tractor air suspension question

[Quickfarms]

Ive been working on a peterbilt that i have, for over a year now. In fact, the reason why im a mack owner as well, is because my peterbilt project has taken me quite some time, and i had to keep my customers happy. Anyway i airbagged my steer axle with a home built setup. Unfortunately, i haven't gotten it on the road yet. A bunch of my buddies have done it with alot of success, although there are a few varying opinions on the way to do it. Ive driven a few, as well as a factory setup on a kenworth 660. The kenworth has four bags with a leveling valve, where as mine is pressure controlled by me from inside the cab. (Probably similar to the setup you are looking at). In my experience, they ride well and smooth out the bridge joints. All setups that I am talking about have the bags mounted over the axle as a helper bag. A lot of guys use the airbag from the kenworth 8 bag suspension.

I want more details.

Do you use the stock factory springs or do you remove a couple of leaves?

Are all the air bags tied to a single leveling valve or do you use a valve on each side?

I want to do this to my two axle tractor that has real stiff front springs.

[Timmyb]

If you buy a load share kit from the Internet then they are designed to run with you current springs and don't use a levelling value, rather a regulator mounted inside the cab.

If you were to make your own then you can be a bit creative, but I wouldn't start removing springs without professional advice.

[2006Largecar]

Well, i am by no means a professional, or an engineer when it comes to an air ride steer axle. But whether it is right or wrong, i know guys that remove leafs when they airbag the steer axle. Most guys are really doing it so they can dump the air when parked and be low. I do know some guys who are running a single peterbilt/kw spring to locate the axle. However, if it breaks you have big problems. My buddies, factory kw air ride has what i would call a leaf and a half. Its got a single spring with a half of spring that runs from the front pin and goes back and serves as the base for the airbag setup. I believe his has a leveling valve on each side, but im not certain. A lot of guys use a pressure regulator to charge the bags, that way they dont need a leveling valve. Some guys i know run a crossover line between the regulated bags, while other guys i know have individually charged bags. There is always a debate over what rides better and which setups are more stable in the corners. I personally like the kenworth 8 bag airbag with the pressure controlled from in the cab. I haven't made my mind up on the crossover or not. Bottom line, if your thinking about doing it yourself, you have to be a guy that likes to experiment. If not, you just have to stick with the factory setups. I hope that helps a bit Quickfarms.

[j hancock]

One leaf with a bag......so they can park low...... isn't that fashionable.

Let me guess, the shifter knob touches the headliner too.

[Refined Trucker]

I installed the Canadian load share on my Pete 2 years ago. Removed second spring and replaced with a very thin one to act as the safety. This allows the bag to do most of the work. The thin leaf runs back through the ubolts then ends. Bags are plumbed together and controlled by in cab controller. Worked very well. There are probably 30 trucks done this way at company I'm leased to. Sold my Pete last summer and got first dog. It is getting same treatment when I go on vacation this summer. I really miss those front air bags.