Towing helper air bags and travel

[Feintmotion86]

Hi guys, hoped you'd be able to help. Have a lifted 97 RWD Tahoe that I've been using as my track day hauler. I've been using an add a leaf but have since installed lift spindles for the front as well. The add a leaf no longer keeps the vehicle from being slightly nose up when towing. I don't want to be a D-bag and blind people at night with my headlights because of this if I'm towing. Looking into airbags for the rear...and I know they make a spacer for lifted vehicles. Question is, how much does this reduce total travel? Since the bag is bolted from the top and bottom (to where the previous bump stop is) I'm wondering how much travel is lost.

 

[BNielsen]

I installed a set of Daystar Air Bag cradles on my 96 K2500; Firestone Ride Rite bags. I don't wheel the snot out of this truck but I do tend to get it twisted up at weird angles due to some of the places I regularly drive. I was worried about tearing up air bags from either driving at weird angles or even being up on a 2-post lift with the axle at full droop. Added cradles and no worries. I'll post up some detailed pics here shortly!

 

[BNielsen]

Pic of bag mounted up with cradle, axle at full droop; trickiest part was trying to align the bags with the cradle.

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Bags resting in cradle, not the best shot.

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Bags all mounted and truck on the ground.

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[RichLo]

Helper bags are not meant to lift to compensate for front spindles. Like the pics above, they only go up so far before they are maxed, and thats only a couple inches above normal ride height. They are made to get the rear back up to normal height with extra load. And if you rely on them for ride height you'll hate it, bouncy and uncontrolled. no matter what shocks you get it'll be bad

If I were you, Id add more springs or small blocks to get your rear up to where your front is. Then add helper bags for when you tow.

 

[Feintmotion86]

RichLo, totally understand your point. I think I wasn't clear on what I was asking; I currently have an add a leaf so my height is currently fine for the lift I have. The air bags are meant to help when I'm towing a car. I do however take my Tahoe camping and offroading now and then, and wanted a solution that will allow me to maintain wheel travel as much as possible but also help lift the rear when I'm towing.
BN; that helps a bunch and thank you so much for taking the time to post pics! Do you have a lift in the rear as well?

 

[BNielsen]

RichLo, totally understand your point. I think I wasn't clear on what I was asking; I currently have an add a leaf so my height is currently fine for the lift I have. The air bags are meant to help when I'm towing a car. I do however take my Tahoe camping and offroading now and then, and wanted a solution that will allow me to maintain wheel travel as much as possible but also help lift the rear when I'm towing.
BN; that helps a bunch and thank you so much for taking the time to post pics! Do you have a lift in the rear as well?

Nope; my truck is stock height.

 

[alignman88]

Your time, money and towing safety are better spent on a equalizer hitch. Unequal axle weight distribution=unpredictable panic stopping situations as well as the tail down nose up issue you are facing. Air bags only still do not help with equal weight distribution, there are some good videos with truck on 4 corner scales online. If the truck sets as you want it to while not towing these are the best route to take.

I pulled bumper pull enclosed trailers 85% of the time while covering 60-70,000 miles a year of driving, and used these on 3/4 ton diesel powered trucks until I went to a gooseneck trailer. Solves the problems and creates none of the issue you are rightfully considering dealing with on air bags.

Only pic I could find and I hadn’t installed the equalizer hitch yet and you can see it’s nose up tail down a little bit. Trailer was a 7x17 all aluminum construction weighing 1,300 lbs with maybe 1,500 lbs of cargo. The 3/4 ton truck had torsion bar keys installed to raise front end so it was level without the trailer.

Sway Control & Weight Distribution | Equal-i-zer® Hitch

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[HotWheelsBurban]

Yes and equalizer hitch will help a lot. The 23' travel trailer we had when I was a kid, had one on it. The family we bought it from, had a big block square body Burb they towed it with( this was the late '70s and the truck was a few years old). We couldn't swing buying both of them, so we towed it with Dad's 75 Sierra Classic. No way that truck coulda pulled that trailer w/o that hitch....Our '78 Sierra did better, but its 350 wasn't as smogged out as the '75' was. 78 was a Heavy Half too, plus we put headers and low restriction dual exhaust on it.
Yesterday at the RV park, saw a guy with a 900 series Chevy (07-13) half ton, moving a bumper pull trailer that had to be at least 28' long. They had an equalizer hitch on it, and the truck was pretty level when they left.

 

[Feintmotion86]

Unfortunately I can't use a hitch like that. I transport a track car and have to rent uhaul trailers which don't seem to have the dimensions to use such hitches.

 

[alignman88]

Unfortunately I can't use a hitch like that. I transport a track car and have to rent uhaul trailers which don't seem to have the dimensions to use such hitches.

Nothing is drilled or permanently fixed to the trailer. Attachment points are from 25-32 inches from the hitch ball. I bet with a little planning you could throw it on a U-haul trailer in about 30 minutes once you do it a couple times. Download their installation manual and get all the needed dimensions then go spend some time looking at a trailer and taking measurements and I bet you can figure it out real quick. Good luck hope you figure out a good solution!