Pajero Owners Club of South Africa

My 1997 Pajero 3.5 Lwb's rear end was starting to hang quite low when fully loaded and when Venter Bush Baby was in tow. I went the air lifters way and I've put in the Airlift 1000 kit (under R2000 from Gremeltech, Cape Town 0215114615) with 2 seperate manual airvalves in the rear bumper. When I got him back last night from the guys who did the installation (Specialized Air & Clutch, George 0448781306), he looked liked a bulldog with his rear end standing way up in the air . I checked the air pressure which was on 1,5bar and 1,3bar , so I lowered the pressure to 0,5bar as recommended and now he looks good Can't wait for our next camping week-end, mid May, to see how he handles the trailer

We dont believe you unless we see pics!

Bennie,

Sounds good. I suggest you check out the effectiveness with a loaded trailer beforehand - that way you can get the feel of the car and determine the ideal pressure (loaded) and not waste critical "kuier-tyd" (holiday time).

Regards,
Anton

Bennie wrote:...with 2 seperate manual airvalves in the rear bumper. , ..... air pressure which was on 1,5bar and 1,3bar ...

Hi Bennie,

Have you thought about connecting the 2 air lifters, so that air can flow between the 2 (or is that only with Air helpers)
that way you would always have it balanced (instead of eg 1.3 & 1.5, they would both be on 1.4 on level) also it would improve your articulation off-road, insofar as when you go over a bump/rock with one wheel, the pressure would push the air into the other spring, thereby giving you much better articulation and keeping your vehicle more level.

Please correct me if I'm wrong guys, as I'm also just learning about this stuff.

Cheers
Ned

Ned,

Connecting the two to balance pressure makes sense to me, but wouldnt increased pressure in the "loose" articulating wheel reduce articulation of that wheel, as it will firm up the spring?

I am asking as a total laymen, of course, and I realise that layment talking technical matters is like letting the theatre cleaner do brain surgery...

Anton

Hi Anton,

The way it would work, is if you have upward travel in the one wheel, the pressure would shift more air into the other wheel, but only until the pressure equalizes.

i.e. in situation one: you go along a flat section, and mount a rock or risen section on one side, it will push more air to the other side, but because the other wheel is still on the ground, it will only push enough air through to lift it a bit, thus keeping you more level than if you just went up the raised section on one side.

Likewise, in 2nd situation, if you travel on a flat section and hit a dip/donga on the one wheel, the overall weight that was on 2 wheels, now rests on the one wheel still on flat ground, that pressure then forces air to the spring on the wheel in the donga creating more down travel, thus balancing the vehicle again.

In a 3rd situation, you could even have a ride on the one side, and a dip in the other side, and it would work a bit more to level the vehicle, basically, the more upward travel exerted on one wheel will cause air to travel to the spring on the other wheel and cause more downward travel, but this only works under pressure, thus, upward travel on one will will cause downward travel on the other wheel, but downward travel on one wheel will not necessarily cause upward travel on the other wheel, because the vehicle weighs more than the axle and wheel setup, thus its the travel that is under the most pressure / weight that causes the reactive travel in the other wheel, if that makes sense to you.

Cheers
Ned

I fiited my Stofpad Bashplate! Next to come is my Gearbos Plate Protecer.

The first pic is of the Pajero before the "airlifters" were installed, I've not towed the trailer after the installation of the "lifters" and the second one is proof of fitment of "airlifters" when I've had my tyres changed.

Bennie

In the Jan/Feb 2011 "Wegry" mag on pg 12, Mr van Heerde from Hopefield, wrote that he had "air helper springs" fitted to his Land Cruiser 60 Series. He said that he had the system installed with a t-piece between the 2 airbags so that when he do some serious 4x4ing the air could move freely between the 2 airbags, he did the "Road to hell" close to Goodhouse when he found that he is losing traction to such an extend that he had to completely deflate the airbags to get traction again. He eventually had the airbags taken out and the company who did the installation and the specific airbag company refunded him his money. He had no wheel articulation

I've taken what he said into consideration and that is the reason why I had 2 separate air valves put into my setup. I am planning on doing the Baviaanskloof on the week-end of 8-10 Apr where I will definitely do some of the 4x4 routes. I will then see what the airbags do and how they influence my PJ's traction. The reason for the 2 different air pressures I had after I received the car back was only because the guys who did the installation wanted the airbags to get properly into place.

I installed a sony frontloader into the gen3. What a joy to have a decent radio in front with front aux.