Singling out the rear of a 5 ton

[acme66]

I tried searching if any one had done this but I just get a wall of switching to super singles. Nothing serious but more than once I have thought about running just the rear most axle of my 939 tourist trucks. I don't need the double for weight and it would save on tires. The idea always pops into my brain each time I poke around about adding air ride to the rear to give the passengers a smoother ride. Ditch the walking beam, go to one rear axle on air bags. Sure would make an airbag conversion easy, sort of bobbing it without shortening the truck. I would love to see pictures if any such monstrosities exist.

Ken

 

[azteclizard]

Converting your 5ton from 6x6 to 4x4 has been done many many times. Search for bobbed 5ton. Its the same as the process used when bobbing, but you are just not planning on shortening the frame.

This post is probably better in the 5ton modified section, Not here.

 

[JohnnyBM931A2]

Yeah I think I have seen at least one person bob their truck and leave the axle in the rear position.. Looked pretty funky to me. But hey.. They're your trucks, and I can certainly see where you're coming from regarding saving money on tires/increased passenger comfort.

 

[dmetalmiki]

Post up the pictures of the ongoing project..and the end result. good luck with it.

 

[acme66]

You are right I posted this in the wrong spot, sorry. Maybe a mod could delete/move it?

Ken

 

[JohnnyBM931A2]

In regards to tires.. Have you considered going back to duals, and using the 9x20 NDT tires? Those tires are CHEAP, probably because most people don't want them. A quick eBay search yielded a number of results.. One guy was selling 11 tires with wheels included for $115! Another guy was selling 9 for $100. Just throwing that idea out there.

 

[simp5782]

There is a guy up there over near Arlee that has some tires I believe. I met him when I lived up south of Kalispell. I have an ex brother in law that lives or lived in plains. I will try to call him and see if my stock of tires and crap is still up there or if the ex wife put a match to it. I had like 30 or so 16.00s and Keep it 6x6 you wont save too much on tires with super singles anyways compared to 4x4.

 

[gimpyrobb]

Pretty sure the thread was started to find out about passenger comfort, not really tire issues.

I agree with whats been said, the process is just like bobbing a truck. Find a set of front springs from a truck being parted out and bolt them in place. Then attach one of your rear axles to that. The fun part is figuring out which air lines to use and which to delete! Then have a driveshaft made and your good to go.

 

[acme66]

For me tire wear is secondary to smoothing out the ride. I am using the trucks in a way they were not designed and currently I soften the ride by running the singles nice and soft, which I realize is a big wear factor. I would only be looking really at taking the center axle out in order to make it easy to air bag the rear. I am assuming using 5 ton front springs on a single rear axle would have a ride quality not much different than stock? Right now we just sell the rough ride as part of the experience but sometimes I can watch those people leave the seats if I hit a hole by mistake. Mostly an idle thought but every once in a while I will find a wrecked logging truck for sale and give that rear end suspension a nice long look.

As for NDTs I have never run them, can they be made a squishy as the big singles? Barring rock cuts I am getting about 2-3 seasons out of the used tires I keep picking up. If the NDT could run soft they would at least be cheaper.

Ken

 

[lindsey97]

Install air ride seats in the bed? Mount the bed on some type of airbag system?

I really do enjoy your videos on Youtube.

 

[acme66]

The whole bed? That isn't an angle I have thought about. I would have to think about how to do it without making the bed any higher off the frame. I am sure it could be done. Interesting.

Ken

 

[gimpyrobb]

When using the front spring pack, you could remove some leafs to soften the ride or have a custom spring pack made to your specs.

 

[VPed]

Or you could start by removing leafs from the rear pack for a free and fairly easy idea. I have thought about removing every other leaf and then restacking the removed leaves above the remaining working leaves to serve as spacers. It would look strange but serve to eliminate the fabrication of other spacer just to try something out.

 

[JohnnyBM931A2]

Another option would be replacing the passengers seats with air ride seats, but that would be quite expensive. Or maybe springers, though that wouldn't be cheap either.

 

[jerry v]

yes ken love your you tube on your truck please make more i like watching themopcorn:

 

[HanksDeuce]

Can you post a link to your Youtube channel, Ken?

 

[lindsey97]

The whole bed? That isn't an angle I have thought about. I would have to think about how to do it without making the bed any higher off the frame. I am sure it could be done. Interesting.

Ken

Oh yes, the whole bed. install some rather large hinges in the front, use cab air leveling bags from a class 8 commercial truck, and the air leveling valve to maintain pressure/ride height. After you have raised the bed 3 inches for proper travel, the additional clearance will allow for the installation of HEMTT rims/ 53" XZL's.

 

[adamsoffroadperformance]

If you would remove the rear springs and just keep the suspension links and use airbags you will need to add a track bar to the axle. the leafs hold the axles from moving left and right and without a bar the rear may walk out under the side. and that would be a catastrophic situation especially with riders in the back.

 

[adamsoffroadperformance]

If ride comfort is the concern leave both axles and just remove the leafs and add airbags and a track bar to both axles. it'll ride great and still look the same and not like a mangled after thought.

 

[quickfarms]

Since you are using the vehicles to transport passengers you should be subject to the same regulation as a bus company, dot compliance.

This being said any modification to the suspension should be approved by an SAE engineer and done by a reputable shop

The springs are one way to go but you would need to have a spring shop design and build the springs for your real gvw

The air ride suspension is going to be costly due to the fact that the axle ride height on these trucks is not standard and you would have to custom order the parts.

Having cab mate design, recommend, a bed suspension system for you would be a good option and probably only a couple of grand in parts. This would be similar to re suspension they use for the giant sleepers.

Another option that is simple and easier is to add ballast to the truck. Steel plate the bed.