Front coils with rear air ride?

[Dub J]

Hey guys, I'm considering rear air ride for my 70 long bed with a C-notch to get it as low as possible. Also planning on 20 in rollers. My question is if I run a 5.5" front drop coil/spindle kit, will it appear that I have front bags and still be driveable, if not how low will the front need to go to look like bags? Thanks!!

[Prerunner1982]

personally if you are already going through the trouble of bagging the rear and plumbing lines, installing compressor, c-notch, why not do the front too? it really shouldnt be that much more work.. and would ride better than 5.5" drop and you would have control over it, as far as ride height/clearance.

[67Fleet]

I agree. Most of your money spent for the rear will be in compressor, tank, water trap, and all the little stuff: relay, pressure switch, fittings, air line, gauges, etc. You might as well do the front, it'll run you about $300-400 more. The money will be in the valves (you'll want 4- 2 fills/2dumps) and the bags. If you do decide to keep the front static, and you go with 20" rollers then a good tire size is 255/35/20. With a 5.5" front drop it'll put your fenders about 1" above the tire. I currently have mine at about 5" drop up front and that's how it sits. I guess if you want to run static up front it'll be an easy conversion to do bags if you want to later but you'll have wasted your money on the springs. Spindles are a must either way if you want to get low.

[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by 67Fleet

I agree. Most of your money spent for the rear will be in compressor, tank, water trap, and all the little stuff: relay, pressure switch, fittings, air line, gauges, etc. You might as well do the front, it'll run you about $300-400 more. The money will be in the valves (you'll want 4- 2 fills/2dumps) and the bags. If you do decide to keep the front static, and you go with 20" rollers then a good tire size is 255/35/20. With a 5.5" front drop it'll put your fenders about 1" above the tire. I currently have mine at about 5" drop up front and that's how it sits. I guess if you want to run static up front it'll be an easy conversion to do bags if you want to later but you'll have wasted your money on the springs. Spindles are a must either way if you want to get low.

Or . . ..... If he cuts the stock springs he'll be @ approx 5.5 ~ 6" of front drop w/3" spindles & won't be out of pocket for drop springs. Then he could get bags when he's ready. If he already has the drop springs, he can always re-sell them to a fellow board member for a good deal & re-coup some loss.

As for the original question, static drop up front w/bags out back work fine. No, it's not adjustable but you're still pretty low & can be 100% functional. The main limiting factor will be the front tire/wheel height. If you don't intend to play w/the system, you can do rear bags on the cheap w/o all the switches, valves, compressors & tanks. All that's required are 2 bags, enough airline to reach the rear bumper (x2), & 2 schrader valves for filling. Drive around @ 30psi & when you need more load capacity, stop off @ a gas station & just add air. I did the cheap method for over 1.5yrs. The only issue I had was occasionally bending the schrader valves when adding air in the dark... that's when I added the compressor, tank, & a dual needle guage (it's a manual system w/no solenoids).

My 68 is static dropped ~6" in front w/a 27.5" tall 215/75-15 & uses 1.5" lowering blocks w/bags out back w/255/70-15's. It can tow a loaded 18ft car hauler @ the flick of the switch & the typical ride height (un-loaded) has clearanced a hole in the original wood floor (what's left of it) so it's fairly low.

[Dub J]

Scoti, I saw your truck in the wheel and tire sticky, it looks sweet man. How much do you think you have invested in your rear setup right now, and can you do the same type of thing up front? Do you have any pics of the way you have it setup? I'm very interested in this, scince I was under the impression you had to have the compressor to make it work. Heres another question, why couldnt you just bring along a filled tank with you when you need to go up with it?