If you’re a serious towing enthusiast, you probably already know the reasons why you should add a truck air ride suspension system to your heavy duty truck a quality truck air suspension system helps by cushioning a bumpy ride, leveling your vehicle, reducing wheel hopping, limiting trailer bucking and adding stability during braking. And, an air ride suspension system helps you protect your investment in your heavy-duty truck by preventing the harsh wear and tear caused by heavy towing.

But, before you make a decision to buy a product that can have such a significant impact on your truck, your trailer and your load, there are several factors to take into consideration, including load capacity, manufacturing quality, ease of installation, adjustments to your vehicle, warranty, and much more.
Here are a few tips for serious shoppers who are looking for optimum performance and value in a truck air suspension system.

All Truck Air Suspensions are NOT Created Equal

As you start shopping around, keep in mind that there are two main types of air suspension systems on the market:

• Adjustable “helper” springs. This type of system is generally comprised of an add-on helper spring that aids in leveling the truck and reducing vehicle bounce, dip, or bottoming out when hauling a heavy load or towing. The air springs can be adjusted, often with a service station air hose, to the truck’s load condition for more control and leveling support.

Disadvantages: The helper springs are bolted directly onto your truck’s factory leaf springs. Unfortunately, factory leaf springs deflect and twist under acceleration and braking. This axle “wind-up” not only makes the truck drop when you accelerate, but it also makes the truck dive forward when you apply the brakes, throwing nearly all the weight of the truck and trailer onto the front suspension and brakes. Helper springs also tend to distort the natural spring frequency of the leaf springs, actually making the ride worse in certain situations. This type of air suspension system is best suited for leveling the ride and light or occasional towing.

Advantages: initial cost is less expensive. (Note that additional equipment may be necessary over time, offsetting the cost).

• Complete towing suspension system. This type of system is designed to both level the truck and improve the overall ride. Installing these kits involves removing the steel leaf spring on the truck and replacing it with an entirely new air spring. Some manufacturers also replace front and rear shocks for optimum performance.

Disadvantages: More expensive. (Note: if you purchase a quality kit that comes complete with all the bells and whistles for long-term performance, it may offset the initial expense)

Advantages: Truck’s steel leaf spring is removed and replaced with a new spring, which allows for greater handling and control, stability, and safety, even when hauling the heaviest loads. Sometimes the manufacturer will install front and rear shocks to match the frequency of suspension.

Compare Important Features and Options

As with any product, each truck air suspension system claims to have the “latest and greatest” features and benefits. It’s easy to get caught up in all the hype, but when you come right down to it, there are a few things that are more important than others. Here’s a list of major features and options to consider when comparison shopping.

• Quality of materials. Does the manufacturer use high quality premium parts that will hold up over years of heavy hauling? Avoid plastic fittings and lower grade materials that may wear out or need to be replaced. Quality materials translate to greater reliability and a longer life for your air ride suspensions system, even under the harshest towing conditions.

• Ease of use. Is the system easy to use? Can you easily adjust your suspension level? Are there in-cabin controls to help you determine air pressure and load information? An air suspension system that’s difficult to level and adjust will cause you added stress and unpredictability.

• Articulation. Articulation, which is the up and down tilt of the axle, is a critical feature to consider. If you should have an accident and your trailer winds up in a hole, you want the axle to have maximum up and down movement. Most systems have heavy linkage between the front spring and the axle, which prevents adequate articulation.

• Towing capacity. Look for the towing capacity of the air suspension system and be sure it can adequately handle the load you plan to tow. When it comes to towing capacity, the bigger the air spring, the more weight it can handle. Keep in mind that your truck and trailer load should never exceed the gross combined weight rating (GCWR), which is the total weight of the trailer under fully loaded conditions, including food, water, gear, etc.

• Installation options. How is the system installed? Does your truck’s frame need to be altered to install the system? Do holes need to be drilled? Can the system be removed if necessary? Before you buy, be sure that installation won’t be a problem for your or your truck. Find out if you can install the system yourself or if it will require manufacturer assistance. If assistance is required, does the manufacturer provide you with a manual or access to a dealer or installation specialist?

• Warranty and risk guarantee. Does your system provide a warranty that won’t expire before you’ve had time to really test your system with a long haul? Does the manufacturer stand behind the product? Does the manufacturer offer a no-risk guarantee if you are not satisfied with the system?

