Has anybody put a full air ride suspension on a tj? I bought a 97 with a 4” lift and it rides like a square wheeled wagon, I put the AirLift air bags inside the coil springs and they definitely help, but I want a true air ride.
Air ride suspension
- Thread starter Mattmcc19
- Start date
9 times out of 10 people here will tell you that if your TJ rides like crap it's related to shocks.
Yes there used to be a kit to replace the coil springs with air springs but I'm not sure if Off-Road Only is offering the AiRock kit anymore.
https://wranglertjforum.com/threads/off-road-only-airock-how-it-works.31391/
annihil8ted
TJ Enthusiast
There's the AirRock air system that would be like a full air ride suspension but I believe it's only semi-active. Most air suspension will be passive.
I am curious though, what airbags from Airlift did you use?
Depends on what you mean by semi-active. Above 25 MPH the AiRock self levels and stuff. Below that speed you can change your height yourself. Or tilt/lean/rock as needed.
I sold my side by side and bought the jeep because I manage several different hunting properties and wanted something street legal to get back and forth and to get around each property, it’s just a street legal side by side to me. I just want a smooth ride, a buddy of mine years ago had a 4-runner that he put air suspension on and it was one of the most impressive things I’ve ever seen as far as ride quality, it floated across a rough pasture like riding on a cloud. I understand that 4-runner and that Jeep are two very different vehicles as far as suspension, but surely I can get that Jeep to ride much smoother than it does and air springs just came to mind
Yes & No....
Even with the air springs it's not super smooth but Yes it's a lot nicer than with coil springs. If you're wanting to go faster like in a SXS then you're going to need coilover's a tuned suspension.
The Airlift kit you installed is to increase weight carrying capacity and does NOTHING as far as ride quality. If you have those air bags pumped up that is going to make your ride worse. Think of them like the air bags on a 1ton pickup when hauling a camper. When no load in the bed you drop the PSI to 5lbs.
Also what type of SXS?? A sport model or a utility model?
My everyday truck is a ram 3500 with TM body on it and an air helper spring system with on board compressor on it, I’m familiar with all that. I installed the air helpers on the jeep thinking they would help ride quality, which they do, just not good enough. I found some 2500lb air springs online and was gonna replace the coil springs completely with them and install a compressor, I’m a fabricator so figuring out how to mount them shouldn’t be to much of a problem, I just wondered what y’all thought and hoped somebody had done it before
Yes it's been done.... ORO did it cleanest and their onboard computer system was nice but it doesn't seem like that is what you're looking for.
If you just install the air springs and run them it might give you what you want.
You're not supplying a lot of information so I'm starting simple. Did you read the linked thread on the AiRock system?
Here's the bags ORO was using.
And then adapters for the top & bottoms to mount onto the axles.
Front
Rear
I'd have to find pictures of the bottom bell and better ones of the top.
In the 10 years I've been on here there have been 2 other members who joined that had the AiRock installed on their rig. A couple years ago I bought a used kit for spare parts off Marketplace.
Every now and then you'll find one popping up For Sale.
annihil8ted
TJ Enthusiast
Ah thank you for clarifying, I was thinking semi-active as in at low speeds, you can control them but didn't think they would be able to react fast enough at higher speeds. Based on what you wrote and what I read on their site, they become fully active 20mph and above. Today I learned!
annihil8ted
TJ Enthusiast
That is great for your buddy. I wish I had a simple solution. To get your TJ to ride like that would require spending an enormous amount of money.
I have known quite a few people with the ORO AiRock system and even rode in one on long arms 20 years ago. It's a really interesting system. It could be part of and answer.
It's not a popular sentiment in here, but honestly the 5-link TJ system doesn't ride that well compared to alot of IFS systems in a wide range of conditions. You might be able to dump a bunch of money into mid-arms, and tuned dual compression rate adjustable shocks, dial them to your terrain and come out pretty good. Or go buy a 2018 or newer Colorado ZR2 and see the factory Multimatic DSSV shocks give a masterclass.
It's not a popular sentiment in here, but honestly the 5-link TJ system doesn't ride that well compared to alot of IFS systems in a wide range of conditions. You might be able to dump a bunch of money into mid-arms, and tuned dual compression rate adjustable shocks, dial them to your terrain and come out pretty good. Or go buy a 2018 or newer Colorado ZR2 and see the factory Multimatic DSSV shocks give a masterclass.
It appears that ORO isn't offering the AiRock anymore. I know they offered it for the TJ/LJ & the JK platforms but also other vehicles. And you can change when it' goes into on-road mode. Mine is set for 25 MPH but you can go into the controller and change it.
In the Active more (on-road) it will self level and you can feel/hear it adjusting as you're driving down the road. When you're in off-road mode you can adjust things as you want/need.
I think one of the biggest factors was price. Even in 2005 when I bought my system it was $4K or more. And it makes fitting things hard as hell but I was stubborn and made mine work.
I think the closest he'll get at this point would be a coilover but as you said that's expensive.
So how much uptravel does your suspension have without the helper springs inflated vs deflated? the only way adding more spring rate would help it ride better is if you're already on or near the bump stops. A stiffer spring rate isn't going to make a harsh ride less harsh, so something else is at play here. Maybe your shocks are too short and were nearly topped out, then adding the airbags fully topped them out? I could see that being perceived as a better ride because the jarring action of the shocks topping out would go away.
Either way, sounds like you might have some underlying issues causing your bad ride. I'd start by measuring how much up and down travel your shocks have, and how much uptravel there is before your bump stops are touching. It should be about equal up and down travel, 50% sag. See if you can figure out what shock you have too. there are some shocks out there that physically "fit" but are valved much, much too aggressive for a Jeep.
The only thing Air Lift bags can do to improve ride quality is add more ride height which would increase a deficit of shock up travel. This would reduce the jarring frequency of reaching full shock compression while driving.
Last edited:
Thank y’all for helping btw! I didn’t install the lift on it, bought it that way and have never been a “lifted vehicle” type of man, I installed the helper bags instead of replacing the bump stops, which were rotted out, I figured I could kill a few birds with one stone in making it ride better, replace the need for new bump stops with something better, and be able to level back out with a load. I didnt think about the shocks bottoming out either way, they clearly were part of the newish looking lift kit somebody put on it so I assumed the stroke on them would be right, but maybe not. I’m on vacation with the family but will check that out when I get back home tomorrow
You likely have a shock length problem where the travel bias is out of balance. The bump stop exist to help slow down the final bit of shock travel speed before full compression. They only have a minor impact on ride quality.
Similar threads
