2nd Gen Non-Engine/Transmission Air ride seats

[MBurke]

I am one

A hot shotter, is someone who takes a small truck and hauls (usually with a gooseneck trailer) specialty freight all over the US for a living. I am one.

 

[bnelson]

I cruised the boneyard, and found what appears will work. I'm not sure of the brand, but using the base of the air seat from a pair of retired heavy trucks it appears I'll be able to give myself air seats in my '97 BR 3500 standard cab.



The base apears to be able to sit flat on the floor, ahead of the raised portion of the floor near the rear of the cab. Some simple fabrication will give me mounting brackets that will bolt to the original seat mount holes in the truck floor. The stock seat from the BR 3500 including its fore and aft slider will mate to the air ride base, again with a simple adapter plate. The seat itself does not need to be centered on the air ride suspension. I'll take pictures when I do the install. I plan to limit the height with a "Stop strap" of super heavy stuff like unto a tow strap. This will keep collisions between my head and the roof of the truck to a minimum. Note that once the ride height is set for the driver or passenger, and the seat belt fastened, everything should work nicely. The up and down movement of the seat in use, for normal highway driving should be one to two inches. The beauty of the air ride seats is that ride stiffness and height are infinitely adjustable.



Air for the above seats: My plan is to attach to the truck frame behind the cab, right side a boneyard air tank. For a compressor I plan to use a $20 to $40 off the shelf 12 volt unit from one of the discount stores, hard wire it to the battery, protected by a circuit breaker, and with an air pressure guage and on/off switch mounted on the dash of the truck. With the addition of a quick coupler and air hose, I can be a hero in any parking lot.



The up-down valve on the air seats, once set, should maintain ride height and stiffness without the addition of more air. One could just add air to the seat and leave it alone until you get back to more compressed air, but that's not my idea of fun.



What are the chances that with the air seats installed and fine tuned, that the mother of my children will forgive me for the cab stack and muffler removal?

Brad

 

[Fast 1]

Something else to remember to do is to replace the brass bushings or whatever is in the pivot points of a used air box so it feels tight, not loose and floppy when your all done. The go pedal is kinda hard to controll if the seat is floppy. New brass bushings are cheap.



Verlyn