Boss airbags: heavy duty towing solution
A hands-on approach to suspension enhancement.
This is what an SUV or ute is designed to do: carrying trade tools, mobile service gear, a packed-up campsite for a weekend away or towing a trailer or caravan. Making the most of the excellent towing capacity of a double-cab ute or SUV, load-assist airbags will smooth out ride quality, improve stability and restore ride height to its unladen specification.
Northland farmer Neil White and wife Margaret regularly use their ‘fifth wheel’-equipped Holden Colorado to tow an 8.3-metre Sunliner caravan. They were looking for a suspension upgrade to improve stability and had been told it wasn’t possible to fit airbags due to the bracing required for the fifth-wheel coupling.
“I made a phone call to
Paul at Boss Air Suspension and when we passed through Auckland he came out – in the rain – and got down under the truck to measure up.”
Having confirmed the airbags would fit, Neil and a mate were able to do the work at home, jacking the rear of the truck and removing bump stops, loosening the rear spring u-bolts to fit the airbag units and then re-assembling the suspension. A small onboard pump to pressurise the bags is bolted up under the bonnet, with lines run to the rear and placed where they can’t be damaged by suspension components or snagged by road debris.
The whole project was completed using hand tools, with no cutting or welding needed.
“I’ve been farming most of my life, so I was happy to do the job myself. Anyone who is a bit mechanically minded can do this installation at home. If two bokes in their 70s can manage then anyone can.”
The Colorado and caravan has been across a weighbridge up north and comes in just under the light truck combined limit of six tonnes.
“We take everything with us when we go away, there’s no point roughing it,” Neil said.
The next step was to get the ute a low-volume vehicle certification “but that was no problem, the engineer at Ruakaka took lots of photos, looked over the installation and put the compliance disc on the truck.”
Compliance certification means there are no quibbles at WoF time.
The airbags, he says, have simply transformed the ride quality when towing “even on Northland’s lovely roads”. They have been put to extensive use since they were installed in July.
“We tow a lot when the Covid lets us, get down to see family in the Waikato or on trips to the South Island. In between I often tow a Side by Side [UTV] on a tandem trailer. The ute rides slightly firmer, but the bags have taken the bounciness out of the ride when we have a load behind us.”
The only thing he might do is add the cockpit controller that enables the driver to air-up or air-down the system from the comfort of the cab.
“That adds to the convenience.”
Though the big farm was sold in 2004, there’s no such thing as a retired farmer or farming couple. Neil and Margaret have a 3.5 acre farmlet and he has kept busy with trips away but also driving a school bus and helping out at a local workshop.