Towing a van that has air suspension

[Bulletman]

Gday All,

I see a few offroad caravans have independant air suspension , I assume in the place of a coil spring or shockie.

I am wondering if you need to do anything different when towing a van with this sort of set up.

I see they dont reccomend any form of WDH when towing with a D3/D4 with air suspension , so wonder if this same principle applies to a caravan with air suspension set up.

Thanks and Cheers Bulletman

[Tombie]

They tow much like any other van.

Their benefit is height adjustment and levelling.

[shack]

And I imagine are somewhat kinder on the structure and contents of the van!

I'd love to have an airbag setup tbh, been thinking of it for a while.

[Pedro_The_Swift]

The bags I've seen at full droop were not nice,, the twin bellows had a big bend at the centre, they might have done better using a rolling fold like the D2's. anyway an engineer must have signed off on the design and I'm sure they've been exhaustively tested... [bighmmm]

[Hoges]

And I imagine are somewhat kinder on the structure and contents of the van!

.......

Not necessarily... it depends on the design of the airbag. Properly calibrated variable rate coil springs with long travel can be superior to "airbags"unless the bags are of a shape which induces a variable rate. It's a pain, but you really need to work out and compare the deflection rates to ensure that the bags are correct for your situation. You might be better off replacing the existing coils with others with a more progressive rating...i.e. soft enough to absorb annoying corrugations but harden the more they're compressed. Then match these new coils with shock absorbers with the right compression/rebound characteristics to suit. The various spring manufacturers have gurus who know how to calculate these things. I don't know whether they are able to re-temper your existing springs to be more compliant... Good luck with it. I'd be interested to follow up on what you discover!

[Hugh Jars]

No need to do anything different. You’ll find the experience better.
Our next van will have air springs.

[W&KO]

Just make sure the bags are rolling sleeve type......

Adjusting right height and leveling up at camp is a breeze.