[I have no doubt I will edit this as time goes on
]
I'm going to start by assuming that you know your way around a welder and spanner ! If you dont you need to find a supplier or mate who does.
REMEMBER, you are about to radically alter systems that your vehicle OEM has spent £100's of millions to develop to a level that will keep you alive!!You will/may find bag kits that are specific to your vehicle but, chances are something will still need altering or fetling to get the best from it. You wont find a hydro kit that is specific [even if someone says it is]. At the very least wiring/piping will need to be tailored to suit.
Your starting point is always the same, air or hydro............. unless you are
SURE you know otherwise always assume that the designer of your vehicle knew better than you how low/high it can go.
So, remove the shocks and springs [straight away you now know why a coil sprung/seperate shock vehicle is easiest!] so that the vehicle can
1. sit on its bump stops
2. be lifted so that all four wheel dangle [if its a solid rear you need to check at full [side2side positions as well]
You need to check that nothing clashes/is strained/will get ripped off.
- Brake pipes
- Steering joints
- Exhaust
- Drive shafts [especially MB indi rears........ DO NOT remove the factory lift stops or you WILL replace the joints regularly]
- Suspension links/arms
- Tyres on full lock either way at full drop and lift and rears on full side2side.
Once you know you have ascertained the travel you can decide if you want/can/need to change anything to acheive the drop/3 wheel angle/lift that you want . Then you are in a position to work out how you will mount bags or cylinders and what length they need to be. While doing this you need [at every step] to recheck that your bags/cylinders wont touch or be touched by anything. Bags MUST have an all round clearance of 20mm at all poitions of suspension travel and at full inflation size. [This is probably the best reason for paying for SLAM bags......... they hardly grow in diameter at all under high inflation/heavy loading so you can get away with a smaller clearance]. You also need to allow for hose/pipe clearance and bending at all suspension travels and positions.
Bags need to be mounted [as near as possible] so that the top and bottom plates are parallel at normal ride height.
Cylinders with coils should be mounted in coil over style [where ever possible]. Check for fouling inside the boot as well. On most Euro vehicles cylinders and Accumulators are the way to go, however they will restrict the ultimate extremes of "lowrider movement"....... you will end up with a ride far more suited to UK roads and laws and you can get excellent dancing performance but if hopping is your goal you will be restricted. In my opinion if hopping [real hopping not just chipping] is where you want to be you really need a yank ride anyway.
So far you have decided on what hardware you need to go under the vehicle. Now you need to work out what you are going to power the hardware with.
The speed of a hydro system depends on the flow of oil from your pumps. In theory it depends on pressure as well but the pumps you will be using will have more than enough anyway at 24 volts and you are unlikely to use lees than that. Dont use hose size less that 3/8 [so the designation you need is
R2AT 3/8, that's rubber coated/twin steel reinforment/with a 3/8" bore]. You can get away with 1/4 on a small light low volt vehicle if pennies are really tight.
The speed of an air system depends on air volume and pressure AND on pipe size......... unlike hydros which have an abundance of pressure to push oil up the hose air is low pressure so a small pipe internal diameter will slow down the movment of air. Use 3/8 pipe [nb... air pipe is measured on its external diameter unlike hydro hose] as a minimum and at least a 5 galon tank with one 100% duty cycle 125psi compressor.
With air or hydros all fittings/valves must be sized to suit the hose/pipes used or they will just cause restrictions.
................ to be continued
[This information is based on my 25 years of practical hydraulic experience in Agriculture/Horticulture as well as 5 years running the original Max Hydraulics. We will be blessed with additional input from the Caterpillar technical dept
]
