Daily driver bagged...

[LOWAGON]

Well I plan to buy a bag setup for my wagon tomorrow but I was reading thru some posts on here and I saw a guy say he would never bag his daily driver agian...



This is making me nervous, what are the biggest problems that you guys have had when having a daily bagged?

TIA
Mark

[USAZR1]

I read that too,Mark,but he didn't elaborate. FWIW,I really like the Shockwaves on my car,though. Your wagon would seem to be a prime candidate for bags.

[Travis B]

There are a few things to consider when you bag a daily driver.......a bag blowing is about the worst thing that can happen well about the only thing that will make a bag blow is if for some reason the upper and lower bellow on the bag rub the main problem is the front as long as the bag is set up correctly at ride height where it will not rub and you should be in good shape the only other thing that would cause problems is if you blew a line off but usually some good quality fittings will cure that if you have any other questions we run air on everything we build pretty much, feel free to ask!

[Happyfunballs]

I was the one that said I'd never do it again. I bagged my truck 6 years ago, long before there were "bolt in" kits(for my application). I essentially bought all the pieces seperately and put together my own system. I drove my truck everyday and the thought of blowing a bag was always in the back of my head. When it happend it was pretty violent. I was doing 60 down the highway and hit a pothole, once the bag blew I drug the frame of my truck a half of a mile before I came to a stop, the tire rubbing on the inside of the w/o wasn't cool either. I've had hoses pop off, weld's break, solenoids go bad, just about everything that could go wrong did at some point.

The kits they have now have come a long way and are better engineered for these types of applications which resolved alot of issues. Bagging a vehicle is the coolest thing to do next to paint(IMO). The effect is awesome, and truthfully I'll do it again.....but not to something that I'm driving everyday.

Sounds like Travis can tell you the right things to do.........I'll tell you what NOT to do.lol

[TonyL]

my friends tacoma has check valves right at the bag that prevent loss of pressure in a hose blow off. the kits these days are very reliable. remember, big rigs have been running bags for years and are the safest vehicles on the road.

[USAZR1]

I lost an air line to my rt front shockwave a couple of weeks ago on our journey to Chevellabration in Nashville. We were on I-40 and running about 75mph. I smelt burning rubber before smoke started billowing off the rt front tire. It was kinda unnerving at first but we were near an exit so I pulled off the interstate near a 18 wheeler repair shop. My air lines are run inside plastic looms for protection but there was a six inch section near the rt rear upper shock mount that somehow got pinched. The only damage was a slightly scuffed-up tire.
The repair shop found the damaged line and had it repaired in about fifteen minutes. Cost was minimal and we continued on our way to Nashville with no other problems.
Even if I somehow lost all air pressure in all four corners(each corner is independent from the other),there's no way it would drop the frame down on the ground. The suspension has stops to prevent this and the only reason the front tire came in contact with the inner fender was due to insufficient backspace. My front wheels have 5" but need around 5.5". I plan to ship my front 17x9's back to PS Engineering so they can re-backspace them. I've been planning to do this for awhile but just had not got around to it,yet. Luckily,the Kumhos were still on the car and not the new Michelin Pilot Sports. However,no one at Chevellabration even noticed the scuffing done to the Kumhos.
To make a long story short,I still like my air ride set-up. :icon996:

[LOWAGON]

Wow, thanks alot for the pointers guys!

This is the setup I'm going to buy prolly tomorrow:
2-2600lbs bags
2-2500lbs bags
2-5gallon tanks
2-450 viair compressors
8-1/2" valves
3-air pressure gauges
10 switch box
2-compressor relays
fittings and line
s-10/ g-body front mounts

I know its not the best setup but I can always upgrade stuff. Can you guys think of anything else I might need to bag my wagon?

TIA
Mark

[sinned]

All of our tractors run bags and the newest one is 5 years old. The lowest mileage is 300K. All running original bags and lines. The key is routing, keep the bags and lines away from anything that moves and secure everything.

[Travis B]

Wow, thanks alot for the pointers guys!

This is the setup I'm going to buy prolly tomorrow:
2-2600lbs bags
2-2500lbs bags
2-5gallon tanks
2-450 viair compressors
8-1/2" valves
3-air pressure gauges
10 switch box
2-compressor relays
fittings and line
s-10/ g-body front mounts

1/2 inch valves, it is going to move quickly

[chicane67]

My old roomie and I bagged his 65 Bu and it was his primary driver years ago. We ran dual tanks/pumps and 6 guages (4 corner/2 tank) with 4 wheel independant valving. It worked great. Rollin the freeway....... getting annoyed by some 5.slow...... dropping it to the rails while looking the other driver in the eye........ and showing them that a properly powered sled would hand them their proverbial @ss.

**Disclaimer** I dont condone any kind of street racing or screwing off on the freeway. Unless........

The thing I remember everyone telling us, (everyone that did nothing else except drop cars in the weeds for a living in the last 20 years) was to get quality bags. Firestone bags had/have the best durability/longevity/reputation.......and I concur. I think with your above set up, you have just what it takes to do it right.

Let us know what you end up doing.

[Happyfunballs]

You'll need a pressure gauge for each corner(the 3 gauges threw me off, I'm assuming you'll get two with two needles and one for the tanks?) Also, don't forget a check valve going back into the compressors, one on each of the bags couldn't hurt either. Oh and don't forget to fuse your power wires. Be very meticulous with your installation and you shouldn't have any issues.