rear clip and link setup.

[chevy8869]

For Truckin92pu-I have the ART front shock mounts on my OBS. You can get a regular bolts and nuts on. The nuts goes inside the frame rail. But I put shocks on after I had the bags, in order to reach inside the framerail I had to take the bags and cups back out so I could get my skinny ass arm in there to get the nuts on the bolts. It was a pain and I dropped nuts (haha) many a time. But for those of you who want to put the ART bolt on front shock mounts on a OBS with something other than those tapping screws it can be done.

[SITNLOWSITNFAT]

Originally Posted by 04_low

I bagged my 04 using Kp 4 link and cantilever with firestone bags out back. Instead of grinding the rivet head off, take a drill near the same size and drill the center untill you are almost through the head. then take a punch and hammer and knock the stem through. The Kp kit works and rides great, I've only but 7K miles on it so far I hope my luck keeps up.

I used ART's upper and lower control arms up front along with there cups and firestone bags. The upper shock mount is best to be welded on. Mine pulled the bolts from the frame. I'm using ART's bigred valves with 3/8" ports and 1/2" line. I'm upgrading now to 3 5 gallon tanks under my bed (if they all will fit) and a air commander. Before this I had one 5 gallon tank and a Viair 450. I grew to hate the noise that thing makes with in a week on installing it. 5 gallons of air is not enough to raise to front and rear of the truck. lift front to ride height and raise rear about halfway then wait for tank to refill.

For guages I'm using once again ART's ridepro E it's a small selfcontained unit that has the guages and switches all in one. I have it mounted in my over head console. It's easy to read and use. plus you can upgrade to a remote. I plan on doing some time down the road.

Do you have the web site to get more info about ART's products?

[Mike]

www.ridetech.com

[srosa707]

A little help. Im in the market to buy a 99+ and id like to bag it myself. Now these are the parts i came up with and if you guys could let me know if i need anything else at all to get it to lay with 22s in back and 20s in front. From innovative air suspension: Contitech bags 1/2 4ply-- 2 5 Gal tanks-- 2 Viair 450-- KPcomponents.com-- Bolt on 4 link/cantilever system--Dual needle gauges--Sporttruckdirect.com--Dropped A arms. Id like to get the parker valves but if there are any better let me know. How many do i need to go FBSS? 8? Do i need to do a 5/7 first or can i bag it from stock height? Should i also run some spindles? Let me know fellas. Also, anyone want a 500hp 72 chevy?

[Mike]

Run just the spindles in front leave the a-arms stock. You will still need cups for the front also. Yes you need 8 valves for FBSS, and yes you can bag it from stock height.

[srosa707]

You dont reccomend a arms? My brother has a cleanly bagged 02 and he says the only thing he would change is the a arms. If i bag it at stock height can i lay frame with stock rims? And then later on notch it for 22s?

[Socko]

No matter what rims you use you will have to notch the frame somehow, either a bolt in under the bed notch. Or a step/monster notch in order to layout with any wheel. You should notch it when you do the bags getting the size of notch that will work with the 22s, for 22s you will also need to tub the wheel wells in the bed and for 20s in the front, on an OBS you have to remove the inner fender wells, I dont think you have to on the NBS (i could be wrong). Use 2" drop spindles, this way you can layout and it wont mess up a lot of the geometry. Some people run arms from Air Ride. it helps to correct the alignment/etc and is a cleaner setup.

The starting point of bags does not matter, many go from a 4/6 drop or whatever because thats what they had. You can bag it from bone stock the day you buy it. You will not layout on your stock rims because the tires are too tall, 30" stock tires are equal to a 22" rim/tires.

[Mike]

Running drop a-arms and rop spindles will make your bag need to lift you that much higher to clear the tire. More lift= higher psi= rougher ride

[SITNLOWSITNFAT]

Can you hit S2S on the KP 4-link/cantilever. Does any body recomend any special bags and valves or is there a good all around kit out there. I all so heard that it is better to run copper lines instead od the dot plastic lines. Is this true.