Towing with air suspension
 

Just doing some research for my next vehicle...
Can anyone tell me what the air suspension is like when you put a heavy van on the tow bar? Is it self levelling? How does the vehicle ride compared with conventional suspension?

We have towed our 18'6" semi off road Lotus van for nearly 3 years with a 2012 GC CRD Laredo with Quadra lift air suspension. Yes, it self levels within seconds of hitching up. We also use Hayman reese WDH bars to transfer some weight to front axle. Overall the ride and towing experience is very good and feels solid. We just traded in the Laredo for the new MY17 Trailhawk and look forward to many more trips. Personally I am a fan of the air suspension.

Like Macca, we are on our second Laredo - both with air suspension, and our experience mirrors his.
I've never been in a steel sprung WK2 so have no idea of the ride comparison - but ours rides very nicely.
Our off road van is 260Kg on the tow ball, and has been dragged all over the shop with no issues.Twice across the Gibb River Road, Cape York, Gulf country and lots of gravel outback work, including plenty of corrugations.
Between our 2012 and 2015 probably 120,000k towing.
Jeep note it is mandatory to use a weight distributing hitch when towing in excess of 2268kg and although our van is a bit short of that I've always used one, with no conflict whatsoever with the air suspension.
The air comes in very handy for hitching up in conjunction with the rearview camera (it is possible to back under the hitch and simply raise up into the coupling), and for levelling fore and aft when free camping overnight.
If you go for it I doubt you will be disappointed.
John

My mate is towing a 23' Crusader with his 2014 Laredo that was optioned with Quadra Lift and as Macca357 says it levels as soon as the van is hitched.

I am towing an 18' 6" semi-off road Lotus and my 2015 Laredo has the self adjusting shocks which level the vehicle within a few hundred metres of travel.

We both have the McHitch 3.5 tonne auto trailer coupling and neither of us use a WDH because both vans tow exceptionally well without one as they are sitting level due to the air suspension and mine with the self levelling shocks.

Initially I used a WDH to get the vehicle level but once the shocks self levelled both Hayman Reece WDH levelling bars loosened and came off where they were set in the tow hitch and held there with tension. As soon as the vehicle levelled there was no further tension..both came out were held by the crossed chains.

We have both received independent advice to the effect because both our vehicles achieve self levelling the use of a WDH to achieve levelling is not required. If the vans experience swaying, check the way they are loaded making sure all the heavy items are over the axles and if sway still occurred to look into getting an ESC

My WH that I previously towed the van with has airbags which I levelled the vehicle with and the same thing occurred, both tension bars loosened when this happened the first time I sought advice and was told the same thing the airbags are levelling the vehicle and the WDH is of no use in achieving this.

Neither of us experience any sway without the WDH ..... if we do we are going to look into an ESC.

Hi,

We have the air suspension on our 2015 Limited. We tow a 21 6 Lotus Freelander at 3.1 tonnes with 310kg on the ball.

The air suspension does level up in small increments and is excellent, but you still must use a WDH/bars. (Now mandatory from Jeep - earlier models recommended and does make a positive difference IMO). We also use a Dual Cam Sway unit with ours. You simply can't restore the weight evenly back to the front wheels of the car and throughout the van without a WDH. Not even the air suspension will do that. braking and steering can be affected. I figure the Jeep engineers have done lots of testing and if they recommend using a WDH with vans over 2268kg, we follow their advice!

We get 17LPH, towing the van at 95-100kph and the Jeep does it easily. We find our van is rock solid and we have travelled up and down the east coast in some hairy sidewinds and weather and always felt confident and safe.

Great tow vehicle, the air suspension is a nice thing to have.

Cheers,
Sally

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Interesting what you are saying Sterling Sal when we first purchased the Lotus I was towing with the WH that has Airbag Man airbags within the coil springs during the handover I wanted to purchase a set of Hayman Reece WDH's but when we were hooking the van up the they noticed I had air assisted suspension on the rear and I was told I'd be wasting my money buying them because I can level the vehicle by adjusting the rear airbags thereby putting weight to the front.

Now I did speak to Hayman Reece and they agreed with what I had been told by the dealer. However they did say the use of a WDH could help with any trailer sway/cross winds, I noted they did not use the word would.

Anyway I purchased them and I found that they didn't make any noticeable difference because the rig was levelled with the use of the airbags so I really only used them in very windy conditions just to be on the safeside.

When I upgraded to the McHitch I immediately noticed that they was no noise at the rear of the vehicle and as well the rear of the vehicle remained stable over bumps and undulating road surface because the flex of the uni-joint on the McHitch was absorbing any movement at the rear of the vehicle.

But the big problem is that the WDH came off but without the WDH the vehicle tows beautifully with the McHitch and the same applies with it's used with the 2015 WK with the self levelling shocks.

My understanding and advice received and during campfire chat has always been that if your caravan or trailer and vehicle are both level and do not sway at speed or on rough roads then you do not need a WDH. What is critical is what you are towing should place about 10% of it weight on the vehicle's tow ball. You can correct the ball weight by either using a WDH or a Ball Weight Scale to reorganise your load.

I have been towing for around 38 years and whenever I get ready for a trip the first thing I do is get that ball weight around the 10% I've pretty much got that down pat now as I know what goes where.

It is critical that the tow vehicle is level and if you achieve the 10% then it's easy to get a level set up. The load on the tow ball creates a leverage effect with the tow vehicles rear axle being the pivot point. When applying the load to the tow ball the pivoting/leverage effect lifts weight off the front axle. This weight goes to the rear axle. The amount of weight shifted between axles can be ascertained by going to a weigh bridge station. While at the weighbridge station if you add your WDH and adjust it to get the rigs level you will find that the weight that was transferred to the rear axle will be transferred back to the front axle. But the tow ball weight will remain the same.

The purpose of a WDH is to transfer back, some of that weight that shifted from the front axle to the rear axle of the tow vehicle.

I was pulled over years ago for a vehicle inspection at Cloncurry and the front and rear axles were pretty much the same, when they took the WDH off I think it was around 80kg went to the rear axle when they put it back on to same link in the chain the 80kg went to the front axles.

A WDH does transfer weight back to the front axle but it certainly doesn't change the tow ball weight.

I have travelled most of our great country in some very windy weather across the Nullabor the Barrier Highway and I have never had an issue not using a WDH I think it's because my rig has been within the 10% ball weight and the rig has been level but I travel between 80 - 90k I don't go over those speeds and I have seen big vans towing at high speed with the van swinging around like a dogs tail...and with a WDH.

Towing with a McHitch changes the whole towing experience, easier to hook up and release and the dynamics of towing is a big difference.

By the way nice rig there Sal, I have the Sprint 18' 6" had it beefed up to semi-offroad.....been into some isolated places with it, might upgrade to a 19'6" Freelander one day.