RAC lift questions??

[Silent Auction]

Sorry if this has been covered already, RAC does not bring up anything when i search and i have spent countless hours looking for info.

I have an 04 limited with rear air and i believe i have read somewhere that you are able to lift the rear using the RAC and keep it lifted? if anyone has any info on this it would be greatly appreciated!!

 

[Huskey]

I think you mean RAS (rear air suspension) and if so, you can play with the height sensors to give a permanent lift, but it will give you a much rougher ride and if you go off road it will kill your bags. As for the aftermarket stuff, there's nothin made for it because the chassis mount is different from the typical T4R.

You could try to make a spacer on the lower mount of the airbag (above the axle) by cutting and grinding and welding - it would be a big job. Or I heard somewhere along the way that Jeep made cone style thingy ma-bob to insert for a standard coil lift... I have no info about that though. ASR is currently looking into aftermarket airbags so you might want to keep an eye on hi build thread - but again these bags are not really designed for heavy offroading, so it all depends on what you want to do with your 4runner.

Do a search for "huskey's build" and you can see the pic of the chassis mount and how I managed to get around this RAS issue.

 

[Red]

I have RAS also, right now I think my plan is to adjust the RAS up 1.5" and then to add a 2.5" daystar front spacer. That will give me the ever so popular daystar 2.5/1.5 lift. It will stiffen up my rear end but if I dont like it all i have to do is pull the spacers out and put my bags back down to normal, no biggie.

Ark_Swamp_Rider is the RAS guru at the moment, he's been researching quite a bit, hes sitting somewhere around 3-4" of lift.

He will probably chime in here and link the PDF for adjusting your RAS.

Also I think ASR found a conversion kit for the lexus gx that would work for converting our 4runners. I might consider that after my xreas/airbags die.

Look up Ark_Swamp_riders build thread though, that'll answer a lot.

 

[ARK_SWAMP_RIDER]

As mentioned, you can adjust the sensors to make the "normal" position sit higher. This will have a negative affect on the ride though. In stock form, you can get about 1.25" out of this setup, any more and you really push the limits of the stock shocks.

It is very easy to adjust the sensors, I can do it in about five minutes with nothing more than a single wrench. My advice is to adjust the sensors for the desired lift and ride around like that for a couple of weeks. This will give you a great idea of the ride before you spend any money on lift parts.

I've found a couple different kits available for doing the conversion. However, I would not purchase any of these. The conversion itself is pretty simple. When I do mine, I'm going to try to retain the OEM functions using aftermarket bags. Not sure if it's possible, but I plan to find out (just not sure when I'll do this).

Attached is the PDF explaining the adjustments. You'll want to look at the last page.

 

[Red]

I was actually curious about custom bags made for our 4Runners, I sent an email to Air Suspension Pros | Find Quality Suspension Lowering & Lift Kits to see what they have to say, maybe they would consider making some, not sure though.

Would be nice to just swap out for bigger bags and throw new shocks in. they'd probably be on the pricey side though


actually looking around on their website, they sell bags of all different sizes so if Huskey could provide the dimensions required, we might be able to find a bag that would fit. Looks like they range from $60-$90, id be all over that if we found a match

 

[ARK_SWAMP_RIDER]

I was actually curious about custom bags made for our 4Runners, I sent an email to Air Suspension Pros | Find Quality Suspension Lowering & Lift Kits to see what they have to say, maybe they would consider making some, not sure though.

Would be nice to just swap out for bigger bags and throw new shocks in. they'd probably be on the pricey side though


actually looking around on their website, they sell bags of all different sizes so if Huskey could provide the dimensions required, we might be able to find a bag that would fit. Looks like they range from $60-$90, id be all over that if we found a match

The bags are only a small part of it. It's the electronics that cause the issue. There are already aftermarket air bag systems that can do auto leveling, it just wouldn't interface with the factory system.

Most people having issues with the ras are having issues with the sensors and compressor, not the bags. I don't think new bags would do much.

