Reyco Air Ride

[PMC]

I have a RWS that came from the factory with Reyco 102 spring.  Its pretty well worn out and i am looking to make the move to air ride.  

I have been looking for a Reyco 102 Air ride setup as that would keep it somewhat original but have had difficulty locating one in the northeast.  Anything out there? 

Thoughts on 102Air?  or should i just hunt down some Neway or Mack/Hendrickson... the marketplace seems to have options there.

Thanks

PMC

[Geoff Weeks]

The Hendrickson, and the various OEM clones are about the best out there for most applications. Neway is expensive and difficult to maintain and need brackets welded onto the axle housings. Neway might be worth it for heavy haul. Easier to align than Neway.

Rayco is fine for 4 spring, and it is almost always cheaper to fix what you have then start over.

4 spring isn't so good off highway, but properly loaded, you'd be hard pressed to tell it from air ride on highway.

I ran both, 4 spring and IHC (Hendrickson) air ride.

What ever you do, run away from a Neway ARDAB suspension. No parts, expensive and always need bushings.

Edited 22 hours ago by Geoff Weeks

[Lmackattack]

I was one to always say keep it original and such but now im 20 years older and I feel that is not always the best advice anymore.

 

These days I would recommend a air ride that is tried and proven.  If a hobby truck Airliner is one of those options many have looked too simply for cost to buy used and cost of repair. Parts are easy to come by and the ride quality is good. only thing I would say is to make sure it has locking rears for when you are off road.  If this is a dump truck you may look at Hendrickson HAS40K air ride for heavier speced axles

I use to swear by camelback until I drove a properly speced air ride dump truck. The pete I was driving with air track / Locking rears was much better than the camelback I was use to.  sure you could louse traction if you did not put the power divider in but if you locked in it would just walk thru just about anything. With macks auto power divider you never knew if the power divider was truly working or not and you still did not have a rear axle lock so at best you had 2 wheel power and 2 wheels spinning. with manual power divider and locking rears you have 3 wheels of power and only 1 can slip. 

 

But im getting off topic now. What ever you chouse just make sure you know what your buying but I suspect anything air ride will be better than the ryco spring suspension 

 

[PMC]

To clarify use:

Its a 200 WB tractor (350 Mack/ 15speed eaton/Rockwell 370 rears) with a 40'' bunk....

Its used sparingly to drag a 35ton detachable around with some John Deere tractors/Mack trucks/equivalent rusting bones around. 

Thanks for the feedback.  

[Geoff Weeks]

If mechanical RGN, then yeah, air ride is helpful with the gooseneck, being able to drop the suspension and lift back up helps.

It should be fairly easy to find Hendrickson  housings with the torque arm weldment on top. Do you have SQHP, or SQHD's? By the time SQ100's came out I think the ratio switched to 3.73.

 The reason I ask, is the rear, rear is Amboid (pinion enters above the axle centerline) on the SQHP and the housing is different then the later SQ100 (which is hypoid) essentially the rear-rear housing is "upside down".

I may have the bracket weldments off a IHC Airride, but will have to look, then getting them from Omaha to NH would be the biggest problem. That way you could use your housings and weld on the bracket. They may have got tossed in my last clean up.

Edited 8 hours ago by Geoff Weeks