Motors, Control Arms and Ground Clearance
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Internet and cell service went down for a while last night. When it came back up I had the invoice in my inbox. Got the long travel air bag kit coming!
I love Australian companies. Their customer service is way more in depth and they pay attention to details. They contacted Dobinsons to confirm my current mid travel GS59-705 shocks will work with the longer bags before sending me the invoice to place my order.
If current tariffs are still in place by the time they arrive I’ll probably have to shell out another $200, but it will still probably be a wash compared to a rear coil conversion.
Noob question: can you control them individually to help level left/right, like for car camping?
I can’t, but the vehicle can. I can only select three levels of ride height.
Each bag is controlled independently by the factory air system. If I park on an off camber hill it levels the vehicle front and back, and side to side. So it works great for car camping like you are talking about.
It saved 10-15 minutes of stacking rocks and traction boards under the tires each time we set up the roof top tent.
I could just use sharader valves, run some longer lines to my filler door, and air them up individually. But I would lose the auto-leveling feature.
Legit. I didn’t realize your system auto-leveled L/R. For all my air suspension slander one of my main purposes is car camping, so I might have to start reconsidering my prejudices (I used to work in a shop that did ~10 Audi air suspensions a month during harvest season in CA). Clearly it’s plenty robust.
Nothing like a bunch of smelly growers throwing down thousands to replace their supension just to come back the next year for the same thing.
Haha. Youve got a point there. I mean it isnt for everyone but I love it. Up until now its been trouble free.
Yeah even though they only have airbags in the rear they do level front and back, side to side.
Each side of the rear axle has its own leveling arms that can independently adjust pressure at each bag.
I wish I took a photo, but yesterday I swapped the bags out and saw how the old one failed.
Its my fault.
I added longer travel shocks when I lifted the rear bags up with the sensor trick. The bags arent actually bolted onto the axle. They have a little nubbin that fits into a hole on each side of the axle in a little cup. They are attatched to the frame with just a small clip. The weight of the vehicle is what keeps them in place.
But by adding long travel shocks with the factory bags it allowed one of the bags to come unseated from the axle, so when the vehicle leveled out it came down at an angle and sliced the bag.
The longer travel bags will prevent that from happening again.
One thing I would like to know is if Scout will be offering air at all 4 corners, or if its rear only like mine.
Being able to use all 4 will give it even more range and flexibility when it comes to leveling for car camping. You could in theory park on a more aggressive slope or on larger rocks and have a perfectly level vehicle.
It would also have a lot of value for me if all 4 can dump their air for a "Kneel Mode" like Rivian and other automakers offer.
@Jamie@ScoutMotors or @CP1@scoutmotors can either of yall give us a tentative answer on this?
It is also worth mentioning, a lot of companies offer "Helper bags" that go inside of rear coil springs. They can be aired up to level your ride when towing or heavily loaded, but can also offer a little manual upward and side to side adjustment, but you cant lower them so their range of motion is more limited. Its still an option though.
Being able to use all 4 will give it even more range and flexibility when it comes to leveling for car camping. You could in theory park on a more aggressive slope or on larger rocks and have a perfectly level vehicle.
It would also have a lot of value for me if all 4 can dump their air for a "Kneel Mode" like Rivian and other automakers offer.
@Jamie@ScoutMotors or @CP1@scoutmotors can either of yall give us a tentative answer on this?
It is also worth mentioning, a lot of companies offer "Helper bags" that go inside of rear coil springs. They can be aired up to level your ride when towing or heavily loaded, but can also offer a little manual upward and side to side adjustment, but you cant lower them so their range of motion is more limited. Its still an option though.
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I believe the plan is all four corners but I need to check.
Maybe the 10/24 reveal will be the finalized chassis/powertrain/suspension designs so we can all start arguing about articulation and offroad capability!
So I’m not familiar with air suspension at all but how does the computer sense it-a couple of float tube sensors mounted longitudinally and laterally? Some variation of a float in your gas tank but not actually in a pool of liquid? Just intrigued how it knows? On that old tilt-o-meter that was posted the other day you have a visual as a driver but what is the electronic system set up that allow computer to read “level”. A gyroscope of sorts? Thanks
That or a new set of rubber with no model number just for the Scouts so we can debate tire performance for a month
Your phone has a 6-axis solid-state accelerometer/gyroscope. Most vehicles built today have at least one and it’s used in all sorts of applications, most importantly in stability control. My Lightning has a user-information panel that shows the data. It can easily be tapped into for a huge number of purposes, including leveling the vehicle with airbags.
Hobbyists can purchase a similar item for about $12. If you really wanted to, you could install one of these and a Raspberry Pi with a microcontroller to do self-leveling on any vehicle with airbags, even if they don’t have the system built in. Probably cost less than $200 for everything except the air system itself.
Cool. Figured that had to be it but with such a large vehicle I just wanted to educate myself. Thank you sir!
Like I’ve said before, Jamie and crew are rolling on the floor pointing at us and making fun of the hamsters….That or a new set of rubber with no model number just for the Scouts so we can debate tire performance for a month
Almost all the passenger size air systems I have seen utilize a sensor with an arm that attaches to the front upper control arm, and a rear leveling sensor that is attached the rear axle with a small arm.
The sensors let the computer know what level they are at.
When I was looking at the Lexus parts catalogue earlier for my car they also had separate pitch and yaw sensors. I assume there was a roll sensor as well but I wasn’t looking for one at the time either.
The ones semi trucks use are totally analogue, and just use an arm with an internal mechanical valve that adds and releases air depending on the level of the leveling arm to level the rear bags. (The cabs have one for its smaller air springs too)
That type is very crude, but they are universal, cheap as chips, and very effective with long service lives.
Like I’ve said before, Jamie and crew are rolling on the floor pointing at us and making fun of the hamsters….
Now, now. We shouldn’t imply that Jamie is stoned at work 3 to 4 days a week
I need to look at pictures closer before I click things.Now, now. We shouldn’t imply that Jamie is stoned at work 3 to 4 days a week
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