My personal opinion us that even at stock height the ride sucks with the air bags. I believe coils will have a better ride on road and also better performance off road. My goal is to use aftermarket coils and air bags and use the OEM system to control them. Idk if the auto level will work, but I feel I can at least use the OEM compressor to manually adjust the aftermarket air bags as needed.

 

[Red]

New bags + different shocks would allow for slightly more height without the stiff rear end because the bags wouldnt be inflated to the max anymore. I think new bags that have a wider range of deflation and inflation would be great. Switching to springs and trying for an airlift 1000 type setup with auto leveling would most likely have to be a complete stand alone system due to all of the sensors and computers that are used.

Just adding new bags might be simple as long as the computer only reads the height of the rear end and not the volume or pressure in the bags.

anyways, I'll let you guys know what the rep from airbagit says

 

[ARK_SWAMP_RIDER]

I look forward to their response. I see the reasoning, just not sure that air bags will ever be as smooth on road and as good off road as coils. there aren't any sensors that I've found on the air bags themselves, only air lines attached. The sensors that trigger the compressor are mechanical (the part we adjust for lift), so it shouldn't matter.

I'm not holding my breath on this working like I want. I do think it'll be easy to bypass the stock system, add aftermarket bags and add a switch to the compressor that allows adjustment (ie press and hold to air up/down).

Edit: here's a couple other places to check.

This company makes a coil conversion kit. I'm not crazy about the design, but this at least means they've done research into this. The Lexus gx470 system is identical to ours, parts should be interchangeable.
http://www.arnottindustries.com/part_LEXUS_Air_Suspension_Parts_yid7_pid141_gid559.html

Similar name, don't think it's the same company though. They have a lot of air suspension parts.
http://www.arnottairsuspension.com/

 

[Red]

Reply from airbagit.com, pretty much what I expected but it was worth a shot I guess.

"I am sure that I can get you something that will work for you but since your vehicle came factory with air suspension what I would get you would not be designed to work with your factory system. It would stand alone as its own unit and you would need to fill and exhaust the air yourself. The kit would also require light fabrication to the vehicle as well. If you call me here at the shop we can go over some options to see what will work best for you. Please let me know if you have any questions at all. Take care."

seems like stand alone is the only way to go. (at this time)

 

[Red]

This company makes a coil conversion kit. I'm not crazy about the design, but this at least means they've done research into this. The Lexus gx470 system is identical to ours, parts should be interchangeable.
New Rear Coil Spring Conversion Kit for 2002-2009 GX 470 (Toyota Prado)

Similar name, don't think it's the same company though. They have a lot of air suspension parts.
Air Bag Suspension Systems, Air Suspension Kits - Arnott Air Suspension Systems

these look promising if you wanted to ditch your RAS, I don't fully understand the components in the picture though, looks too simple.

 

[chaz]

you could do this then. Stock Rear Ai\rbag Problem - Page 2 - Toyota 120 Platforms Forum

 

[ARK_SWAMP_RIDER]

these look promising if you wanted to ditch your RAS, I don't fully understand the components in the picture though, looks too simple.

Correct, hence the reason I said I'm not crazy about the design. My approach will be as described in the link chaz posted.

Reply from airbagit.com, pretty much what I expected but it was worth a shot I guess.

"I am sure that I can get you something that will work for you but since your vehicle came factory with air suspension what I would get you would not be designed to work with your factory system. It would stand alone as its own unit and you would need to fill and exhaust the air yourself. The kit would also require light fabrication to the vehicle as well. If you call me here at the shop we can go over some options to see what will work best for you. Please let me know if you have any questions at all. Take care."

seems like stand alone is the only way to go. (at this time)

I doubt any company is going to be willing to mess with the electronics on these things. Most likely I'll end up ditching the idea as well. I don't tow enough to really justify the air bag setup, but if I can retain it fairly easily I will. I'm curious as to what type of setup they could come up with though. My assumption is that it's similar to those already offered by AirLift and Firestone.

 

[Huskey]

Just a thought... Why not keep everything stock but just grind off the upper airbag mount, and weld it back a couple inches lower, its recessed all the way up at the high end of the chassis alowing close to a four inch lift if you really wanted.