Buyer Beware

Buyers need to especially beware of the claims made by many helper spring manufacturers that their systems are designed for heavy loads. In spite of the claims, the fact remains that these helper springs are bolted directly onto your factory leaf springs, which are NOT made for heavy towing. With this type of system, you run the risk of the leaf springs twisting under heavy acceleration and braking. In turn, this axle “wind-up” can make the truck drop when you accelerate, as well a throw the truck forward when you apply the brakes, throwing nearly all the weight of the truck and trailer onto your front suspension and brakes. If you merely want to level your ride, the helper spring makes a fine choice, but if you are serious about towing heavy loads, you need to consider a total performance towing suspension system.

Do a little research up front and you’ll avoid unnecessary wear and tear on your truck – and costly repairs down the road. Your main consideration should be overall ride performance, safety and stability during heavy towing. If you’re serious about towing, you need to be sure you are buying an air ride suspension system that can do more than level the ride; it needs to be suited for heavy towing. Like many things in the automotive industry, using an inexpensive aftermarket part often yields less than optimal results.

U.S. light vehicle sales fell 6.9% to about 1.25 million sales in April from a year ago, hitting Detroit’s automakers hard, as the pinch of $3.60-a-gallon gas combined with a struggling U.S. economy to drive a strong consumer shift to more fuel-efficient cars and crossovers from large trucks.

The shift led to sales and market-share declines at General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC, which have historically relied on truck sales. GM and Ford, however, noted jumps in car and crossover sales for the month, compared with a year ago.

Toyota Motor Corp., Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co. also felt the impact of fewer consumers choosing pickups and SUVs, but they overcame that squeeze with increased sales of cars.

“The reason for the take down is because of rising oil prices,” said Mark LaNeve, GM North America vice president of sales, service and marketing. “What we did not count on is oil hitting as high as almost $120 a barrel. What that’s doing is causing a sharp shift to cars and crossovers from large trucks.”

The highlights:

*GM reported sales of 257,638 vehicles in April, down 16.2% from the same month last year.

*Ford sales fell 12.1% to 200,007 in year-over-year comparisons.

*Chrysler reported April sales of 147,751, down 23.5% from the same month last year.

*Toyota reported a sales increase of 3.4% to 217,700 vehicles.

*Nissan posted a 6.7% overall sales increase for the month to 75,855.

Honda suffered a technical problem Thursday that kept it from reporting April sales. But it estimated that U.S. economic trends would push it to an all-time record for April — 134,400, a 6.7% increase — because its U.S. lineup consists primarily of small cars and small SUVs.

GM said retail sales of cars and crossovers rose more than 9%, but did not make up for declining truck sales and a sharp decline in fleet deliveries that GM said were impacted by the strike at supplier American Axle & Manufacturing Inc., which has reduced or stopped production at 31 GM plants.

LaNeve blamed the American Axle strike for costing GM 15,000 units of fleet sales last month. He expects that GM will not lose those sales, but instead will record them once the Axle strike is over.

GM’s drop in total sales was swayed largely by the Chevrolet Silverado pickup — where sales fell 24.7% to 37,231 last month from 49,436 a year ago — and the GMC Sierra pickup, where sales fell 21.7% to 13,196 from 16,849.

While they trade in smaller volumes, GM’s cars showed widespread gains, with the Chevrolet Aveo, Cobalt and Malibu; the Cadillac CTS, the Pontiac Vibe and the Saturn Aura all up by double-digit percentages from a year ago. And GM executives said they are looking for ways to increase production of the hottest selling vehicles quickly, even as it announced shift reductions at four North American truck plants earlier this week.

“Consumer preference is shifting and we’re shifting with it,” LaNeve said. “Throughout the industry, truck sales have been soft. We’ve been able to match the current economic slowdown with historically low total inventories, as we look for ways to increase car and crossover production.”

The trend repeated at Ford, where retail sales of its cars and crossovers also grew, led by a 43.5% increase in sales of the Ford Focus to 23,850 from 16,626 a year earlier.

Ford’s crossovers, led by the midsized Edge and smaller Escape, continue to perform well in dealer showrooms, with an overall gain of 11%.

Like GM, however, the gains in car and crossover sales weren’t enough to overcome losses on the truck side.

The F-Series pickups, Ford’s best-selling vehicle line and a major contributor to companywide profits, posted a decline of 21% to 44,813 for the month from 56,692. For the year, F-Series sales are now down 15.5%.

“We continue to see movement toward small and midsize cars as well as car-based crossovers,” Ford sales analyst George Pipas said. “I think it’s fair to say the trend is accelerating in 2008. I think we can tie the acceleration to gas prices.”

Chrysler Executive Vice President of North American sales Steve Landry said gas is certainly a factor in the declines in sales of larger vehicles, but general uneasiness about the U.S. economy has also played a role.

“We’re seeing higher monthly payments coming in and trading in for lower monthly payments,” Landry said.

