Hendrickson to air ride

[cruiseliner82]

Ok here we go,

I am currently restoring a 1975 Bighorn. I know , not a Mack but I have owned and driven many Macks. I feel this is the best forum to get the best advise. IThe truck originally had walking beam and I have purchased a tandem Neway Air Ride off a mid seventies KW. I have the Neway all torn down ready for stripping and new bushings. My current frame has a couple bolt holes that could be used for starting points for measuring with the front mounting bracket. My question is: if I line up the brackets, cross measure everywhere so all four are drilled and mounted and aligned with each other, will I need to have the suspension all realigned when completed or will it be close enough for a hobby truck? I have access to a mag drill from a friend who has drilled frames. Any and all comments are welcome. Thank you.

[Hobert62]

In a twin screw the most important part I feel would be getting the 2 drive axles square to each other.  If its a longer wheel base truck the drives could "probably" be up to a 1/2" off from the steering axle and not have much of a noticeable affect.    If the drives are off "to much" compared to the steering it would give u a crab walk affect going down the road.    If drives are fighting each other. Tires wouldn't last long

[Vladislav]

I'm going to remove a set of Neway's from one frame to another.

One thing bothers me. I read in some Neway bulletin (on the net) that steel bushings you can see welded into the lower ends of the frame-mounted brackets are originally excentrical. So after you have the brackets on the frame rails and attach equalizer beams together with axles you can turn those bushings checking the axle alignement and than weld them up in place.

I'm not going to cut off those bushings and it has me scratching my head. Seems like a temporary attachment of whole axle assemblies with the brackets onto frame rails might be required. Or anything else.

Vlad

[Hobert62]

21 minutes ago, Vladislav said:

I'm going to remove a set of Neway's from one frame to another.

One thing bothers me. I read in some Neway bulletin (on the net) that steel bushings you can see welded into the lower ends of the frame-mounted brackets are originally excentrical. So after you have the brackets on the frame rails and attach equalizer beams together with axles you can turn those bushings checking the axle alignement and than weld them up in place.

I'm not going to cut off those bushings and it has me scratching my head. Seems like a temporary attachment of whole axle assemblies with the brackets onto frame rails might be required. Or anything else.

Vlad

If they are only spot welded inplace it may be worth the effort to grind the welds off.  

[mrgumby]

you could do  a conversion kit http://www.hendrickson-intl.com/kits/conversion_kits.html

[j hancock]

Watch your pinion angles and ride heights when doing your conversion.  If they are too far out of spec, it can lead to mysterious drive line vibrations. 

[superdog405]

Last I checked ,the hendrickson air over walking beam kit was over $5grand !!

[kscarbel2]

Good luck with your Bighorn project. Terrific truck. Please share your progress with us via photographs.

[cruiseliner82]

Superdog, the last time I checked that was the price I was quoted also. Since I already have the Neway I will continue with that. Vlad, I have read what you were referring to with those bushings also. That is why I raised the question. If I am using the axles and air ride from the donor truck and putting it on my chassis and the Brackets are aligned wouldn't it all be aligned? As Mr Hancock stated the pinion angles and ride height would have to be taken care though.

[41chevy]

On 5/4/2016 at 9:28 AM, cruiseliner82 said:

Superdog, the last time I checked that was the price I was quoted also. Since I already have the Neway I will continue with that. Vlad, I have read what you were referring to with those bushings also. That is why I raised the question. If I am using the axles and air ride from the donor truck and putting it on my chassis and the Brackets are aligned wouldn't it all be aligned? As Mr Hancock stated the pinion angles and ride height would have to be taken care though.

 You could assume that as long as the Dodge chassis is square and the donor truck wasn't tweeked at some point in its life.  I would still measure and double check square and I would use a set of plumb bobs to set the wheel base to the steer.  But than again I'm a belt and suspenders guy when it comes to altering suspension.  Paul

Edited May 6, 2016 by 41chevy

[cruiseliner82]

41 Chevy,

 That is kinda what I was thinking myself.

[Vladislav]

I suppose it wouldn't be enough to set the brackets only. If this works no need of those offset bushings. Seems a factory do it this way playing with bushings and that's the correct way.

If we want to go our "shop" way installing used parts there seem two choices to me.

1st (and more correct, and probably easy) - cut off the bushings, buy them new. Align and set brackets, put new bushings e t.c., align axles and weld.

2nd - assemble axles with everything including brackets, put onto the frame with temporary bolts and check the distances. Than try to align moving the brackets (and correcting the holes) or playing with the brackets swapping them. It the brackets fit different than they were larger bolts might be required to cover the holes increase.

The point I personally dislike with welding is I prefere to sandblast and paint brackets separately. And I have it almost done. Welding good painted parts when on a chassis makes me cry.

The matter of the question is not a today need to me so I have a bit of while to keep figuring out.

So sharing your experience is strongly appreciated.

 

Edited October 1, 2017 by Vladislav

[Hobert62]

12 hours ago, Vladislav said:

1st (and more correct, and probably easy) - cut off the bushings, buy them new. Align and set brackets, put new bushings e t.c., align axles and weld.

2nd - assemble axles with everything including brackets, put onto the frame with temporary bolts and check the distances. Than try to align moving the brackets (and correcting the holes) or playing with the brackets swapping them. It the brackets fit different than they were larger bolts might be required to cover the holes increase.

 

  Looks like the brackets sit against the bottom of the frame and the outside.   You could probably assemble the axles and clamp everything. In place to get fitment.   That would be easier then cutting the bushings, and if they are offset it would be best to measure from axle centers.   

[Vladislav]

Cutting the bushings seems as a trouble. Those I have are welded over no less than a half of their surround. I tryed to find out how they actually fit offset and couldn't see much of play by my eyes. On my mind if you're going to attach brachets to undrilled frame area placing them with clamps with some movements to follow would work smooth. In my case I will attach them to the existing frame with old drillings. If I use the ones I currently have on my truck I would just mark them and put back in their places. But I see too long story to go through and hardly dislike to part the truck out early. Having an extra set of rears and other chassis parts my plan is to prepaire as many as I can before that day.