JHanson
Senior Member
Air bags augment the springs and help level the vehicle; they provide no damping.I haven't done it, but aren't airbags more recommended if you are going to be taking the camper off and on?
Thom: I'm going to challenge you on your claim about the function of dampers. If the only variable in the dynamic system was the unsprung weight, why would we have the huge variety of valving available to us? The differences in unsprung weight between, say, a short-wheelbase Wrangler and a long-wheelbase Land Cruiser would not be all that significant. Watch a vehicle go over a speed bump in a parking lot, and it will be obvious that it is the sprung weight—chassis, body—that is oscillating after the bump, not the unsprung axle and wheel. Bounce up and down on a vehicle's bumper at rest, and again it is the sprung weight the dampers are affecting. Put the same shock on a RAV4 and an F350 and I'm pretty certain you'd get different results, but the unsprung weight would be completely static.
I can most certainly tell you I feel a difference when I change the settings on the Boss shocks on our Tacoma, yet the unsprung weight has not changed.