slammedxonair
11-21-2010, 11:42 AM
Hello everybody, I know Chassis Tech can be a sore subject but, I throught I would post up some of the information about these new bags. I originally posted up my review on my Facebook fan page here http://www.facebook.com/pages/Vermilion-OH/Illusive-Design-Fabrications/109183455807995
Just some background info on these bags before I paste the review I had on my FB page. The first set of these bags came out last year and they did not collapse to 3" or less like any other standard bag with normal force. The issue was with the internal design, the end plates were smashing the inside rubber of the bags and did not allow the bag to fully compress to the bumpstop. There was a huge thread on SSM about them where I gave a bunch of redesign suggestions to Joe and Chassis Tech, to my shock, they actually took the suggestions and redesigned the bags. (I wish I would have told them then to make the end plates flat rather than keeping them look so much like Slam Specialties) but oh well.
Well I received (2) of the 6" series, (2) of the 8" series, and (1) 8" bag cut in half to check out the internal design. A quick glance and quick test shows the 6" bag is not too bad, it collapses to about 2.75" with just a set of C clamps ...and extends to about 9.25". These are just quick measurements.
The rubber is thicker than I thought it would be and is pretty stiff. The bags are supposed to be rated at 600psi but I don't have anything other than a welding bottle with that much pressure in it and I would rather not blow the bag up since it's usable. I would never push that much pressure to a bag anyways unless I'm building an event hopper.
As for the 8" bag it looks to collapse at 4" with a set of C clamps witch is kind of disappointing. Chassis Tech says they are supposed to collapse to 2.9" Well they don't under normal install procedure. Maybe if they were on the front of a dually they would compress the rubber enough for them to hit their internal bump stops but that much pressure should not be needed to set the bag up during an install. Some Slam Specialties bags say they take 300 psi of force to collapse So I will have to do additional testing in my press to see if the 8" bag does collapse to under 3". The extended height looked to be about 11" on initial testing.
I'm not a huge fan of the name of these bags, or the look of the end plates (they should have made them flat in my opinion, rather than the similar look of the Slam Specialties bags), but they do seem to be a decent entry level bag if the price is right. Chassis tech compares these bags to Slam Specialties XS series but with a lower price.
The 7" bags are not yet available and I would like to check them out as well when they do come out. If they collapse to under 3" and pass a couple more of my tests than I may start offering these bags for sale to my customers. But in my opinion there is no reason somebody should need a press to collapse a bag so they can mock it up on their suspension. I would not want to replace a bag on my truck with a taller bag that will hold the truck up 1" off the ground vs. ever other bag on the market. This was the issue with the first set of Slam'r bags, they only collapsed to about 3.5" under normal pressures.
I do have to say that they do get more lift than Firestone and Contitech and if I can get the pricing around the price of the Air Lift Dominators they might have something there. More review on these bags to come. Let me know your opinions!
Ok, well I got another chance today to tinker with these bags. It looks like the one 8" bag they sent me was one of their old bags that only collapsed to 3.5" The new bags I can stand on and collapse to under what looked like 3". I put them in my press and with out adding any crazy force the 6" and 8" bags both collapsed to around 2.5" pretty easily. With that said I want to get my hands on the 7" bags when they are available to check them as well. It looks like the design suggestions I had made definitely helped Chassis Tech get these bags to collapse correctly and stop smashing the internal rubber on the bags.
New information, Chassis Tech has covered the return shipping on the old 8" bag and will be sending out another one of the new bags to me at no cost. A buddy of mine is installing the 6" bags on the front of his Taco for some testing and will be bringing the truck out next week for me to check out.
With all of this said what do you guys think about me offering these bags? Personally, I would probably run them on my truck, and I may install a set when I finish designing my bolt on 4link kit :) the only thing I do not like about them is the end plate look and the name of them. Other than that, they seem to be a pretty decent bag. Chassis Tech's retail price is about $79 each, I think I will probably be trying to sell them for about $65 but I still have to work out some details. I will try to get some pics posted up later.
I have also still been hounding Joe and Chassis Tech about putting Ranger drop spindles on their design schedule for the regular 98+ 2wd and the edge/sport/explorer. So if you feel the need to help push them please feel free to email Joe and ask for them joe@chassistech.com We really need to get this into production before the new ranger is released and design efforts go elsewhere. This is probably the ranger communities last hope at having these spindles mass produced.
