Air Bagin my Chevy

[JJsCustomDesigns]

A few years ago i bought a 1992 Full size chevy truck. I slammed it to the ground with a static drop and drove the wheels off it. I parked it this winter wondering if i should sell it or actually spend money on it. Well, slow times drove me to keep busy. So i started fab'n the pcs for the full air ride. Hopefully ill have this truck throwing sparks soon.

Just wanted to share what ive been upto lately. Been kinda poppin in and out here.

The Craft/Vendor shows kinda put me ina funk. It cost me more to get ready and haul everything there then i actually made.

James

[GoingCustom]

Awesome that you're making your own parts!

My '03 s10 bagged on 24's. Made A LOT of the frame/suspension parts with my cnc table

[JJsCustomDesigns]

NICE! Thats what im talking bout! I doubt mine will ever be show worthy. Its too rusty. Itll be my spark thrower. But that 2wd- 1 ton dually is next on the choppin block

[stillworkin]

Here is a shot of my truck guys good to see some fellow bagged compadre's here. Although i built mine before i bought my table, the parts were cnc cut from a friend of mine over in houston texas.

[JJsCustomDesigns]

Nice truck.

Ive got a junker compared to your trucks

Heres a truck i had for 6 years. Never got to bag it.... or repaint it. Money talks, so i sold it.

[JJsCustomDesigns]

I ran into a problem and hope'n you guys can shed some light on it for me. I using 2x2x.25 tubing. I made all equal lengths @32.5" . I mounted my lower links on the outside of the frame and went to figure out my upper links. At 40 degrees from the lower links my upper links crossover each other and the driveshaft. Not good.

If i shorten the uppers to 70% of the lowers (22.750") I can get them to fit- well, according to my Corel mock up i can. Since you 2 have bagged trucks i thought i would see what your opinions were.

[JJsCustomDesigns]

I spose i was about as clear mud. I drew a couple pic in Corel.

do i really need 40 degrees on those bars? That seems a little much

[GoingCustom]

I haven't bagged a full size before, but I assume it's probably close to the same as a mini? Here's a pic of my link bars. Originally it was going to be a 4 link, but ended up being more of a hybrid triangulated three/four link. Only thing I would have done differently would have been to make my frame a little narrower and run the lower bars on the outside of the frame. I could get some awesome side to sides, but the plan, before I sold it, was to put a V8 in it, so a little more stability would have been nice. With a 4 banger, it wasn't really a big deal. So I worked with the space I had available.

In the pic, the center link mounts to the top of the drive shaft loop. The upper bars were originally longer than my lower bars, but once I cut the ends off and made it triangulated, they ended up almost the same length. My axle travel stayed center lifted or laying frame.






just because lol

[JJsCustomDesigns]

I see your upper doesnt have have quite the sever angle mine does. Maybe i got things twisted around in my head. Long days and lack of sleep i guess.

I might do what you did there. A hybrid upper. Im not doing the side to side just up and down. Ill have to play with it. Thanks for the pics.

Ill post up some more in progress pics as i get more done.

James

[illusivedf]

The shorter top bars are going to cause a good amount of pinion angle change, ideally you want the the bushings to be in the same pivot axis when looking from the top or the side (upper bars actually longer than lowers). 40 degrees is a good amount of triangulation but alot of trucks have less than that I would stick with at least 30 degrees minimum though or go with the wishbone upper link. One option is to shorten your lower links as well.

Where are you all getting your air management and bags from? Do you guys run custom shops or are the trucks more of a hobby?

[JJsCustomDesigns]

Im trying to get back into the custom truck scene. I use to have all my stuff laser cut a few years back. Sold it on feeBay. The stuff i did was mostly filler plates for doors, gas holes, bed pockets.... some custom gussets. Now since i have a cnc table. I figured what the hell. Art/Vendor stuff hasnt been making me much money lately.

I had a friend come to me with a tossed together mess of an air bagged truck. We chopped out is flimsy tube notch and welded in a 16" notch. Dunno what he needs that much room for. But i did it. That made me wanna get back into it.

Ive got a set of 2500 contitech bags already. Ill go the cheap route and run Nitrogen. All i really need is the valves and small tank. And another set of bags.

Are you part of the Illusive CC?

[illusivedf]

Not sure what illusive cc is but I own Illusive Design & Fabrications www.illusivefabrications.com were starting to work on building a wholesale program for other shops.

[JJsCustomDesigns]

Got a little more done on my truck. Cant quite get it to sit on the rear bumper... yet.

My pinion changes from -1 to +1 from all the way up to as far down as i get it for now (rear bumper bout 2-3" off the ground).

Hopefully get the bag mounts done tomorrow.

[JJsCustomDesigns]

I did get a little done today. Honey-Do list took over tho.

[JJsCustomDesigns]

I got the bags installed. Im pleased with 11 1/2" of lift. But not pleased with the twist i get on the lower links. I thought about moving the bags over center of the links. Would need to knotch the frame for the bags. Any suggestions are welcomed.

Short Youtube vid testing out airbag plates

[illusivedf]

Yea the bags need to be centered over the link bars or it will wear the bushings out pretty fast. If you have the room I would move the link bar out farther from the frame. If not then you got to get creative.

[JJsCustomDesigns]

Yea the bags need to be centered over the link bars or it will wear the bushings out pretty fast. If you have the room I would move the link bar out farther from the frame. If not then you got to get creative.

With the bags centered over the lower link bars. i have about 1/4" between the bag and frame. Im thinking ill notch the frame so i have at least 1" of clearance all the way around. I thought about mounting the bags over the rearend - and behind the rear end----

bout got it all cut back off and ground clean again. Maybe i can sneak away from yard work this weekend and work a little more on my truck

How long you think youll gonna have the Dom 4 Pack in stock?

[illusivedf]

I stock dominators by the pallet, I always have them in stock.

[JJsCustomDesigns]

Got a little done today.

Just noticed the upper plate is not were i need it- after looking thru the pics.... dam it.

[JJsCustomDesigns]

Well... I think i have the rear of the truck licked. Just gotta do some final welding and grinding and off to the front of the truck

[GoingCustom]

Lookin good! Going to run the stock wheels/tires or thinkin of something different?

[JJsCustomDesigns]

Lookin good! Going to run the stock wheels/tires or thinkin of something different?

Just stock wheels for now. Ive got some Sport wheels. Might toss them on. Idk yet.

[large_time]

Looking Nice!

[JJsCustomDesigns]

Well... started working on the front. Got the spring pocket cut out and made my own upper cups. Thanks to stillworkin for the tips on pie cuttin the upper arms.

In this pic i couldnt figure out why it wasnt going up anymore. I have about 2-3" before the bag is deflated- Well after crawlin around on my back. I found the lower a arms are hitting the frame. So time to grab the plasma and cut somemore stuff out.

[JJsCustomDesigns]

I went a lil over board DeHumping the stock A Arms... But i works pretty good. I used 3/16" plate and welded it top and bottom. Cut out my own air bag plate and welded that to a piece of 5 5/8" od pipe. Just need to notch for the tie rod end, box it up and weld up some odds and ends. And grind everything smooth. But ill have to save that for another day. Ran outta welding gas