who here has hydraulics on the car besides me

[Loud3 10+ year member]

you gunna roll through the meet still?

What meet? You lost me on that one... //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/crap.gif.7f4dd41e3e9b23fbd170a1ee6f65cecc.gif

 

[saywhat? 5,000+ posts]

The clearwater new years meet. Saw you were in st. pete......unless thats not florida....

 

[Loud3 10+ year member]

The clearwater new years meet. Saw you were in st. pete......unless thats not florida....

I won't be in the area around clearwater, or I might bring out one of my new toys... I'm moving back up to GA for school starting on the 23rd.

Is there a thread for it? If there is going to be a lot of people, I might make the drive back down... Never hurts to meet people!

We just jacked the mess out of this thread!!! Hah.//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/laugh.gif.48439b2acf2cfca21620f01e7f77d1e4.gif

 

[Flipx99 5,000+ posts]

I still like hydraulics...

I went to the southern showdown (snoopdan was there as well) and there was a truck than bunny-hopped a good 30" with bags. I was so amazed I couldn't shoot it with my camera.

Hydraulics are still better except those trucks that have the two-setup where they are nearly vertical. That isn't hopping however.

 

[Pitchblack98 10+ year member]

lol I had hydraulics on my 91 mazda B2200. I just recently took them off to replace with air bags. I would love to have kept them on there, but I didnt have time for the maintence and the shop that installed them screwed up pretty bad.

The truck sat in storage for 5 years because of them. I just pulled it out about 2 months ago and started working on it again. Right now it has the factory suspension back on it. I had to replace all of the factory front suspension due to poor welds and cutting too much out of the control arms. One of my upper control arms cracked completely thru and broke off. That caused the truck to take a hard drive into the road at hwy speeds and it bent the front support beam about 2" up. I just had the front 10" or so of the frame cut off and replaced with a donor section.

As for the hydraulics getting down lower or up higher... it all depends on installation. My hydraulics maxed out my upper ball joints when raised all the way. My bags also max out my ball joints. So they are getting the same lift. The rear is a different thing all together. I had my cylinders mounted to the lower spring perch. That got me about 12" of lift with 12" cylinders. If I did bags the same way I would only get 10". My rear bags are being mounted into a cantilever, lever set up. The bags are mounted to a 1.5:1 lever that is mounted to a 2:1 cantilever on my 4 link bars. That give me a 3.0:1 lift ratio. The 10" of bag lift will give roughly a 30" lift. Now I know that is a little exaggerated and Im expecting roughly 20" to 25" at close to max bag pressure. Im also running Slam Specialties RS series bags RS6 in the front and RS8 in the rear.

So in my personal opinion neither is better than the other. As for reliablity, they are both the same. They require maintence. I think air is easier to maintain than hydraulics. Both leak and will leak. Hydraulics are messy when they leak. Air is a pain in the *** when they leak. You have to search for the leak, you know where hydraulics are leaking. lol

They both have pros and cons. Hydraulics have come a long way from the early 80s to 90s. They ride a lot better than they used to with accumulators, battery charging is easier now that you can charge more than one at a time or even use a street charger. So I see no point in bashing either one. Its personal preference.

 

[saywhat? 5,000+ posts]

I still like hydraulics...
I went to the southern showdown (snoopdan was there as well) and there was a truck than bunny-hopped a good 30" with bags. I was so amazed I couldn't shoot it with my camera.

Hydraulics are still better except those trucks that have the two-setup where they are nearly vertical. That isn't hopping however.

you mean telescoping rear cylinders?

 

[Loud3 10+ year member]

lol I had hydraulics on my 91 mazda B2200. I just recently took them off to replace with air bags. I would love to have kept them on there, but I didnt have time for the maintence and the shop that installed them screwed up pretty bad.
The truck sat in storage for 5 years because of them. I just pulled it out about 2 months ago and started working on it again. Right now it has the factory suspension back on it. I had to replace all of the factory front suspension due to poor welds and cutting too much out of the control arms. One of my upper control arms cracked completely thru and broke off. That caused the truck to take a hard drive into the road at hwy speeds and it bent the front support beam about 2" up. I just had the front 10" or so of the frame cut off and replaced with a donor section.

As for the hydraulics getting down lower or up higher... it all depends on installation. My hydraulics maxed out my upper ball joints when raised all the way. My bags also max out my ball joints. So they are getting the same lift. The rear is a different thing all together. I had my cylinders mounted to the lower spring perch. That got me about 12" of lift with 12" cylinders. If I did bags the same way I would only get 10". My rear bags are being mounted into a cantilever, lever set up. The bags are mounted to a 1.5:1 lever that is mounted to a 2:1 cantilever on my 4 link bars. That give me a 3.0:1 lift ratio. The 10" of bag lift will give roughly a 30" lift. Now I know that is a little exaggerated and Im expecting roughly 20" to 25" at close to max bag pressure. Im also running Slam Specialties RS series bags RS6 in the front and RS8 in the rear.

