Complete rear truck suspension replacement with air bags for improved handling, braking and load carrying. Self levels adjusting to your load. I'm sure you've noticed semi trucks and trailers have air bag suspensions.

The semi-tractors have had air bag axles, air ride cabs and air seat for decades. Our pickup trucks are rated for larger trailers and payloads each model year. Why aren't we copying how semi trucks are made? Larger trailers and payloads also means more rear axle squat and more axle travel between empty and loaded. That difference between a loaded and empty truck, changes the pinion angle effecting the drive shaft alignment with the end of the transmission. When the angle from transmission to rear differential isn't at the proper angle, your truck will buck, shake and pitch. If too straight, you'll have vibration.

This is a growing problem in the last 10 years with truck manufactures trying to split the difference in pinion angle from loaded to empty by shimming the differential angle with blocks between the springs and axle. This is not a good fix for the problem, but a band aid. The right way to solve the pinion angle problem is a total air bag suspension that self levels to keep pinion angle the same all the time automatically. Whether you are hauling 1 horse or 4 horses, the truck will be level. www.LBCTrailers.com

We keep our trucks longer, Auto Flex air suspension can make it handle better than new. Fixing up your truck instead spending $60,000 on a new truck makes sense now more than ever. Gas engines can last 200,000 miles and diesels 300,000. We've been talked into trading trucks often. Save money keep your truck longer. 

Auto Flex can dramatically improve your trucks ride and handling. Keeping your truck level automatically, with better braking, and handling curves flatter.  Headlights won't be star searching and oncoming traffic won't be flashing you. Have you ever had your truck full of feed or a slide in camper and the truck squatted and wandered, making driving work? The suspension your truck came with is a compromise.

I tow trailers across the country, mostly on Interstates. While we seem to be always driving in road construction during the summer, even the normal asphalt is rough with potholes, washboards and patches. I've broke battery cases, headlights and blown tires on Interstates. You'd think you were on forgotten county roads instead of federally funded super highways. Auto Flex on my F250 is the cats meow. I might even take some shortcuts cross country on the next trip. We also added Auto Flex to my Safety Hitch giving me air ride on my auxiliary axle. This summer we'll add Trailer Flex to my gooseneck. Then I'll be floating on air on these off-road Interstates. Everything should last longer including me. I'll miss seeing my belly bounce. Why do you think semi-trucks went air ride on trucks, trailers, seats and cab? Truckers knew the Interstates were getting worse each year with less road tax being used to keep the roads maintained. If we can't elect officials that will invest in infrastructure, we better get air ride.

Install:

We installed two Auto Flex Systems and tested on different trucks, both diesels both 3/4 ton's that tow trailers as part of their job description, both had aftermarket air assist. One was a 2006 Ford F250 diesel, 129,000 miles new front brakes. Second was a 2006 GMC 2500 diesel, 104,000 miles new front brakes.

Tires and the leaf springs come out Factory leafs with 104k miles squatted with a load Our test trucks had aftermarket air assist These leafs with 129k miles have flat spots each side of center

Easy install as bow replaces the factory leaf springs, eye to eye replacement. No welding or drilling, just chain the axle each side to the frame, put a jack stand under the pinion and take the leaf springs off. You'll reuse the rear hanger on the new bow arm to fit where the spring was. Then you attach the lower swing arm to the axle and the front of the bow, add the air bags, compressor and tank. The tracking bar goes from the drivers side bow to the passenger side lower swing arm. All that's left is the leveling valve from cross member to the differential, air lines and juice. AutoFlex comes with a dump valve to lower the truck to ease hooking to a trailer.  Each air bag comes with a valve to lock air in or out. This allows you to level a slide in camper on uneven ground or hold air in the bags if you have a line leak.

Comes with all brass fittings, no 45 or 90 degree fittings in line from tank to air bags. This makes the air flow faster for the automatic leveling system.  Steel braided line from compressor to tank for faster flow and pressure using a high performance air compressor with a check valve. The compressor has 20 amp fuse, fills a 3 gallon air tank. I went with the optional 5 gallon air tank. With the performance compressor putting out 120 psi, I can run an impact wrench to change tires. The system comes with a female coupler for attaching air hoses for airing up truck and trailer tires.  www.LBCTrailers.com

Also comes with new hydraulic shock absorbers. The factory gas shocks come off, air bags only push up, need hydraulic shocks to dampen the suspension.

 

Swivel that allows it to flex with axle... ..Has a brass bushing.. ...for the superior harden shaft... ...with a grease zerk

Locking nuts on the bows, 3/4 in grade 8 bolts. The air lines are 3/8" just like the semi-trucks. That keeps them from freezing as well as the compressor tank and brass drain petcock. My old system aftermarket air bag helper springs would freeze the 1/4 air line each winter. Then they stopped working until they thawed out, and you couldn't do anything to speed that up. AutoFlex was developed in the cold part of Canada, if they don't freeze there, I should be in good shape in Colorado.

Rear hanger is reused from the leaf springs Air bags have bumpers inside if they loose air Kit comes with hydraulic shocks... ...to dampen the air bags

Auto Flex and Trailer Flex are manufactured by LBC Trailers. They've been making logging trailers with lift-able axles since 1998. Fourteen years building semi trailers with air suspension, I'd call that well tested.

Bow framework on top fits F250-550 and 2500-5500, just different air bags, lower trailing arm attaches to truck axle. Lower arm pivots at axle. Bushings in trailing arm are greasable. Rubber bushing in tracking bar for quiet and rubber bushing with steel sleeve for trailing arm keep the suspension tight. The lower arm oscillates for uneven roads.

Auto Flex single stage air bags self center, are a rolling bag to give on corners. Double bellows used in after market air assist products, just support weight, aren't a real suspension. Auto Flex is not an add on, but leaf spring replacement. No drilling, welding or cutting your truck means is doesn't' affect you warranty. On-board air compressor adjust the pressure inside the air bags to match a truck’s load.

If compressor or air line failure, each bag has a valve for filling or shutting off bags. Rubber stops inside air bags are incase of air loss you can still drive to get repaired. Automatic leveling valve You don't have to think about it. Just enjoy it.

 

Each bag has a shut-off Tracking bar options, deeper one for aftermarket differential cover Tracking bar centers the axle and stiffens side to side movement The tracking bar is adjustable to keep the axle centered

Tracking bar attaches to the driver side bow... ...goes across to the trailing arm on the passenger side Semi-trucks use a tracking bar too Semi's have used them for decades, why not heavy duty pickups

Results:

Both trucks nosed dived braking from 60-0 mph with stock leaf springs. With Auto Flex there was less body roll, most trucks don't have anti-sway bars anymore. Handling improved, ride improved with more wheel travel. In our brake test stopping from 60mph, factory leaf springs stopped 133.9 ft verses 120.7 ft with Auto Flex,  13.2 ft. shorter with the Ford F250. More controllable handling under braking.

During acceleration, the air bag pushes up on the truck body pushing down on the axle for more traction and better fuel mileage.

If your trucks loaded and squatting, your drive shaft angle to transmission and differential is in a bind and will cause vibration, bucking and wear. Wheel hop and pinion angle deflection are hard on U-joints. Imagine always being level in your truck, no sagging, being level with different trailers and heavy loads. you don't always haul the same load with your trailer, so sometimes, the trailer is level and sometimes it goes down hill. Brakes on your trailer work best when equal load is on both axles. The dump valve will lower your truck 5 inches to get under your gooseneck without as much cranking on the trailer jack.

 No drilling, including the air tank and compressor They tuck up out of the way along the frame Air tank along frame above the exhaust pipe height Air compressor behind the tank in a safe place

The steering problems are not just from the front, with a loose rear suspension, the truck can wander. Auto Flex takes the slack out of the rear suspension. The two test trucks we used had over 100,000 miles on them and dramatically improved handling and steering after Auto Flex was installed.

If you race your truck or just accelerate when passing or the on ramp to the freeway, you've experienced axle rap from flexing both sides of the axle on leaf springs. This air suspension eliminates axle rap. when the rear of the truck squats, this changes the frame angle which changes the drive shaft angle to the pinion.

Adjustable tracking bar makes for tighter suspension. Your rear end won't be doing the Elvis pelvis action. Auto Flex air bag is behind the axle for leveraging the trailing arm and is as wide side to side as leafs for stability and less teeter toter action than you get with after market air assist bags that are inside the leaf springs. Aftermarket air assist bags puts pressure on one spot on the axle and frame. With Auto Flex, the air bag pushes on the replacement bow not the frame.

We used an accelerometer to test movement. Auto Flex had a rounding impact smaller range verses a sharper spike with leaf springs. This could be a big improvement in the RV market especially Class C motor homes.

Powerful air compressor with steel braided hose Tank drain is brass as are all fittings You can use the air gauge as a way to judge the payload I had my outlet at the rear to run impact and air chuck

As reviewed on RFD TV, click to view

See it work, SEMA Video

   

Video below; with the extra wheel travel you can see when the truck accelerates shifting gears, the air bags push down on the axle for more traction. During braking you can see how level the trucks stays. Big improvement in handling and braking while automatically load sensing to self level your truck.

Sport camera left, stayed steady with the Auto Flex Suspension.

Dodge Ram 1500 with rear coils 2009 + have a big problem with squatting at their max capacity rated by the factory. Auto Flex replaces the coil with an air bag to dramatically level the Ram and improve handling.

 GMC Test Truck

 

Dump valve for easing gooseneck hookup  They come standard black The bows are different... ...between truck brands

Black frame blends in.... ... you have to look close... ...to see the suspension is special A lift is nice for installs
Tracking bar for factory differential cover Automatic leveling valve Smaller tank... ...tucked behind running board

And the truck will stay level loaded or empty

We're going to test Auto Flex on a new truck next, to see the difference.

www.LBCTrailers.com  1-807-623-0590

Auto Flex:  http://www.lbctrailers.com/autoflex-suspension.html

Trailer Flex:  http://www.lbctrailers.com/trailerflex.html