Air ride suspension

David & Ann

David & Ann

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Thinking of having air ride suspension fitted. Seen quotes from £470 upwards (to buy) + 2 hours to fit extra. Is this the norm? Would appreciate your comments on this subject. Thanks in advance.
 
Price and fitting time seems about right. (I fitted my own). One thing, you will find the difference in ride much to your advantage. Our van is much more stable on both motorways and back roads. I wanted to increase the MGW of my van to give more leeway with loading. In fact I set the MGW at 3500kg (it could have been higher) as I am 70 next year and it reduces licence complications.
I beleive it is possible to upgrade the front suspension but that would double the cost for very little advantage.
 
Has anybody down rated their MGW :confused: Not that I'm thinking of doing it but is it just a case of informing the DVLA (just thinking if I was selling my van & it was an issue for the buyer) My van was originally 3.5t (when I ordered it was supposed to be 3.85t) there are no mods required to the chassis & the dealer supplied me with the new weight plate. I took this to the DVLA office along with the V5 & they changed it giving me a small refund on the road tax.
 
We had the Airide fitted at the Northern show Knutsford within a week it had gone down,saw them again at Malvern show and they fitted another air bag one was faulty so its fine now.With ours being a Hymer we had to have spacer blocks fitted as well another £180 Grooooann ..... SO cost us £680 .....The stability difference ia amazing especially on the Roads when a large vehicle passes or ,before I actually though we could tip over we swayed about so much.The back end is a bit higher thank goodness for the double step you can ajust the airbags for levelling and pump them up again before you go if you wanted to .We havnt bothered to do that yet....We carry a small 12v air pump with us the valve is just inside the passenger door....
Val
 
hi kontiki . its really easy . as its a voluntary lowering .its just a form filling in exercise i do it all the time .you dont need a new vin plat all you need is a sticker label can be hand written stuck by the old weight plate .you visit your local dvla and they say oh yes .take your log book and in a few days you get a new one. we do it to allow 5ers to have a great train weight .but not be over 3,500kg for driving licence purposes. i can let you have 11ton traiweight yet drive on a car licence .using a 7,5ton mitsubishi with the gvw of unit dropped to 3,500kg kerb weight will allow 350kg on the pin with unit full tanks and 6 people. if you have probs get in touch . cheers aslan.
 
yes . check that the tyres are al ok for weight take all the info you have and visit your local dvla . they may come outside and check you have done what you said or may visit you at your house . but it really can be that easy. upgrading requires proof down grading voluntarily is the easiest. i down grade trucks and trailers like mine often . when you contact companies like svtec they need to get back the cost of time etc used in finding out the info .and possibly visiting dvla with your paper work. they dont make a fortune out of it. changing larger commercials takes alot of time effort and work some times .they do chassis lengthening and shortening etc . thats really their main work. campers can be a pest to them. i was suprised when i first shortened mine i didnt need a full vosa inspection as its private pulling a living van. they just wanted to see the tipping gear removed and the fifth wheel attached . didnt even need the brake conversion at the time of the dvla inspection. i imagined they would want brake read outs etc but no log book wil be with you in a couple of days thank you. try it save a shilling on tax.
 
possibly they might want to see the vehicle if you have airassist on it take all that as well. never known them to ask for bolts removed .does seem daft .put them back in later. i have three different fifth wheels here all mounted different . but who knows . try it . its free.
cheers alan.
remember when you fit airassisted suspension you lower your payload if you dont upgrade as you are carrying extra weight. bit like putting bigger /helper springs .
 
i always say try to use the system to your advantage . dont try to break the rules just abide by them .but study hard . there are some very good rules /laws . cheers alan.
 
Kontiki said:
Has anybody down rated their MGW :confused: Not that I'm thinking of doing it but is it just a case of informing the DVLA (just thinking if I was selling my van & it was an issue for the buyer) My van was originally 3.5t (when I ordered it was supposed to be 3.85t) there are no mods required to the chassis & the dealer supplied me with the new weight plate. I took this to the DVLA office along with the V5 & they changed it giving me a small refund on the road tax.
Click to expand...

Kontiki: Originally my van as supplied was 3300kg MGW (or MTLP whatever) When setting out on our first long trip (Scotland) I dropped in at the local weighbridge and had it check weighed. I was surprised how close we were to the axle limits. Hence the decision to fit air suspension. This COULD have allowed me to up rate the MGW to around 3800kg., but as mentioned before I chose to set the MGW at 3500kg. I got the new VIN plate from SV Tech and sent off the associated certificate and the V5 to DVLA and it went through ok if a little s l o w l y. If you are down rating you can pretty well decide what MGW you want and that is a paper excercise without any vehicle mods. If you want to upgrade some MH's can be done as a paper excercise, it depends on the model (ask SV Tech).

In your scenario above provided you have the right documents (SV Tech again) and indeed the correct suspension fitted already, any subsequent purchaser COULD if they wished establish a new MGW at the prefferred 3850kg. I have been delighted with mine, (NOT Air Ride incidentally I bought mine from VB Air Suspension UK Ltd) as it helps the handling and gives me peace of mind over not exceeding the legal weight limit.
 
I thought Airide were spring assisters ie they help lift the vehicle ride height, which may or may not improve handling etc. but they don't increase load capacity?
 
the only way you can increase load capacity is get it s plated weight changed anything you add to the vehicle can only lower its payload as you are carrying more weight. before you put in your stuff. even an extra leaf in the springs can decrease the load . (if on leaf springs .)most of the up grades are only paper changes . i would just go to dvla and say change this please . save the money try it first may cost nothing. cheers alan.
 
i always agree get the highest payload you can. i,ve always said a coach built under about 5ton is usless . even a van conversion is soon over loaded . and you get cheap tax thats a bonus.
 
i,m sure they buy a big one and think this will hold alot . not a thought of weight . we have to blame sales men and then take the purchaser round the back and shoot them and the salesman. you only have to look at specs in mmm and some /most wont carry as many people as there is berths for. trouble is the driving licence came down to meet the french italians etc . glad we are a bit older . but i cant understand half of what happens in the world ever.
 
There are advantages in being under 3.5 tonnes eg higher speed limits, easier to obtain vehicle recovery insurance, vehicle insirance easier, workshop hoist loading often restricted to 3.5t max. access to town centres and carparks, possibly cheaper tyres, etc etc.
 
but its the same vehicle nothing as changed nobody knows or cares . but get stopped over loaded and then watch out.
you dont have to stick a sticker on the side saying my vans been up graded . cheers alan.
 
Being really picky here, but the VED disc states HGV and the least you,d have to worry about is Police ANPRS or any jobsworth who happens to take a close interest in your disc.
 
what police etc understand the differance in france you would hardly ever get pulled as they rarely have over 3,500kg . i think spain didnt and never as had car over 3,500kg . so theydont care. i could be wrong . but then look what i drive . is it a truck is it a camper is it a car and caravan . nearly didnt beable to drive it today but will fill you in when i see you . unless you see me coming and try and hide. i shall mess them soon by changing mine to 3,500kg gvw . that should cause a few bits of fuss hee hee ,
 
Hi Guys,
Have had a good look through this thread and saw references that may shed light on what is going on with this type of chassis plating.
My Kontiki 635 (04 Plate) has 3 x chassis plates, YES 3!!
One is the original Fiat Auto plate, when the "cab section" of the chassis was manufactured. This would have been just the cab shipped up to Swift/Alko before it became a Motorhome. This plate claims to have a max weight of 3500kg.

Second plate is the Alko Chassis plate, mounted right next to the Original Fiat, using the same chassis numers, BUT giving an overall weight of 4000KG!

Third is the Swift build plate, just inside the habitation door area. The data on this plate matches exactly to the Alko's data plate. Bottom line, both the Alko and Swift data plates match to what is typed on the V5.

According to DVLA (VOSA) when I checked that I was fine and was rated a 4000KG (as I needed the weight to carry equipment), my conclussion was that the Fiat Plate never gets modified when going into production certainly when it's an Alko set-up. I would only guess that somewhere on an Alko set-up is their own plate confirming the chassis upgrade somewhere. There certainly is one on mine!!

Hope some of this info helps :)
 
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