So in my personal opinion neither is better than the other. As for reliablity, they are both the same. They require maintence. I think air is easier to maintain than hydraulics. Both leak and will leak. Hydraulics are messy when they leak. Air is a pain in the *** when they leak. You have to search for the leak, you know where hydraulics are leaking. lol

They both have pros and cons. Hydraulics have come a long way from the early 80s to 90s. They ride a lot better than they used to with accumulators, battery charging is easier now that you can charge more than one at a time or even use a street charger. So I see no point in bashing either one. Its personal preference.

Sounds to me like most of your problems were due to poor installation, not the hydraulics themselves.

I beg to differ. Neither air, nor hydraulics, will leak if done properly from the get-go. I am a big fan of hardline insted of DOT approved airline, or hydralic lines.

Just goes without saying... 'Do it right the first time, only do it once...'

Sure, hardline isn't cheap, and most people cannot do it themselves... but it pays in the end. Also, using the correct fittings will also help immensely. Steer clear of the plastic, push to tighten fittings. Use the type you have to crank down, and make sure they are all metal.

But I agree. Both have pros. Both have cons. Personal preference.

 

[saywhat? 5,000+ posts]

lol I had hydraulics on my 91 mazda B2200. I just recently took them off to replace with air bags. I would love to have kept them on there, but I didnt have time for the maintence and the shop that installed them screwed up pretty bad.
The truck sat in storage for 5 years because of them. I just pulled it out about 2 months ago and started working on it again. Right now it has the factory suspension back on it. I had to replace all of the factory front suspension due to poor welds and cutting too much out of the control arms. One of my upper control arms cracked completely thru and broke off. That caused the truck to take a hard drive into the road at hwy speeds and it bent the front support beam about 2" up. I just had the front 10" or so of the frame cut off and replaced with a donor section.

As for the hydraulics getting down lower or up higher... it all depends on installation. My hydraulics maxed out my upper ball joints when raised all the way. My bags also max out my ball joints. So they are getting the same lift. The rear is a different thing all together. I had my cylinders mounted to the lower spring perch. That got me about 12" of lift with 12" cylinders. If I did bags the same way I would only get 10". My rear bags are being mounted into a cantilever, lever set up. The bags are mounted to a 1.5:1 lever that is mounted to a 2:1 cantilever on my 4 link bars. That give me a 3.0:1 lift ratio. The 10" of bag lift will give roughly a 30" lift. Now I know that is a little exaggerated and Im expecting roughly 20" to 25" at close to max bag pressure. Im also running Slam Specialties RS series bags RS6 in the front and RS8 in the rear.

So in my personal opinion neither is better than the other. As for reliablity, they are both the same. They require maintence. I think air is easier to maintain than hydraulics. Both leak and will leak. Hydraulics are messy when they leak. Air is a pain in the *** when they leak. You have to search for the leak, you know where hydraulics are leaking. lol

They both have pros and cons. Hydraulics have come a long way from the early 80s to 90s. They ride a lot better than they used to with accumulators, battery charging is easier now that you can charge more than one at a time or even use a street charger. So I see no point in bashing either one. Its personal preference.

you very well may, but I just cant see a solid bag setup getting ~30 inches. 20 may be feasible, but 30 is pushing a lot of different things to their limits from what ive seen. Hydros have the one up on bags for lift imo, for the sheer fact they don't "bend" like bags do if done on the bars. They always get full use, bags will always push to one side unless its an axle setup, or some crazy cantilever, and i haven't seen MANY lever setups keep a straight bag.

When I say solid, I mean daily.

 

[saywhat? 5,000+ posts]

I like both, not saying one is better than the other, because well....I know far too many people with bagged rides to go against them. They ALL ride like a dream, they sound amazing when airing out, and they are just attention grabbers from the time you get on the road, until the time you get off.

Same can be said for hydro's though. Just recently got another taste of 3 wheelin (i was itching to get in something adjustable again) and it was awsome...as always.

 

[bri487 5,000+ posts]

I still like hydraulics...
I went to the southern showdown (snoopdan was there as well) and there was a truck than bunny-hopped a good 30" with bags. I was so amazed I couldn't shoot it with my camera.

Hydraulics are still better except those trucks that have the two-setup where they are nearly vertical. That isn't hopping however.

i would like to build an old impala or something from the ground up, or an old caddy. but time, money, and space is an issue. those three combined usually kill an idea.

 

[Flipx99 5,000+ posts]

My friend is building a cadillac...I figure I can just ride with him and that would be good enough for me.

 

[tommyk90 5,000+ posts]

For some reason I can't remember when or where I saw it, but I DISTINCTLY remember a car on t.v. using a nitrogen bagged setup and getting some SERIOUS hopping out of it.

I wish I could find it on the internet.

 

[saywhat? 5,000+ posts]

prolly the firestone truck. black truck, does a solid 5 foot bunny hop. nothing like juice though really....

 

[Pitchblack98 10+ year member]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L97o0VEeyPU

 

[tommyk90 5,000+ posts]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L97o0VEeyPU

Thank you. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif