FE-FC Holden Discussion Forum

Gday all,

I do a lot of towing with my FC and due the weight i would like to know if anyone out there has fitted airbags to the rear suspension to assist with keeping the ride height level???


Any help appreciated

Thanks

Tim

Hi Tim
I used to have a set of air shocks that you could pump up if towing, they had a common line between both of them so that they got equal pressure, they worked pretty well but not sure if you can still get them.

Regards
Neil

Still available - check eBay @ $390

Cheers,
Trevor_B

When we were young blokes we wouldn't run a common line between air shocks even though a lot were sold to be set up common we would rig them on separate lines to stop transfer when chucking donuts at the local park .

Just a warning that you will be transferring load to an area of the floor pan not as strongly engineered as the spring mounts. Extra bracing between shock mounts and chassis rails would be beneficial, particularly considering this is an under engineered part of early Holden bodies. The mounts have been known to fail when stiffer shocks fitted but usually they are pulled down when the body tries to bounce.


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Thanks guys

I had heard before air shocks were not a good idea due to weak floor pan which is why I would like to fit airbags.

Thanks

Tim

Hi Tim;
Probably a good idea to speak to an Engineer regarding the airbags.

Neil

Got you now Tim. I’ve only seen them fitted inside coil springs. They worked very well.
Cheers
Clay


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Not knowing anything about cars and stress points etc

I got the tow bar place to fit a heavy duty tow bar on the back of the wagon
then fitted heavy duty Monroe shockies
then hitched up the (heavy) Baravan caravan and used load levelling (anti sway ??) bars

not had any problems (yet) sits level, tows OK
been there for a few (10+)years now

but I wouldn't trust my judgement Tim
at the time nobody seemed to know what the wagon could tow.
I assume from looking at some of the old photos that there were no regulations in 1958
usual response was " you'll know it's too heavy when the back comes off the wagon "   :o

 8) 8) 8)

General rule for pre-adr vehicles is 150% of towing vehicle I believe. FC wagon weighs around 1100kg so you can get away with pulling at least 1650kg.


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For NSW, if the vehicle or towbar have a maximum rating, you must limit towing load to that rating. I've never seen a load limit published anywhere for the early Holdens or early towbars... though have seen a lot of people make guesses.
If there is no rating (or the rating is very high), then you may tow 100% of the cars weight (e.g. 1100kg) unbraked (eg simple box trailer).
If the trailer has brakes (eg car trailer) then you can tow 150% of the cars weight (e.g. 1650kg).

My FB sedan regularly tows box and car trailers very close to these weights, both in stop/start Sydney traffic and at freeway speed.

Cheers,
Harv

Yeah absolutely right ,I tore both my shocky mounts from the boot floor coming back from Thargomindah in the 80's . They tore around the spot welds and left some huge holes in the boot . My older brother took one look and said "early Holdens are not set up for double action or heavy duty shocks , I have a large chunk of RHS under my EH to mount my shocks on .

Interesting question Tim because I will be going down the same track building my wagon which will be the tow vehicle for my FC group NB race car. My thoughts were :  adjustable air bags (with compressor) between top of springs and chassis, heavy duty tow bar (to be fabricated by a friend in the business) reset springs and a good set of shockies. Load levellers if required.

regards

Weddo