air ride noobie needs help

[Thorpe]

I have a 1997 s10 ext cab. pretty much stock but plan on puttin some new rims on it and am interested in getting an air ride suspension system. i was wonderin wat type of set up i should go with that will give me a really great ride (ive heard that air bags on mini trucks give a bouncy ride and i want more of a performance handleing ride that will also alow me to drop it down when i want.) Thanks!

[SpArX]

Sounds like you want something simple and easy to do like what I got. I would get a similar setup to what I have, maybe just not the dual adjustable shockwaves, the singles should be fine for your application. I highly recommend the ARC4700E compressor kit as well, as a baseline even though there are smaller kits out there. 5 gals of air in my opinion should be the minimum for any vehicle let alone a small truck like the S-10. With the airbar setup in the rear it' ll bring you pretty low, as long as your not planning on running bigger 20" rims, then you might want to take the next step and cut through your bed with the Roadgrater setup to get all the way down. This is only necessary to lay frame, and to lay frame on the Airbar with 18" rims you will need a 2.5" c-notch I just picked up for my truck. Since you don' t have the Xtreme body kit, and it sounds like you might not be looking for maximum playing time, but more so performance with adjustable altitude I would stick with the shockwaves up front, upper/lower control arms, ARC4700E, and the airbar in the rear. It' s a great kit, easy to do, no welding, a couple easy holes to drill. Either than that you may have to cut some metal out (bumpstops and frame pocket) with an angle grinder and cutoff tool, but it' s pretty easy when you take your time at it to make a nice clean factory looking job! Handles better than factory and is not bouncy at all... ART makes the good $hit, not the pogostick handling like other bag setups out there! :D

[Thorpe]

awesome man thanx! ive been doing some research and thats kinda the way i was thinking of goin. the only thing is i was thinkin was that i wanna put 20" s in the back and getting the roadgrater and being able to drop the back down and light up the street with sparks. would i have to get the roadgrater to do that or would the airbar be able to pull that off and would the roadgrater give me less hadeling or ride quality?

[SpArX]

The airbar would be abled to do that with 18' s if you had a 2.5" c-notch thrown in there with some blocks or what not hanging down a bit. But in order to lower that much with 20' s you will want to go with the Roadgrater and chop through your bed. The handling should be quite similar, just with the Roadgrater maybe not extending as high as the Airbar. But trust me, the Airbar doesn' t need to lift as high as it does, it' s higher than stock ride height at highest point! The Roadgrater just costs more and is a little more intensive of an installation due to having to cut completely through the frame and into the box whereas you do not have to with the Airbar. I' m riding on 18' s and have the Xtreme body kit, the Airbar with a 2.5" c-notch should lay my plastic and frame within 1" from the ground as was my intended goal. Currently with the large 2.5" bumpstops installed with NO c-notch and the Airbar setup as per ART' s instruction my Xtreme body panels are within 3" in the back and 1" up front on stock spindles and the shockwaves with the upper and lower control arms from ART. With 2" drop spindles it would lay the front GFX on the ground and sit the tires (25.7" -26" ) on the inner front fender wells. Search back some of my posts and you' ll find some pictures of the lift I' m achieving on the shockwaves which isn' t much less than the coolrides for the benefit of being abled to toss it around just as hard if not harder than stock into the corners! Rides great, and the difference in handling should be insignificant in my opinion between the Roadgrater or the Airbar, but I haven' t tried them side by side? Wouldn' t mind if I could though! :D

[Thorpe]

awesome! so would i be having to cut the frame or bed to install a 2.5" c noch with the airbar?

[SpArX]

Just a notch, like not completely through to install the c-notch, but if your doing 20' s, go with the Roadgrater, you might not lay frame with the airbar and 2.5 C-notch on 20" rims. You' d be close, but you' d end up disappointed I' m sure. That was what the Roadgrater was made for, laying out on 20' s. Me I might be abled to get away with 20' s cause I' m not fully laying out with the Xtreme body kit hanging lower making it look laid out anyhow...

[CustomChevS10]

It' s also difficult to lay out with the air-bar because the the clamshell bracket gets in the way when you get down low. I have the RG on my truck and it was easy to install. Just get some cobalt bits and some beer (or soda if ur not of age) and go to town. There are 52 holes i think for the RG.

[SpArX]

I don' t think there' s more than 10 holes for the airbar? Don' t remember there being many at all!

[CustomChevS10]

no i was describing the install on the RG not the Air Bar. Sorry for the confusion.

[SpArX]

No I understand, I just posted that statement as a comparison issue, didn' t mean to try to correct you or anything! Sorry about that! :D