Jessica Caldwell, an analyst at Edmunds.com said there are a lot of factors causing the shift.

“I think part of it is gas prices, but it’s also the economy in general,” Caldwell said. “When people had more equity in their houses, they felt good, they felt secure. Maybe they got a bigger car and didn’t worry about gas prices. But when you lose equity, and now with the gas prices as high as $4 a gallon, people start to downsize.”

And, Caldwell said, there’s no sign that the trend will end soon, so the domestic automakers are scrambling to let consumers know what they’ve got and meet the demand.

“I think we’re going to continue to see this trend toward small cars and crossovers,” she said. “Right now, a lot of people think of the imports when they think of smaller vehicles. I think the manufacturers are going to begin marketing those cars better than they have. And I think we’ll see these manufacturers look into their global portfolios to see what they can bring to the United States right now.”

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The Mayor of South Ribble has paid a visit to the Leyland Trucks plant at Farington as part of a series of visits to local companies during the final weeks of her mayoral year.

Councillor Kath Beattie, was accompanied by her consort, Mr Frank Redfern, a former employee of the company, for the visit earlier this week.

Councillor Beattie enjoyed a tour of the huge site - which covers 60 acres - during which she met a number of the 1,400 employees.

The Mayor was able to see the complete assembly process of DAF trucks destined for the UK and Continental markets and Peterbilt and Kenworth trucks for markets around the world.

Gleeman Truck Parts was named as the naming rights sponsor of the annual 50-lap Speedcar race at Tyrepower Parramatta City Raceway on Saturday.

Finalising details with TPCR’s Managing Director Steven Green, Gleeman Parts Manager Glen Giffin said he was delighted to have his company again sponsor the 50-lapper for the second consecutive season.

“It is good to sponsor this race, it is good for our business and it helps raise the awareness of Speedcar racing,” Giffin said.

“This 50 lapper is gaining in status, largely because it is a 50-lapper. I would like to think that it will become the number two race in the country – second only to the national title,” he added.

Meanwhile Steven Green welcomed Gleeman Truck Parts and said the company’s involvement was also very beneficial to Speedcar racing.

“To have Gleeman Truck Parts onboard as naming rights sponsor is not only great for Speedcars, but also gives our 50-lapper more credibility.”

Gleeman Truck Parts also sponsor second generation driver Nathan Smee who is the defending winner of the 50-lap event following his victory in 2006. That was the last time the race was run after rain washed out the 2007 edition of the 50-lap marathon.

Steve Green topped up the prizemoney pool for the race to provide a further lucrative incentive for the Speedcar division. “I have always loved Speedcar racing and the very high calibre of competition the division puts on here at TPCR is very exciting. They certainly deserve to get a prizemoney bonus.”

With prizemoney from TPCR, plus the Gleeman Truck Parts sponsorship and a lap-by-lap money endorsement raised by the Speedcar Association of NSW, there is upward of $9,500 on offer for the 50-lapper making this race one of the most lucrative midget events of the season.

Queenslander Barry Velentino already has confirmed he will be a starter at TPCR, while New Zealander Stevie Walsh has also been named as a starter.

Revenue attributable to truck sales, which currently made up about a third of Mercedes-Benz South Africa’s (MBSA’s) yearly sales of R37-billion, was likely to rise to around 50% in the coming years, given strong market demand for commercial vehicles in both South and Southern Africa.

Chairperson Dr Hansgeorg Niefer noted on Wednesday that the commercial vehicle division had recorded “outstanding growth” in 2007, with the unit selling 8 600 vehicles and capturing 23,3% of the total market.

Speaking at the release of strong business results, which saw revenue climb 13,5% from R32,5-billion in 2006, Niefer said that “trucks are becoming more and more important for us”.

During the period, Mercedes-Benz trucks increased its already high market penetration by a further 0,4%, while sales of its Freightliner products surged 42%, followed closely by Fuso, with a 35% rise. Its extra-heavy Western Star product, meanwhile, increased its sales by around 30%.

The increase was achieved in a strong overall market for commercial vehicles, underpinned by robust construction and infrastructure. Overall, the medium commercial segment grew 12,1%, heavy commercial vehicles by 11,6%, extra-heavy sales rose 16,7%, while buses grew by 2 %. By contrast, passenger car sales continued to reflect a sharp decline year-on-year, falling 14,7%, while the light commercial vehicle market also reflected a decline of 6,3%.

The growth in demand for trucks had also resulted in a rethink of MBSA’s assembly strategy, with a decision having been made to reintegrate this function. Commercial vehicles assembly had hitherto been outsourced to Ikhwezi Truck Tech, which used facilities owned by MBSA to assemble completely knocked-down units.

Niefer reported that the integration would be coupled to a R50-million investment to expand its assembly capacity, part of which would take place on a site previously used for passenger-car assembly.

In response to a question posed by Engineering News on the impact that the dynamic growth of the commercial vehicles was having on the group’s strategic thinking (see video), Niefer said it saw “far more growth in the truck business, not only through South Africa, but also in the southern part of Africa.”

“Therefore, we have decided to integrate our truck business,” Niefer explained, adding that it would be incorporating some of the facilities at its East London manufacturing hub into the expanded truck-assembly business.

“I would say [truck sales] currently make up one-third of our business and I expect this to grow closer to 50%,” he added.

Another possible growth area lay with buses, particularly as cities sought to deploy bus rapid-transit (BRT) solutions ahead of the FIFA World Cup, which would take place in South Africa in mid-2010.

MBSA was assembling a specialist BRT project team, comprising experts from Germany, who had been involved in rolling out these public-transport systems in South America.

When the call comes in, Carpio Fire Department responds. Now, thanks to a brand new fire truck, their response will be more efficient.

“To be able to respond quickly and put fires out faster then we were,” says Kalvin Myers, the Carpio Assistant Fire Chief.

“Newer vehicle. Quicker response time. Its a multipurpose type vehicle,” says Peter Thorp, the Carpio Fire Chief.

The new truck boasts a 400 gallon water tank, automatic nozzle, ample storage and a big crew cab. But by far the best part of the truck, is the maker.

“That is what we are here for. That is what we do,” says James Huston of Dakota Fire and Emergency.

James Huston is a service technician at Dakota Fire and Emergency in Minot. Basically, he builds fire trucks. From the water system, to the lights, sirens and storage, Dakota Fire and Emergency does is all. Carpio`s new fire truck is the first vehicle created by the company, which has been in business for about a year.

“We feel this is the perfect rural responding truck for North Dakota. It will do everything. It will fight a grass fire or a structure fire,” says Huston.

Not only does Dakota Fire and Emergency build response vehicles they provide a vital service for North Dakota as well. There are no companies in the state that build and repair emergency response vehicles. So when fire departments need their vehicles serviced they have to travel long distances out of state, wasting gas, money and leaving their departments without an emergency vehicle. Dakota Fire and Emergency not only can fix emergency vehicles, they also provide in-house service.

“I fight fires for volunteers at night and day and I build fire trucks. That is what I do is build and service fire equipment,” says Huston.

Huston is a volunteer firefighter for Burlington and like the rest of the crew at Dakota Fire and Emergency, looks forward to serving North Dakota`s Fire Departments.

Minot Welding helps with many of Dakota Fire and Emergency projects. Dakota Fire and Emergency is working on other vehicle projects for about six other rural fire departments in the state.

Japan’s shipments of construction machinery may rise 9 percent to a third straight annual record next fiscal year as building and mining booms in Asia drive demand for earthmovers built by Komatsu Ltd. and its rivals.

Shipments of excavators, tractors, cranes and other construction machinery may climb to 2.6 trillion yen ($24 billion) in the year starting April 1, according to estimates released by the Tokyo-based Japan Construction Equipment Manufacturers Association today. Shipments in the year ending March 31 may reach 2.4 trillion yen, 15 percent more than the previous year.

China’s effort to develop its hinterland, oil-funded construction booms in Russia and the Gulf nations, and mining projects in Southeast Asia have countered the housing recession in the U.S., the world’s biggest market for earthmoving equipment. The demand has prompted Komatsu and Hitachi Construction Machinery Co., Japan’s biggest makers of earthmoving machinery, to expand factories and boost production.

“There hasn’t been any change in the strength of demand from emerging markets,” Hiroo Shimada, chairman of the association, said today at a press conference in Tokyo. “We will allocate a shortfall in demand from North America to growing markets.” Shimada is also chief executive officer of Kobe Steel Ltd.’s Kobelco Construction Machinery Co. unit.

China, Russia

Exports may advance 12 percent to 1.8 trillion yen next fiscal year, as China, Russia and the Middle East make up for a 5 to 10 percent decline in demand from North America, Shimada said. Domestic shipments may increase 2 percent to 806.5 billion yen.

The group represents 76 companies, including Shin Caterpillar Mitsubishi Ltd., a venture between Peoria, Illinois- based Caterpillar Inc. and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., and Kubota Corp., the world’s biggest maker of mini-excavators.

Worldwide demand for excavators, used in civil engineering works and mining, may grow 9 percent to about 215,000 units in the year starting April, helped by demand from emerging markets, according to an estimate by Tokyo-based Hitachi Construction, the world’s biggest maker of giant excavators.