Would like to hear owner comments, especially from someone who has tried both at one time or another, about the best ride aspects of Sulastics vs Air bags. Listened to several people who tow who believe Air bags will do the same job as Sulastics for obtaining a smooth ride, and give you the plus of heavier loads. My truck is heavy, with canopy, 500 lb front bumper, 350 lb rear bumper, on board air system, 100 gal fuel tank in bed, and 400 lbs of tools, etc on top of that, and it often hauls a lot of weight in the bed or tows a 18,000 lb enclosed straight pull trailer. Never have the need for any greater weight capacity, but would like to smooth out the ride if possible. Several horse trailer (4 & 6 horse) guys say their air bags with cab controls smooth out the ride no matter what the conditions and are the way to go. Reading about sulastics on this site has also been very encouraging. Any comments or comparisons would be appreciated. thanks

wish i was one of them to try it, but not yet. don't have either. my plan was to remove maybe (4) leafs, install Scholastics and airbags with cab control. removing the the leafs will make the rear a little spongy, so thats where the bags come in. then the scholastics will decrease the vibration no matter the set up.

Just my opinion, but NorCalNick will give a us a better understanding of this subject.

I removed (6) of the 10 leafs on my lowered 81 dually and man did it ride nice. added bags for my 28ft weekend warrior 5er.

You are asking about product that achieves 2 different things at different points of use.

Sulastics - Great ride un-loaded and loaded, helps cut down the small harsh jolts while driving down the highway with these heavy duty trucks.

Helper bags- Helper bags are just that, helpers....when adding weight/load to the bed or hitch the bags offset the weight/load to maintain ride height and ride. If the helper bags are not ran with the ideal PSI the ride can be harsh or make the truck feel all over the road. The best setting when running helper bags is not a set PSI rather finding the PSI at what point you are "Sunk" into your spring rate about 1/2"-3/4" from unloaded ride height in the rear. This is my general rule of thumb.

Over all the best combo I have come up with to date and what I run on my personal truck is a combo of Sulastic shackle for unloaded ride with a set of Bilstein's that are proper to your personal truck spec or height, and I run helper bags to be filled with air at time I add weight or load to my truck. This combo is great due to the point each product does it's job at what point it was designed to.

100% agree with Nick. He couldn't have said it better. I use both and for the same reasons!

Damnit Nick,
I need to start saving for the kids' college tuition, yet you dangle these needed trinkets and shiny objects before me. Guess I'll add Sulastic to the list. As far as the kids, Ted said it best, I suppose: "...the world needs ditch diggers too..."

:lol:, this was kinda what i was telling you on the PM's but I think the way I put it above ended up sounding better rather than the PM. You already have the great start with what you did just need to take the next steps when it's possible.

Would like to hear owner comments, especially from someone who has tried both at one time or another, about the best ride aspects of Sulastics vs Air bags. Listened to several people who tow who believe Air bags will do the same job as Sulastics for obtaining a smooth ride, and give you the plus of heavier loads. My truck is heavy, with canopy, 500 lb front bumper, 350 lb rear bumper, on board air system, 100 gal fuel tank in bed, and 400 lbs of tools, etc on top of that, and it often hauls a lot of weight in the bed or tows a 18,000 lb enclosed straight pull trailer. Never have the need for any greater weight capacity, but would like to smooth out the ride if possible. Several horse trailer (4 & 6 horse) guys say their air bags with cab controls smooth out the ride no matter what the conditions and are the way to go. Reading about sulastics on this site has also been very encouraging. Any comments or comparisons would be appreciated. thanks

In my humble opinion, I'd make a point of replacing your rear cab mounts with the new GM hydro mounts. Cheap and easy install and makes a huge difference on concrete freeways and their uneven expansion joints.

Very pleased with the Bilstein 5100s I got from Nick too but find they "control" the ride more than "improve" the ride. By this I mean they don't really help with "jiggling" like the new cab mounts but do a great job of settling the truck down through dips and crests. However, I knew this coming in and when I change trucks/shocks I'll be getting another set from the Norcal crew.

Thank you for the info. Exactly what I thought. I will be adding sulastics. t

Do we have the part numbers for the hydro mounts? what do they cost? How many mounts?

Thanks for the tip

Please do tell me more about the mounts. I am going to add sulastics too to get a more comfortable empty ride in my truck. It has started getting bad where is hurts to drive it. The shocks are shot I think and definitely need replacing, but they are Bilsteins and didn't last very long, kinda makes me wonder

Can anyone explain sulastics or send a link? Thanks.

Can anyone explain sulastics or send a link? Thanks.

They take the harsh short jults or rough ride out of the rear of a 3/4-1ton truck. Read more here, great product.

Sulastic Rubber Springs? (http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/showthread.php?t=172838&highlight=sulastic+rubber+spring)

And here:

SA-04HD (http://www.norcaltruck.com/shop/product_info.php?cPath=2_368&products_id=992)

My bi*ch is the clunking from the rear end on bumps when empty. Either the overloads or helpers (or both) are slapping. I've checked everything else. My son drove another LMM Dually that did the same thing. Sounds like a POS! :cool: