Oh Boy! What a deal!

[Petros]

it appears there are kits to make a car/truck air adjustable, with all the lines, valves and switches, compressor and air tank, including the air springs for about $1700 for our size vehicle. likely would take some experimenting to make it all work together.

seems you can piece it together for less using wrecking yard parts.

attached below is a picture of complete subaru front air adjustable struts. might be possible to find something close in size to adapt to the front struts on the T4wd, these pictured are about $600 each. alot to pay for and than start cutting and welding on them. I ran across a used set for a subaru at a garage sale for $80. I should have bought them, but I did not want to mess with welding up new mounts to make them fit. could possible find some in a wrecking yard or on craigs list.

also pictured below are just the air spring by "cool ride" that can be used to just replace the spring on our existing strut. if you can find the correct size it should be an easy swap over. they cost about $300-500 new, per pair.

I seem to remember there were some simple air bags that go inside the spring, most commonly for the rear spring, but there are some that had a hole down the middle for use on struts. those were only about $80. but are not likely very durable. though it would work easy enough, and cheap. you only have air in them when only when you want the extra height, so it might hold up longer than if you had air in them all the time. may be a simple and cheap solution.

[Abletobecain]

Forum member Baileysims air bagged his Tercel. I'm not sure where the thread is on it but here's a Youtube video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGdkxSq3cBE

He even put it on a remote: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rAjU-rKTs8

[BaileySims]

I think my setup is backwards from what everyone else might want. It's my belief that they want to maintain stock ride height and be able to gain lift with the air bags.

Unlike me who enjoys being lowered but can also achieve a level of stock ride height and above if need be, (I live in a flat desert city where there's not much off roading to be had) so I never really have it lifted up much anyway.

The system has held up fairly well though. In the last few years, all I've needed to change was a fitting on the front bag that went bad. I would enjoy having a legitimate air ride controller, but there's no point in investing in something that'll be gone soon.

[Petros]

Bailey,

what are you using in the front to raise it like that? and what is your compressor set up? that same system should work from stock height and than raise it higher for more ground clearance.

That is a much faster response than I would expect. on our Mazada with the "load leveler", for when towing a trailer, when the sensor notices the rear is lower than it should be it engages a small 12v compressor that raises rear airshocks, but it takes about 30 seconds to level up..

[BaileySims]

I have these up front.

20150406_152924.jpg

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre ... 2482766684

I have a 5 gallon air tank with a single viair 444c compressor. I had dual compressors from the start but it was too much for the alternator to handle.

[splatterdog]

Cool that there's a kit. After watching the vid it would easily add a Snobear feature to the IceHawk (see my post in projects). I'm generally anti air suspension, but humm..

[dlb]

Cool that there's a kit. After watching the vid it would easily add a Snobear feature to the IceHawk (see my post in projects). I'm generally anti air suspension, but humm..

Do it!

[Petros]

Bailey,

those look expensive. they look like some kind of generic strut (multiple mounting holes). OTOH, the air spring and mount set up looks like it could be installed on any strut.

it would be best if it was possible to install an air bag assist into the existing strut so if you get a leaky air spring you will just be on the normal suspension. with this air spring that completely replaces the wound metal spring it means a ruptured air assist it will sink down to the bumpers.

5 gallon air tank, that is massive. I guess if you want instant response you need that volume, you can go bounce your Tercel with all of the cholo low riders down there in San Antonio. I would not need that feature, if it takes 30 secnds to raise up the car that would be fine with me.

[splatterdog]

Cool that there's a kit. After watching the vid it would easily add a Snobear feature to the IceHawk (see my post in projects). I'm generally anti air suspension, but humm..

Do it!

While it is tempting I did already order the longer and more expensive hole sleeves in order to reach the ice and stay sealed. Still a small fraction of an air suspension setup. I also don't want to have any sort of failure while it's -25 and now my car is belly deep in the middle of a lake and going nowhere. I would also worry about freeze in if I was in one spot for a while, would the air be able to get me back up vs hydraulics? The bottom of the SnoBear probably has less stuff to get froze in too. Ice fishing is a serious test of gear..

There's already enough wow factor for me and I still have other fish to fry on this project. It will linger in the back of my mind though!