Spring Rate VS Ride height

[Tireman]

Am at design stage for rear of 51 Chevy P/U. Have an 88 Camaro disk brake rear that uses panard bar, 2 trailing arms and torque arm.
Have been looking at various options for bags but am presented with a question.

With Coil Over shocks or just coil spring suspension I can select my spring rate when I make the purchase and then set the ride height based on mounting ring location.

With Air bags the spring rate is controlled by the PSI which also controls the ride height. If I decide I need a higher spring rate I would increase the PSI but that would result in an increase in ride height at the same time.

How do I tune my suspension to change spring rate but keep ride height constant?

[CustomChevS10]

My quick thoughts would be it depended where you mounted the the bags. For example if you say have 40psi in your rear bags and the bags were mounted at certain height we' ll call " x" now if you wanted that same 40psi but to be 2" lower or 2" higher you would have to mount the bags 2" higher or lower then " x" . Do you get what I mean?

[darren@ridetech.com]

With the air spring at the designed ride height you will have the best ride quality and performance. Air pressure doesn' t mean squat. You will have the correct spring rate at that height.

[CustomChevS10]

With the air spring at the designed ride height you will have the best ride quality and performance. Air pressure doesn' t mean squat. You will have the correct spring rate at that height. i' m not sure if i understand you correctly or not when you said air pressure means squat. the amount of air in the air bag plays A HUGE ROLE in terms of the ride. A bag with a high PSI will ride worse then a bag with a low PSI.

[Tireman]

I understand the replies but had hoped there was some method of adjusting ride height while holding air pressure constant.
With coil over springs you can change the seat location - not shock mount location or you can get different spring rate with different springs.

I was thinking if I go with coil over springs I would make an est on 1st set of springs and then should be able to get ride & spring rate very clost to optimal with the 2nd set of springs.

It looks like if I go with AirRide i will need to develop various mounting points which is certainly not desirable and may not be possible.

Does any tech from Air Ride ever respond to this forum?

[SpArX]

Darren is a tech and he already responded to your post once, give him time and he' ll respond again, he' s always got alot on his plate....

[darren@ridetech.com]

In that case yes you will need different mounts. Most 4 link axle brackets have mulitple holes.

[UncleOtis63]

just so I understand what the double adjustable shockwave is, would not a double adjustable shockwave have answered the first question? If mounting the double adjustable shockwaves to have the optimal ride height with optimal psi, then, couldn' t you adjust the compression and rebound?

[darren@ridetech.com]

Yes, IF everything is set up properly. But you can' t have multiple ride heights and expect the same ride quality. But you can use the shock to compensate a bit for the change in spring rate.