Air Suspension - What's it all about?

I believe it gives a better ride and can be used to level the van both front to back or side to side.  I am looking into it  as you can then also uprate the rear axle weight limit a bit.

dont have time now to give too much detail....off in the van shortly....but DD has VB fullair on his Carthago....perhaps stewartwebr has air on his N+B Flair and can give you more...

some systems are less expensive and are just air bellows assisting the handling of bumps (dunlop airrides etc) some are the full monty and totslly replace the whole physical originally fittes supension (front and rear) and can level the van on a site...

obviously, the more sophisticated, the more expensive...

VB between £4k (one axle) and £7k all round, from memory.

There is air suspension underneath the Land Rover Discovery and is used to give lowered height for access and increased ride height for off road activities, with a further extension to get out of trouble if it gets stuck on something. With a simple add-on the corners can be adjusted individually (but why would one want to on a LR?) so it will work something similar on a motor caravan.

It is the entire suspension system, and is interchangable with the coil suspension used on the five seat and commercial versions, so if the motor caravan chassis is available with both types then it will probably also be able to be changed - but at what cost!

The Sadly missed John Wikersham had full blown air suspension on his  Fiat? based m/van,on one occassion I met him on a site he showed me it working (when we were on the dark side) if you google him?  there was an article of his system

I tried searching the forum but there do not seem to be any posts on this topic for motorhomes, also the Internet was not much help.

Can anybody give me a brief introduction to the topic - does it level the van when pitched, does it improve the hard ride (bumps mainly), can it easily be retrofitted (AS Broadway in my case), approximate cost, etc. Any downside?

Write your comments here...depends what you want, and how much you are willing to pay ? A full air suspension replacement will do all the levelling you require, onsite and on the road....but will cost a bomb...at least 4 thousand pounds. But a simple air assistance system (as fitted to Autsleeper van conversions as standard) is only about 4 hundred to 5 hundred fitted.This replaces the standard bump stops (The things that cause the banging and crashing as you go over bumps in the road) with rubber air filled spheres, which you inflate for either ride height or comfort, they improve cornering and handling as well. I too am thinking of getting a set. Spheres are made by Dunlop,Firestone and Rubena  kit prices as low as 279 pounds on e bay. Plus fitting costs of course.but only takes approx 1 hour to do.

Just checked and Autosleeper use Alko Air top systems, as standard, evidently their prices for retro-fitting a system at their service center are very reasonable.

, AND ,,more stability in high winds or 'bow wave/after wave from trucks & coaches.

I have the VB Full air suspension in my current van. I had no experience of air suspension prior to buying this van. Niesmann & Bischoff fit rear air suspension as standard in all Flairs, my van was a cancelled order and the order specified full system at extra cost.

The ride is greatly improved smoothing out all but the largest of potholes, you just glide over them with nothing in the van crashing and rattling like previous vans we have owned. You can select the terrain which you are driving over and can raise or lower the rear as you please; this cancels and returns to the system determined level based on load on reaching 15mph. This is very convenient for when you use ferries if your van has a large overhang, which all Flairs have, you can raise the rear to provide more clearance.

You can use the system to level the van. In my opinion this is very limited. You can only raise or lower the front or back and not individually. When we purchased the van we were told it could be used for leveling. However, on one of the first trips out we found one of the downside. The system had leveled the van, done by the touch of a button. During the night high winds got up and was hitting us side on. It was like being on a ferry, the roll of the van was extremely bad, in effect you’re sitting on 4 air bags so what would you expect?

After that we had E&P leveling system fitted which is a true leveling system and is tied into the VB system. On switching on the E&P system it automatically lowers the air suspension to provide the best chance of leveling. When you prepare to lower the E&P system it first adds air into the VB system to prevent one of the deflated bags getting nipped when the system is lowered.

For ride quality and prevention of roll whilst driving it is excellent, for leveling of the van when on site I would say it is very limited. The E&P System and others of similar design is the only real way of leveling and providing a solid van when on site.

Have a look at the VB Air Suspension site. It contains almost all you need to know although you may need to ask questions to aid your understanding. I found the Goldschmitt site useful as well.

I have Goldschmitt semi air suspension on the rear axle. It provides a better ride and enables me to raise the rear suspension to stop grounding or to level the vehicle. It does either or both rear wheels but only by a few inches.

Full air suspenion provides a lovely ride but the VB system or Goldschmitt full air system costs around £8,000 for two axles.

I've looked at air suspension a couple of times, if I was buying a new unit and I could afford it I'd definately have it fitted, better ride, stability and the chance of leveling without ramps etc. But as has been pointed out £8K is a lot of money.