Is an air bag system them best way to adjust the ride height of these vans? Talking about 90s era ('98 in particular) 1/2 rwd Dodge vans. The key here is the ability to lower (Dajiban like) the van at will, then raise it when the need for towing a light trailer arises.
Or is skipping an air bag system better and just go with something like air shocks?
IIRC, front is torsion bar and the rear is leaf.....
So, it's "adjustable", just not on the fly....
You don't want to rely on air shocks for half or more of your current spring rate, i'm thinking. So it wouldn't be that usable in the down position and wouldnt be that durable in the up position. I think this is exactly what airbags were invented for.
What's the camber change on the front end with 3-4" of height change?
And at what height would you set your camber to be perfect knowing it'd be out of spec when height is altered?
IIRC, the half ton vans should be SLA with coils. Air Ride makes "coil-over" bags with adjustable shocks in them for such applications. You won't get much drop because of the bumpstops (which could be trimmed), but this would all be for appearance, not to be operated as such. Camber would be way off and airbags don't like to work well at all at anything other than their intended ride height.
If you're looking to pull in to the , dump the bags, and look good, that is your solution. But for operation at multiple heights, airbags aren't a very wise choice. In fact, you can't really have multiple ride heights at all because of suspension geometry.
Rears are leaf springs. You can remove all but the longest leaf and use twist bars to prevent axle wrap and then bag it to regain the effective rate and ride height, but you'll run into the same problems as the front. Driving can only really effectively be done when their inflated to their proper ride height.
Bottom line: Airbags work at their intended ride height, period. Too little and you get a bouncy, uncontrolled ride that can (depending on the type of bag) damage the bladder. For the front, you can only operate at one height due to camber change anyway. Pick a height and stick with it. The only really "adjustable" option would be air shocks on the rear which would take you from stock height to a bit higher.
Be careful with air shocks to check your pressures very frequently. Operating them with low or no pressure will kill them quickly. I wish I had a nickel for every time I destroyed the bags on air shocks because I developed a leak and 200 miles later they were toast. I would have three nickels. Of course they still worked as shocks, but the extra money I paid for the air adjustment was down the drain.
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