Airbag (near) catastrophe

[Steve Scearce]

My wife and I headed to Chaco Canyon last weekend and I noticed the driver's side of the bed was sagging a little at a fuel stop, so I added some pressure to the driver's side airbag and we continued on our way. Long story short, what I didn't notice is that the bottom bracket of the airbag (AirLift) that is U-bolted to the leaf springs had worked loose and moved forward about 5 inches. Yesterday I took the camper off and jacked up the frame to let the springs relax. I deflated the airbag down to 15 lbs and loosened the u-bolt nuts and was able to slide it back to it's proper location. I took my truck to my mechanic today and he further tightened the nuts on both u-bolts. There was a minor gouge in the airbag, but not all the way through. Close call. Anyhow, my mechanic speculated that bracket moved forward on a hard, fast turn during some sway.

Anyone else ever have this problem? I'm thinking sway bars are now on my shopping list. I'm definitely going to check the u-bolt nuts regularly.

 

[riz]

My wife and I headed to Chaco Canyon last weekend and I noticed the driver's side of the bed was sagging a little at a fuel stop, so I added some pressure to the driver's side airbag and we continued on our way. Long story short, what I didn't notice is that the bottom bracket of the airbag (AirLift) that is U-bolted to the leaf springs had worked loose and moved forward about 5 inches. Yesterday I took the camper off and jacked up the frame to let the springs relax. I deflated the airbag down to 15 lbs and loosened the u-bolt nuts and was able to slide it back to it's proper location. I took my truck to my mechanic today and he further tightened the nuts on both u-bolts. There was a minor gouge in the airbag, but not all the way through. Close call. Anyhow, my mechanic speculated that bracket moved forward on a hard, fast turn during some sway.

Anyone else ever have this problem? I'm thinking sway bars are now on my shopping list. I'm definitely going to check the u-bolt nuts regularly.


I've broken airbags twice in the same way when I carried a heavier camper. No problems since I bought my Ranger, but I do check the U-bolts regularly anyway. I also put 2 extra bolts in the top bracket, as on one occasion, the bracket, which was only bolted with the top three out of five bolts, bent and caused a similar problem on the top side of the bag.

 

[Overland Hadley]

I have heard of a few people having problems with the AirLift mounts.

 

[Nimbl Vehicles]

One thing I do when I go on prolonged off highway travels is that I check my rig daily for loose items.
I carry a jumpsuit and crawl underneath the vehicle and do a visual check with a flash light and perform a mechanical check up with some wrenches.
I have found a few loose nuts and bolts that way which saved me in the end from some further damage.

My check list includes:
Brake lines
Electrical wires
Nuts and bolts
After market items I installed ( air tanks; compressor; air bags etc)

Under the hood:
Clean air filter (make sure no big debris got stuck in it)
Check various hoses
Liquids