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2008 Avalanche with Autoride-Adding Air Bags

Jeepjeepster

New Member
Joined
Mar 15, 2020
Messages
6
Yes, its yet another thread about adding air bags. I'm trying to help a friend that has a 2008 Avalanche with a non functioning autoride setup. No interest in fixing the autoride as some of the level sensors have rusted and fallen off and rubber is completely blown on the autoride shocks.

He has a camper that he is wanting to tow and when he hooked it up you can imagine, the suspension completely bottomed out. He didnt have the weight distribution hooked up on the trailer but either way, thats not going to work. I mentioned that I have the airlift air bags on two of my jeeps and theyve been working fantastic for over 10 years. At only $80 its hard to beat those things. Airlift and firestone both state that the airbags DO NOT WORK WITH AIRRIDE... We thought maybe they didnt want the airbags fighting with the autoride but that is not the case. The coil springs with the autoride are a smaller diameter evidently as we could not get the air bags to fit without being all wrinkled up inside of the coils.

My question is, is anyone certain what the part number is for the regular coil springs that would work with the airlift air bags? They seem to be fairly cheap (<$100) so we could try to remove the air bags from the original coils and put them in the new regular springs. Just dont want to screw around and order the wrong springs. I live around 1.5hrs away so its nice to have everything ready to roll when we get a change to work on it. Its hard to tell but a picture I took of the tag on the coil spring shows 25783732. That doesn't show up as being a spring that came on a 2008 Chevy avalanche, which I find odd. It came on escalades, tahoes, and suburbans but only 2012-2014..

https://www.gmpartsdirect.com/oem-parts/gm-coil-spring-25783732

Thanks for any help!
 
Might be worth getting new springs to work with Firestone's Coil-Rite  Model:4108 ???

https://www.sdtrucksprings.com/instructions/firestone/4108.pdf
 
Loggie said:
Might be worth getting new springs to work with Firestone's Coil-Rite  Model:4108 ???

https://www.sdtrucksprings.com/instructions/firestone/4108.pdf

Thats the plan, except we would use the airlift air bags since thats what we already have... The 4108 also state that they do not work with the autoride so there isn't a reason to buy those since we already have the airlifts.

Something else that I find interesting, airlift recommends the same springs for the 2014 chevy tahoe/surburban/escalade that supposedly came with the springs that are on my friends 2008 avalanche...  ??? ??? ??? Whats up with that???

Here is what his air bags look like. All wrinkled up, and thats with 35psi in them. The air hose is folded over and blocked off and we couldnt get the air back out of them...

pcltkC0.jpg
 
???  what about  Bilstein 199020
 
What would be awesome is if someone that has installed the air lift air bags could check to see what the part number is on their springs. There should be a tag on the spring if it hasn't fallen off.

Even looking on GM parts websites, Im struggling to figure out what the part number is for the GM springs if it didnt have air ride.
 
Just my .02 but I see this attempt as a band-aid on a cancer. You really can't fix the true issue until you repair the AV main suspension.You should accept the fact that the weight is way different between a Jeep and a 6,000lb plus AV and a set of airbags on maybe new springs aren't going to fix the problem.
I don't know what weight or type of trailer he plans to tow but that would help in offering a fix from some members who tow a lot.
If you have read any older threads about fixing or replacing (of which there is many on this site) you will see that most members just bite the bullet and fix the LTZ auto ride system with GM parts or occasionally a system by a company called Arnott I believe, that stops issues from cropping up later of warnings popping up on the dashboard. Those who eliminated the LTZ suspension had to get a device that tricks the electronics into thinking all the sensors etc. are connected, most who did that were happy with shocks by Bilstein.
Good luck with your efforts......
 
^Thats not gonna happen. Much cheaper to just add air bags. The autoride setup is just an expensive failure waiting to happen. And Im not sure what the weight of a Jeep has to do with adding air bags to an avalanche?

Anyway, here is what Ive figured out. The part number for the springs currently on the truck is 25783732 which is the spring for the auto ride and I 'think' it has in inside diameter or 4.4". Thats what all replacement moogs say theyre inside diameter is and air lift recommends the 60912 bags for the moog 81071 springs. Moog also makes an HD spring which will lift the back of the truck up a little.

If you watch the video on youtube of air lift installing the 60769 air bags on a 2011 avalanche you can see the part number on the coil spring. Its 25783733 which has been discontinued by GM... Figures... And it seems they were cheap..

I'm going to call air lift and see if they can offer any help. If not we may see if the 60912 bag will work with the factory 25783732 springs.
 
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