66 Burb needs added towing capacity

[1966burb]

My 66 suburban has been lowered in the rear 1 1/2" with blocks and shorter coils in the front. I need to increase the towing capacity for towing my 1959 Shasta trailer. I know of one suburban owner using the TIMBREN overload system. Can I put airbags in the coils? Suggestions? Thanks, Jim

[RANDY COX]

Nice Burb.

[1963c-10]

why not get a set of factory auxilliary springs. will add 1000lb more capasity to the rear. check out the thread on these are few threads down.

[NEWFISHER]

What about running overload air bags on your trailing arms just ahead of your springs? Porterbuilt sells a simple bracket kit for the lowrider crowd, but you could use them for the smaller load bags then run seperate airlines back to you license plate bolts and install manual schrader valves to fill when needed

[Captainfab]

I would just replace the rear springs with air bags. Even if you just ran them with schrader valves.

[kieth]

I second captain fab, the air bags are the only way to go. You probaly do not have a capacity problem just a ride height problem. With the air bags you get a good ride, and ride height control. When you add heavier springs you have to live with them everyday.........

ps check the tongue weight on the trailer, if it is too heavy you might purchase a load control hitch which will transfer weight from the rear to the front of the vehicle. (the bags will work best) Kieth

[1966burb]

Thanks for all the good information. Looks like I have some options. I did start with dialing in the tongue weight and it comes in right around 225.

[LT1 Burb]

Just for reference, I installed bags in the rear of mine originally to tow a trailer. The tongue wait was 1400# and it was fine.

[LT1 Burb]

Just replaced the coils with bags, that trailer was heavy, it was a 28' with a 14' front slide. I ran a hitch with equalizer bars and a sway bar but it handled it fine.

[1966burb]

WOW. Quite a load. I should not have much problem with my 1959 Shasta. 2820 total pounds loaded. Tongue wt is 360 #s.

[lgehring]

I have the same type of situation. I have a 66c20 that has had an 8ft farm dump bed with grain sides on it all of it's life. My coils have space between the top and bottom curls, in between is all collapsed and touching each other. The overloads are resting on the trailing arms even when empty. According to the conversation in this thread, I can remove my coils and replace them with air bags?? Which is cheaper, bags or coils? Lowell

[G&R's57GMC]

Depending what you load in the rear of the Sub. 250# tongue weight shouldn't be a problem.

I have a 13' Casita Deluxe that weighs 2500# loaded on the road with a 250# tongue weight that I tow with my SSR with the bed full of camping gear. To bring it back to normal ride height I added a pair of AIRLIFT air bags inside the rear coils and Schrader valve to the rear.

The hitch is a fixed height Euro style on the SSR. I had to replace the axle on the Casita as it was bent, so I ordered one with a lift to get the Casita level.

The first pic is when I first got the Casita.

The second pic is with the new axle on the Casita and the AIRLIFT on the SSR.

[Clyde65]

IF you have a 59 Shasta, it probably is in the 2000lb range, that burb should be fine with a class 2 hitch, if you want to beef it up a tad, use a class 3 hitch and throw some bags under it. This is what I did with my truck ( SWB) with towing a 67 Aristocrat ( 2300#)

[Reyals Bemus]

I took some old Camaro leaf springs and massaged them to contour the frame and act as overload springs on my '64 panel. They are fastened to the frame rail with two 1/2" grade 8 bolts on each side. They do the job wonderfully.



Truck at ride height, unloaded:

[LT1 Burb]

[QUOTE=Reyals Bemus;6361176]I took some old Camaro leaf springs and massaged them to contour the frame and act as overload springs on my '64 panel. They are fastened to the frame rail with two 1/2" grade 8 bolts on each side. They do the job wonderfully.

Thats pretty cool, nice job.

[Bart Savage]

whats the drop combo on your panal and the tire sizes?? looks great...just about what im looking for on my suburban

Originally Posted by Reyals Bemus

I took some old Camaro leaf springs and massaged them to contour the frame and act as overload springs on my '64 panel. They are fastened to the frame rail with two 1/2" grade 8 bolts on each side. They do the job wonderfully.



Truck at ride height, unloaded:

[hemifalcon]

Those springs on the rear of the panel look like the very lightweight truck springs as opposed to the HD springs that are typically on the panels/suburbans...