# Air Assisted Suspension



## wooly (Oct 3, 2007)

Hi I need to pick the experts brains. I am thinking of fitting air assisted suspension bags to Mercedes pvc, so that when towing I can have the vehicle towing ball at the correct height, thus the Tandem axle trailer will tow level with equal weight on all four wheels.
Question 1) Roughly how much do the kits weigh
2) There seems to be two or three different makes AIRIDE/ DUNLOP/ FIRESTONE. There being a price difference, which is the best, what is the difference, any personal experience.

Many Thanks, I know somebody will help

Michael


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## tramp (May 25, 2005)

*h*

hi,
what about a drop down plate on the towbar? seemsthe easiest option to me. But try airride as they have some good kit available and used in the past on fiats with no probs

tramp


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## wooly (Oct 3, 2007)

Many thanks for the drop down plate suggestion but the towbar is a special heavy duty version to tow a 2.8t trailer, and the ball is welded on permanently, also need to allow for variation in trailer height with different loads. So air assistance looked best bet.
michael


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## dragabed (May 24, 2008)

*air assisted suspension*

less than 10 kilo


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## trek (May 1, 2005)

Hi Wooly

After 2 years of pondering I have finally gone and ordered an air suspension kit for my Sprinter from Marcle Leisure

It wont arrive until after the festive hols & I am not around to fit it until January anyway

I will let you know how I get on with it if you are still looking for info on these air suspension units


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## GEOMAR (Mar 16, 2008)

*air suspension*

Hi AS air suspension do a good kit .I had one fitted to my autotrail Miami 2 years ago and find them very good
GEOMAR   :lol: :lol:


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## peedee (May 10, 2005)

I thought Airide were made by Firestone? How much do you need to adjust your height and is it up or down? Airides may not be suitable for what you want to do. I would suggest you check their suitability thoroughly.

peedee


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## sideways (Jun 2, 2008)

I have just fitted an Airide kit to my Sprinter based Geist, i bought it s/h from a member on here and am very happy with it, the big test will come driving down to Benidorm boxing day.
It was easy to fit, it took me an hour and a half to do the first one and an hour to do the other side, i opted to put the inflator and gauge in the rear locker as it was nearer the axle than the cab, I got new pipes from airide and they sent me the fitting instuctions. My camper already had some spacer blocks fitted between the axle and the spring, not all mercs have these and if you need them its another £150.
You can tell that youve got them fitted straight away, less body roll is apparent from the off, better stability no wallowing when lorries pass you.the only down side is having to use ramps at the front all the time now.


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## wobby (May 1, 2005)

Hi Michael.

We had air assist suspension fitted a few weeks ago to our Opus which is on the sprinter 5000 kg chassis.

The company that fitted it did a very professional job and were very helpful. The system we had fitted came with an electric pump which allows me to adjust the pressure as and when I want. The reason we fitted air ride was to stiffen up the ride a little and its done that job very well. Our van has a very long overhang at the back. When I pump up the airides to 5 bar I can increase the rear hight by about 80mm.

The company is

http://www.as-airsuspension.co.uk/contact.htm

They really are very helpful Wobby


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## Hymer1942 (Oct 13, 2009)

*cost*

Hi Micheal, can I ask what the cost was to your Cathargo. Regards Barrie


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## wobby (May 1, 2005)

*Re: cost*



Hymer1942 said:


> Hi Micheal, can I ask what the cost was to your Cathargo. Regards Barrie


I think its me your refering too, and the cost on our Opus was around £750 fitted.

Wobby


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## wooly (Oct 3, 2007)

Hi Everybody, Thanks for the replies, I've been out all evening so just come in to this. My original post was a year ago, and things have now moved on.
After advice from other members we decided to use steel helper springs instead of Airides/DUNLOPS/fIRESTONES. Our situations was different to many of yours in that we tow a heavy trailer showing sheep. We reviewed the Sprinter forum in USA and in a similar situation to ours the fitting of Firestone Air bags resulted in the vans chassis being chopped in half by the stress.
Marcle leisure were very helpful to me, and in a normal situation of a standard motorhome I would have no hesitation in fitting their kit. We merely took the safe option and fitted extra springs from Midland Motor Springs at Nottingham, which is the same setup as some larger sprinter vans. At £250 also a lot cheaper than Air helpers.
The results have been excellent, Raised the back end to the level required and improved the handling immensely especially on roundabouts and corners


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## Hymer1942 (Oct 13, 2009)

*thank you*

Hi, and thank you Wobby that seems very reasonable. Barrie


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