Low rider
 

Drag can be reduced by lowering a vehicle.

My Blue Beast sits way up high on its axles, even with stock tires. This is really good for hunting and fishing trips in mud and snow. Off road mobility is the main reason I own such a tall vehicle.

But my highway mileage sucks, in part due to the height. I'm looking for suggestions to reversibly (and cheaply) lower my truck while driving to and from my camp, but then revert to normal height it when I go off road.

Has anyone done this in a full size 4x4?

If it was a half-ton 4x4, you could adjust the torsion bars to lower the front. All you do is jack the truck up, turn a set screw, and lower it. However, your truck has leaf or coil springs, right?

How often do you expect to switch heights? I don't think there's a cheap way to do it easily (except on the half ton 4x4 as described above).

Perhaps a removable air dam could get you some of the benefit?

here is a guy that did just that.

https://www.gassavers.org/garage/view/1285

he did it up real nice. I liked the way it turned out.

I don't know what to suggest for adjustable ride height, but how about an aero bed cover? -

https://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...d-cap-583.html

Bill

Interesting that his air dam has a gap in the center. Guess he figures air must be going more sideways than up. Or it was just hard to do.

I think at first he was going to have an adjustable flap there for some reason. I can't remember the reasoning but I remember him talking about it.

The truck has leaf spring front and rear.

My first thought was to remove the shocks and replace them with double-acting air cylinders to pull the truck down. Air cylinders are cheap. But then I'd have no shocks. And I'd need a compressor.

I also thought about a set of springs to do the same thing. I'd disconnect the springs when I got off road. But where would I get tension springs?

There are air bags specifically for raising/lowering trucks...

wouldn't the air cylinders act as shocks as long as you have no output for the air. wouldn't it be like a shock absorber?

I'm not big on shocks so I'm not sure about it but it makes sense....maybe

Stick the right controls on there and you could have an active suspension! :)

Remove some of the leafs and install air shocks?

regards
gary

That's what some of the Audis use and they can adjust height, right?

My 1987 Cadillac had air shocks and an automatic leveling system. Well, by the time I had it, all that was left was empty air shocks. I installed schraeder valves, mounted in the wheelwells so I could open the trunk and pump them up. I emptied a can of fix-a-flat into them then went to the gas station to use their compressor. There, I pumped in enough air for a little bit of rake. I drove out, went over the bump to enter the road, the shocks went "pop"...and I left behind a puddle of fix-a-flat.

Anyway, there's an endless array of products for adjusting the height of full size pickups, including loads of air bags and such, but they're all very expensive.

I just didn't finish it.:D I had planned on that being a door for cooling the radiator, while the grill was completely blocked. I ended up taping a piece of coroplast there, which blew off half way through the winter. :( Right now I have the air dam removed to adjust my front wheel alignment. I'll be fixing it up more before I put it back on.

Thanks for the info! Had me scratching my head looking for a deeper reason!

I don't know if lowering will help enough for you to detect it. I lowered my car about 2" and if you didn't know the date I did it, you'd never be able to detect it in the gaslogs.

I'd be more inclined to think a tonneau/cap and/or airdam would be more fruitful, not to mention easier and cheaper.

Well, it could be more useful in a full size pickup with those big axles catching wind than in a car where all you're doing is bringing the flat bottom closer to the ground.

https://dieseldock.com/images_articles/55_binder12.jpg

Yah, could be.

A deflector forcing the air smoothly under the axle could have a lot of the same result.

ok a few things: A its extremely hard to lower a 4X4 because of the front axel.

you can only lower it so much before it becomes useless.

since you have leafs all around you MAY be able to get buy by flipping the axel on top the springs(flip kit) BUT once again whole host of front end problems.

the highway milleage sucks because its a truck lol that and a 5822 lb box on stilts isnt ideal for aero...

what people do on 4x4 s-10's and regular s-10's is have an air dam of some sort, deflect it around the front. the 2wd when its lowered it seems to boost mpg a little (thats extreme lower tho, like 5/6 (5 inch drop in the front 6 in the rear) and when said truck is that low you have about a half a soda can ride height. thy sometimes get hung up on speedbumps. the 4x4 u can only lower 2 inches as the driveshafts start issues.

dunno how much thats gonna help on a fullsize truck...(my guess is nothing)


now airbags are yes for raiseing and lowering the truck. BUT unreliable and costly, meanign not a good idea for a daily driven vehicle.

there seems to be come confusion between air shocks and air ride. air ride the airbags replace the springs (the ONLY things holding up a car) hence less air lower it goes till it hits the ground.

air shocks are merely adjustable shocks and really dont raise or lower the vehicle much (inch or less) much like normal shocks, thier there to dampen the oscilation of the springs. (bad shocks car keeps bouncing) thier meant so you can carry heavier loads and safely carry them and adjust as necessary.

personally i think your up a creek. a bed cover may help some. if not then it makes a VERY nice storage area. im so glad i made my own.