Air Ride Cab M818

[tucker79]

Im thinking of trying to replace the spring in the rear cab mount with an air bag. It seems like a cheap, easy way to soften the ride on my M818 but I cant find any threads on it.
Has anyone done it?
Is there a good reason I don't see every truck with one?
Can anyone point me to a thread where its been done?
Anyone know the weight of a fully loaded cab?
Do you guys think there's enough articulation in the front to allow for some extra travel in the back?
I don't know much about them and how to figure out what kind of weight rating I would need. If anyone could make a suggestion as to what a good air bag to use it would be much appreciated.

 

[red]

In stock form the front of the cab is basically hard mounted (just rubber bushings) to the frame and doesn't allow much movement. Also have the clutch/brake/throttle linkages that won't allow much either.

Maybe a short bag from a 'day cab' truck such as dump trucks. Change the rear cab mount so that the bag/s are somewhere around 1/2 inflated at stock height and a limited max travel, say 2-3" (maximum airbag travel). Don't think it's been tried before.

 

[Scrounger]

Anything is possible with enough time and money. Just off the top of my head these are some of the things that would have to be done. The front of the cab would have to have the hard mounts replaced with some form of pivot with rubber bushings. One on each side to keep everything square. The rear would require a mount for say a single bag in the middle with one cab shock absorber on each side. Without the shocks the cab would just bounce up and down. Then a leveling valve would be mounted to the frame with an adjustable rod attached to the bottom of the cab. That way one could set the cab height. Plumbing the air lines would be the easy thing. The slight movement of the steering column would probably not be a problem. The throttle pedal may cause a problem since the truck uses hard linkage to the injector pump. And you would probably want to install a flexible line to air pressure gauge on the dash.

 

[Scrounger]

To add something else that would have to be worked out. The hood hinges are attached to the cowl. As are the front fenders. That would require at the least the fenders having a gap cut so the cab could move, the space filled with some rubber sheeting. The hood would need some way to float fore and aft as the cab moves.

 

[Csm Davis]

Not trying to be a downer but don't think a 809 series truck is going to be easily bagged because of all the reasons listed before but a 939 cab would be easy I think.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk