Changing my Air Springs

On Saturday I will be changing all of the air springs and would appreciate some advise on whether I'm adopting the right method.................

First raise the suspension to max setting open door (leave open) and turn engine off, jack rear of car and support chassis on stands, depressure the reservoir lower axle to gain access to air springs, remove old springs and replace, start engine to inflate springs before lowering to the ground, repeat similar method to front springs.

Have I got this right or should I book a session on test-book in advance.
Cheers
John

hello mate , not the way i change air springs but it may work ok for you .
the easiest way i found was to raise the car on a trolley jack under the axle ( front or rear which ever you chose to do first ) then support it on a pair of proper axle stands , not the cheap nasty items they sell in halfrauds then lower the axle a bit to give some working clearance .
the suspension system can be depressurised by removing the air pipe from the top of one of the air bags , this will then deflate the system , its easier and safer than trying to drain the air tank if its charged with air .
provided the r clips come out easy its a dead simple job .
it may be an idea to get a new set of r clips and the push in air pipe fittings before you start , as you may find at least one of these items will be buggered when you remove the old units ( just a thought ) hope this helps .
rick.

Thanks Rick,
Already got new clips at hand, did your height sensors go out of range when you changed yours.

no mate they didnt , but i left the ignition off and i had the tailgate top and bottom open all the time i was doing the job ( not sure if that matters though some say yes and some say no ?????? ) also i didnt allow the axle to drop all the way down on its travel , just enough to work and get the air bags in and out .
rick.

rick071155 said:

no mate they didnt , but i left the ignition off and i had the tailgate top and bottom open all the time i was doing the job ( not sure if that matters though some say yes and some say no ?????? ) also i didnt allow the axle to drop all the way down on its travel , just enough to work and get the air bags in and out .
rick.

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Thanks Rick
With a bit of luck all will go ok on Saturday, I'll try and take some photo's to post, it may help others.
Cheers
John

i changed my shock recently and since then the front sometimes goes to high level with out the rear.
i would have though it ok to leave the front axle hanging from chassis as the shocks will limit its travel! i had to jump about on my suspension to lower it enough to engage the lower pin of the shock and fear i may have bent a linkage to suspension sensors, hence front ride hight rises! (sometimes)

As Rick says, the hardest bit is removing the old clips, I snapped off all 4 of mine, but the whole job was really easy & quick, I did all 4 in 1.5 hours. All I did was to jack it up really high, shove stands under the chassis, trolley-jack under the axle-side I was working on, removed the clip, popped the air-line, let the jack down & the bag pops out, probably the easiest job on the P38!

I did notice however, that the originals had an alloy lower cone, & the genuine Dunlop replacements were glass filled resin jobbies, which should prevent the dissimilar metals corroding in the future I suppose.

modelman said:

As Rick says, the hardest bit is removing the old clips, I snapped off all 4 of mine, but the whole job was really easy & quick, I did all 4 in 1.5 hours. All I did was to jack it up really high, shove stands under the chassis, trolley-jack under the axle-side I was working on, removed the clip, popped the air-line, let the jack down & the bag pops out, probably the easiest job on the P38!

I did notice however, that the originals had an alloy lower cone, & the genuine Dunlop replacements were glass filled resin jobbies, which should prevent the dissimilar metals corroding in the future I suppose.

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your spot on model man the later type are a better option mate.
rick.