Rear Air Assist Kits - recommendations?

wildebus

wildebus

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Back in November 2020 I bought a EuroAir auxiliary air suspension + compressor kit for my Ducato X250.

I found that due to the Very Heavy Duty Springs that were fitted to my motorhome and raised the rear end so much that the airbags never actually made useful contact between the two ends so I removed them and sold on.

A few months ago I finally got round to replacing my very stiff VHD springs with some custom 1+1 Jones Springs which have notably improved the rear ride. Now just about everyone who has had Air Assist added really likes it so I am thinking of putting bags back on the back.
Now enough waffle and onto the question .... Any specific recommendations for a kit? As mentioned, the one I got was the EuroAir kit, sold by VB Suspension and was pretty decent and also pretty expensive. I bought that kit over 4 years ago and I am wondering if there are better or newer kits out now anyone has used and would recommend?
 
On our Sprinter MH with Alko chassis extension the rear springs seem about right but we have Dunlop air assist, foot pump inflated. At about 60psi it deals with any roll.
 
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In 2022 I fitted a Martech air bag kit to our Ducato x244 along with 40mm front strut spacers.
This was part of the upgrade requirements to re-plate the vehicle's weight limit. The system has worked faultlessly and allows me to level the van when parked up by adding or raising the pressure to the rear. The handling has improved with less body roll and buffering from overtaking lorries.
The front strut spacers were needed due to the bigger wheel and tyre package fitted and the fact that the tyres were being shredded on the wheelarches when cornering hard😮!!
Easy to install with everything supplied including a little air compressor. 👍
 
FIJIT said:
In 2022 I fitted a Martech air bag kit to our Ducato x244 along with 40mm front strut spacers.
This was part of the upgrade requirements to re-plate the vehicle's weight limit. The system has worked faultlessly and allows me to level the van when parked up by adding or raising the pressure to the rear. The handling has improved with less body roll and buffering from overtaking lorries.
The front strut spacers were needed due to the bigger wheel and tyre package fitted and the fact that the tyres were being shredded on the wheelarches when cornering hard😮!!
Easy to install with everything supplied including a little air compressor. 👍
Click to expand...
Have you a link to your kit?

One thing I quite like the look of is this gauge mount for the Ducato, but looking at kits on eBay, it only features on the most expensive kits and not available as an individual item
1773771748766.png
 
I see two possible options for the Martech for the Ducato

1) The "Comfort" Kit - £429
martech-airsuspensions.co.uk

Comfort Kit for Fiat Ducato from 2006 onwards

Semi Air Suspension Kit Designed For: Fiat Ducato Citroen Relay Peugeot Boxer Manufactured from 2006 !Will not fit models with Al-Ko type torsion bars chassis! or models with electric handbrake! Details Make/Model Fiat Ducato / Peugeot Boxer / Citroen Relay Year 2006 Drivetrain Front Wheel Drive...
martech-airsuspensions.co.uk martech-airsuspensions.co.uk

2) "Dual Control" Kit - £289
martech-airsuspensions.co.uk

Dual Control Kit for Fiat Ducato from 1994 onwards

Semi Air Suspension Kit Designed For: Fiat Ducato Citroen Relay Peugeot Boxer Manufactured from 1994 - !Will not fit models with Al-Ko type torsion bars chassis! Details Make/Model Fiat Ducato / Peugeot Boxer / Citroen Relay Year 1994 - Drivetrain Front Wheel Drive Rear Wheel Layout Single Rear...
martech-airsuspensions.co.uk martech-airsuspensions.co.uk

It looks like the difference between the two is the cheaper one has no compressor?
 
We opted for the VB semi air suspension Comfort kit on the rear [digital display adjustment and compressor in the driver's side footwell. Not perfect, with the push button display that cycles through 'adjust both sides at once', 'adjust lh side' and 'adjust rh side' often going into auto mode and adding 0.2 bar to one side or the other on some auto setting, but at the 3rd time of asking [regular as clockwork!], it concedes defeat and accepts the 1.8 bar on each side ... This adds 90 seconds at most to the set off time, and I'm usually swearing at the satnav during this time and checking mirror adjustments etc, so more of a PITA quirk. The way the system stiffens up the handling in crosswinds/overtaking by HGVs when set at 2.0 bar is excellent, and driving around winding roads in Spain and S bends improves handling hugely; I didn't realise at first, but wondered why cars behind were dropping back on the approaches to the S Bends, then glanced down at the speedo - the 50kph speed limit could be pushed to 60kph with no yaw or loss of handling, the M/Home stuck like the proverbial to a shovel (y)

Steve
 
marchie said:
We opted for the VB semi air suspension Comfort kit on the rear [digital display adjustment and compressor in the driver's side footwell. Not perfect, with the push button display that cycles through 'adjust both sides at once', 'adjust lh side' and 'adjust rh side' often going into auto mode and adding 0.2 bar to one side or the other on some auto setting, but at the 3rd time of asking [regular as clockwork!], it concedes defeat and accepts the 1.8 bar on each side ... This adds 90 seconds at most to the set off time, and I'm usually swearing at the satnav during this time and checking mirror adjustments etc, so more of a PITA quirk. The way the system stiffens up the handling in crosswinds/overtaking by HGVs when set at 2.0 bar is excellent, and driving around winding roads in Spain and S bends improves handling hugely; I didn't realise at first, but wondered why cars behind were dropping back on the approaches to the S Bends, then glanced down at the speedo - the 50kph speed limit could be pushed to 60kph with no yaw or loss of handling, the M/Home stuck like the proverbial to a shovel (y)

Steve
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Sounds like the air suspension works really nicely, but in hindsight would you say the digital control option just makes things a bit awkward and you wish you had the standard gauges and mechanical switch for each side?
I saw a kit with the digital display and control and looked good but I think was nearly £300 extra cost and don't know if it was worth the extra TBH?

From what I recall about my previous Rear Assist Air Suspension from VB Suspension (which was actually a EuroAir Kit), how you used it was to run the compressor to add air to BOTH bags, and then you could adjust each bag individually by releasing some air from a chosen side.

So it was INFLATE Both, DEFLATE individually.

From what I understand on the "Comfort Kit" from Martech (and maybe @FIJIT can comfirm/correct?) is that you can inflate or deflate either bag individually, which sounds quite useful compared to having to inflate both and then deflate one a bit if you want to just 'tweak' one side. So same function as the digital control, but via a physical switch which you push up or pull down to out air in or take air out.
1773833818988.png

The more common one (from what I gather and what I had before) was a control setup like this:
1773833969267.png
Got a switch to turn the compressor on, and then a pair of shrader valves (one per side) to then release air from a bag.
 
wildebus said:
Sounds like the air suspension works really nicely, but in hindsight would you say the digital control option just makes things a bit awkward and you wish you had the standard gauges and mechanical switch for each side?
I saw a kit with the digital display and control and looked good but I think was nearly £300 extra cost and don't know if it was worth the extra TBH?

From what I recall about my previous Rear Assist Air Suspension from VB Suspension (which was actually a EuroAir Kit), how you used it was to run the compressor to add air to BOTH bags, and then you could adjust each bag individually by releasing some air from a chosen side.

So it was INFLATE Both, DEFLATE individually.

From what I understand on the "Comfort Kit" from Martech (and maybe @FIJIT can comfirm/correct?) is that you can inflate or deflate either bag individually, which sounds quite useful compared to having to inflate both and then deflate one a bit if you want to just 'tweak' one side. So same function as the digital control, but via a physical switch which you push up or pull down to out air in or take air out.
View attachment 77786

The more common one (from what I gather and what I had before) was a control setup like this:
View attachment 77787
Got a switch to turn the compressor on, and then a pair of shrader valves (one per side) to then release air from a bag.
Click to expand...
The digital version is just a more compact controller that cycles between the 3 states sequentially, David, [fag packet size]. You can inflate/deflate merely by entering the required pressure on the digital display [1.8 bar for a light load], and leaving the compressor and the relief valve to adjust the pressure accordingly. I think it's about £200 more than the analogue version [paid for ours as part of a package of work that included replacing all the hab area bulbs, so about £150+VAT + shipping on the invoice. The only limitation is that the difference between the 2 sides is restricted to 0.5 Bar, but, at less than 1/4 of the cost, and a lot less weight than full air suspension, I can live with that! It's the driving/handling that is the major benefit - the level parking setting is a bonus. There doesn't seem to be a published weight but the AI Search says max 25kg for the Comfort Pack so I use that in my payload calculations

Steve
 
I like my overly complicated stuff but I think I will stick to the analogue version for this if I DO get the rear air assist (which is pretty likely) and save the extra wonga.
I like the idea of presets and slightly changing the subject, when I installed Cruise Control on my old RAV4, I went for a stalk with three speed presets and that was really handy when the speed limit kept changing on a journey (had them set to 50, 60 & 70) so I'm fully on-board with that idea, but sounds like you do get a bit more flexibility with the non-digital kit?
 
I've never had air assist, but I do have rear air suspension. Basically, the rear end of the leaf springs is replaced by air springs. This gives a vastly improved ride (I understand*) and constant ride height.
There is an air tank and an automatic air compressor which keeps the tank at about 130psi. The air in the springs is regulated by a ride height valve.
What makes this at least a little relevant is that the air pump runs at least once per day, usually when you start the engine at the first drive. Rarely does it fire up again when driving, but it sometimes does.
The air assist systems don't seem to top themselves up, but I guess they do less load carrying so might need air less often. Nevertheless, it would not appeal to me to have something that wasn't 'fit and forget'.
*Our village bus service uses Mercedes chassis buses, and a very few of them don't have air suspension. Those ones are horrible to ride in at the back, and the drivers tell me they're less pleasant to drive.
 
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Our Sprinter based MH is over 3.5T when fully loaded so we up-plated it to 4.2T. Just a paper excercise as it already had air assist bags fitted - probably around 3.8T normally. When first bought the pressure was low and the roll especislly noticeable on roundabouts on the drive home - but about 60 PSI resolves that issue. The only thing is that the back end tends to kick up if you go over a speed ramp a little too quick and jolts stuff in the garage! But apart from that I don't feel that it warrants any major suspension changes. Unlike standard vans MH's tend to have a pretty fixed load so guess there should be an optimum suspension setting especially for the rear end? I guess that auto pump units are fine if you particularly like gadgets but manual is perfectly good for how little you actually need to adjust in reality.
 
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Phantom said:
I guess that auto pump units are fine if you particularly like gadgets but manual is perfectly good for how little you actually need to adjust in reality.
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That's my question: if you decide that 60psi is the right pressure, how often do you need to top up to keep it at 60psi?
With mine, the air springs are doing all the lifting with no spring support, and they need more air at least every day, despite having an air tank.
Of course there are also valves that could leak and the pressure in the tank is way higher*, though the pressure in the springs is normally much lower than in the tank.
When the engine starts after a long time parked, the suspension finishes rising a long time before the compressor switches off. To me, that's an indication of how much 'spare' pressure is stored.
Spring assist seems to be just two small heavy-duty balloon bump stops with no air tank. I wonder how well it maintains pressure and how it reacts to temperature changes.
*I'm only guessing at the tank pressure. I don't have a pressure gauge that reads higher than 120psi. It's way more than that.
 
I fitted Dunlop air assist from Marcle Leisure to my 6m Ducato PVC back in 2013. Made the van ride on rails to how it was previously.
Personally it has been one of the top improvements I have made to the van. I went for the manual gauge with independent left and right isolation valves. Run at 2bar most of the time, but when a big trip comes and loaded to the max I'll go upto 3bar. Never have to touch it otherwise. Use a bike pump to inflate or my compressor if I'm doing my tyres as well.
I am now starting to whittle about when the bags will eventually fail but so far so good.
 
Geek said:
That's my question: if you decide that 60psi is the right pressure, how often do you need to top up to keep it at 60psi?
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I used 60psi when we carried a 170kg scooter and other stuff in the garage. I feel that it has had an air leak ever since the previous owner fitted it but I've just never got around to checking it as it has stayed okay for our shorter trips. Though this trip without the scooter I still set it at 60psi and now two months later it is down to 45psi. I can't say that I have really noticed a difference in handling/roll yet so will just leave it until there is, note the pressure and top it up - so maybe after 3 months? The exact pressure for us doesn't seem to be crucial but more within a certain range, or a minimum pressure. Though vehicle and other variables will be a factor as to what best suits.
 
Phantom said:
Do you get more roll with those springs than you would like?
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A bit of history .... Van started life with the single spring. Previous owner I think tended to run at maximum weight and the spring failed and he decided to make sure the problem didn't happen again by having these VHD springs fitted.
They were VERY stiff. 3 leaf springs and I found the third spring never actually came into play. The difference in ride height between empty and fully loaded was literally zero.
Not got any comparisons between mine and other vans but I knew it was stiffer then you would really want and eventually decided to get it sorted.
A single spring I don't think is upto the job. a double spring is similar to what I had, so decided on a halfway-house option with the custom 1+1 spring - 1 always working, the second ready if needed. No roll but as I understand it, air assist is not only about dealing with any rolling but improves the actual ride as well?
 
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