Just some background info on these bags before I paste the review I had on my FB page. The first set of these bags came out last year and they did not collapse to 3" or less like any other standard bag with normal force. The issue was with the internal design, the end plates were smashing the inside rubber of the bags and did not allow the bag to fully compress to the bumpstop. There was a huge thread on SSM about them where I gave a bunch of redesign suggestions to Joe and Chassis Tech, to my shock, they actually took the suggestions and redesigned the bags. (I wish I would have told them then to make the end plates flat rather than keeping them look so much like Slam Specialties) but oh well.
Well I received (2) of the 6" series, (2) of the 8" series, and (1) 8" bag cut in half to check out the internal design. A quick glance and quick test shows the 6" bag is not too bad, it collapses to about 2.75" with just a set of C clamps ...and extends to about 9.25". These are just quick measurements.
The rubber is thicker than I thought it would be and is pretty stiff. The bags are supposed to be rated at 600psi but I don't have anything other than a welding bottle with that much pressure in it and I would rather not blow the bag up since it's usable. I would never push that much pressure to a bag anyways unless I'm building an event hopper.
As for the 8" bag it looks to collapse at 4" with a set of C clamps witch is kind of disappointing. Chassis Tech says they are supposed to collapse to 2.9" Well they don't under normal install procedure. Maybe if they were on the front of a dually they would compress the rubber enough for them to hit their internal bump stops but that much pressure should not be needed to set the bag up during an install. Some Slam Specialties bags say they take 300 psi of force to collapse So I will have to do additional testing in my press to see if the 8" bag does collapse to under 3". The extended height looked to be about 11" on initial testing.
I'm not a huge fan of the name of these bags, or the look of the end plates (they should have made them flat in my opinion, rather than the similar look of the Slam Specialties bags), but they do seem to be a decent entry level bag if the price is right. Chassis tech compares these bags to Slam Specialties XS series but with a lower price.
The 7" bags are not yet available and I would like to check them out as well when they do come out. If they collapse to under 3" and pass a couple more of my tests than I may start offering these bags for sale to my customers. But in my opinion there is no reason somebody should need a press to collapse a bag so they can mock it up on their suspension. I would not want to replace a bag on my truck with a taller bag that will hold the truck up 1" off the ground vs. ever other bag on the market. This was the issue with the first set of Slam'r bags, they only collapsed to about 3.5" under normal pressures.
I do have to say that they do get more lift than Firestone and Contitech and if I can get the pricing around the price of the Air Lift Dominators they might have something there. More review on these bags to come. Let me know your opinions!
Ok, well I got another chance today to tinker with these bags. It looks like the one 8" bag they sent me was one of their old bags that only collapsed to 3.5" The new bags I can stand on and collapse to under what looked like 3". I put them in my press and with out adding any crazy force the 6" and 8" bags both collapsed to around 2.5" pretty easily. With that said I want to get my hands on the 7" bags when they are available to check them as well. It looks like the design suggestions I had made definitely helped Chassis Tech get these bags to collapse correctly and stop smashing the internal rubber on the bags.
New information, Chassis Tech has covered the return shipping on the old 8" bag and will be sending out another one of the new bags to me at no cost. A buddy of mine is installing the 6" bags on the front of his Taco for some testing and will be bringing the truck out next week for me to check out.
With all of this said what do you guys think about me offering these bags? Personally, I would probably run them on my truck, and I may install a set when I finish designing my bolt on 4link kit :) the only thing I do not like about them is the end plate look and the name of them. Other than that, they seem to be a pretty decent bag. Chassis Tech's retail price is about $79 each, I think I will probably be trying to sell them for about $65 but I still have to work out some details. I will try to get some pics posted up later.
I have also still been hounding Joe and Chassis Tech about putting Ranger drop spindles on their design schedule for the regular 98+ 2wd and the edge/sport/explorer. So if you feel the need to help push them please feel free to email Joe and ask for them joe@chassistech.com We really need to get this into production before the new ranger is released and design efforts go elsewhere. This is probably the ranger communities last hope at having these spindles mass produced.