My experience with Arnott Air Bags / Air springs

Bow_Tied

Original poster
Member
Dec 21, 2014
453
London, ON
This post is about my recent experience swapping out the old air springs on my ride. Short story: after a several days they seem to be operating great.


'06 Denali 5.3L SWB 145k km (90k miles)

Symptoms: occasionally the rear of the vehicle would be on the bump stops (full deflation) after sitting overnight. Sometimes it would hold fine for 2 days without moving. The problem appeared to be exacerbated by cooler weather but this was hard to pinpoint. It was noted also that, once in a while the compressor would run more frequently during travel (at stop lights). The compressor was always working well. The inconsistent losses of air made me second guess if it was the air bags or the compressor check valves. The problem began to slowly get more frequent.


I sprayed the air bags liberally with soapy water and could not detect any air leaks increasing my doubts that the bags were the problem. However, the more posts I read on the net about the variable nature of the problem, that bags do wear out after a while (mine being 10+ years old), and the apparent weather checking on the bottom of the bags lead me to replace the bags regardless if they were the problem or not as they were likely due or nearly so and I wanted to decrease risk of problems due to towing a 24' travel trailer. This would also give me chance to inspect the bags.


I order the bags by going to Arnott website. Living in Canada I was happy to

see "Canadian customers can place orders online or may call 1-800-251-8993". (http://arnottcanada.com/default.aspx) This was in the end misleading as this number routed to me to the order desk in Florida.

The order desk gentleman took my order and assured me that my order would ship from Canada. In confirming the parts I wanted he read out the part number. I corrected him with the part number that is listed on their site. He was nearly indignant and corrected me. Apparently the published part numbers on their website have no correlation to the part number you order. Anyway, got that straightened out. The gentleman had no idea what I was talking about when I mentioned a GMTNation discount. He had never heard of GMTNation and had no idea what GMT was and seem dubious about my explanation that it was GM's platform designation. I found the post here from Arnott I provided the GMSAVE10 discount. This finally applied the discount without issue and the order was completed. I inquired if they sold air lines and they do not.

The Canadian warehouse is only an hour from my house so the shipping was only $20! The currency exchange was brutal but that isn't Arnott's fault. Add in the outrageous taxes and the total to my door was $338 for a pair of bags. (Far better than the $1200 dealer quote).

I ordered noon on Tuesday and the bags were on my front step when I got home from work on Wednesday. Nice.

As predicted in other threads the air bags were reasonably easy to remove short of the stubborn line fitting. That is reasonably well documented in other places. I will reiterate to not overtighten air fittings. Other threads had indicated that there was a loud popping noise when air up the new bags. I didn't experience this. I did ensure that the new bags were properly seated at the top and lowered the vehicle carefully and seated them on the bottom and did not lower the truck all the way down. The air compressor ran for quite a while, at least a minute, maybe a minute and half, and the truck came up. Since then it has been fine, the compressor now only runs after the truck has been off a while and doesn't run very long. I’m cautiously optimistic that the new bags have solved the problems.

One thing: the Arnott bags have a removable brass air fitting - don't remove this as it will allow a small ferrule to come out of position. You need only insert the line and do a tug test to ensure it is in properly. If you are reading this and already have removed this fitting, the ferrule has one side that is tapered (conical) and this side faces the removed fitting. Do not over tighten the fitting upon reassembly.

Hope that provides a small insight into what to expect.
 

floridafitz

Member
Jan 2, 2012
151
Winter Springs FL
Excellent post! My prior air suspension experience with the 03 SLT XL was bad and expensive so went with conventional springs and never looked back. This time around with the new-to-me 08 Denali I will consider your approach if my compressor doesn't blow first. Thanks.
 

Bow_Tied

Original poster
Member
Dec 21, 2014
453
London, ON
Thanks for the feedback.

I am fortunate to have access to a 2 post hoist which made the job easy but this still could be done on jack stands.

For reference:
I removed the spare tire to start. It was time to check the lowering mechanism again and verify the pressure anyway so that helped with space.
I had a couple of coat hanger wires for holding the compressor in place after lowering it from the mounting so I didn't need to disconnect it.
I moved the bottom of the springs forward and in-board as this seemed to give the best access to the air line. A second set of hands was very helpful.
If you live in the rust belt like me you will have to fight with the line connectors a bit.
It took a bit less than 2 hours. I was moving slow and chatting not worried about time. Now that I have done it, it ought to be an hour job and IMHO and half hour job for a pro.
Double check that the upper mounting tabs are all fully engaged. I did the passenger side and got 2/3 in place, my helper spotted the miss luckily. Even after correct install they still feel loose.

The compressor is a pricey lil bugger. Arnott presently is I think $580+$50 core. By the time that is shipped in my currency it's nearly $900. And this is where the conversion to the coil springs become attractive. However, I figure that even if it does go, it is the cost of having the nice system. Each owner has to weigh that value. The air bags are more coin than coil springs but not by much. So really it is the compressor. Either you pay that and get the cool auto system or you don't. Personally I dislike having disabled features on my vehicle. But I also understand not investing money in an old high mileage vehicle. To each his own.
 
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linneje

Member
Apr 26, 2012
404
Just a heads up as I live north of the 49th and put in new Arnott air springs 4 or 5 years ago. I am very happy with them. I was on a trip to Florida so I picked them up and the exchange was wayyyyy better back then, so it was pretty cheap. The only problem is that when the temp gets really cold (below -30ºC) the bags will deflate if parked and I don't know why. Right down to the bump stops. But they come right up again, and I have never seen a leak at warmer temperatures. It could be the check valve freezing open, but I just thought that I would let you know.
 
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littleblazer

Member
Jul 6, 2014
9,265
I actually used their conventional conversion on the escalade. Really all I needed was the module to stop the service air ride light. That was annoying.
 

Bow_Tied

Original poster
Member
Dec 21, 2014
453
London, ON
@linneje thanks for heads up, I'll keep an eye on that. Here we'd only have a handful of nights below -25 and -30 is rare tho not unheard of.

How many miles on your compressor?
 

Mooseman

Moderator
Dec 4, 2011
25,262
Ottawa, ON
Added to FAQ thread.
 
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linneje

Member
Apr 26, 2012
404
@linneje thanks for heads up, I'll keep an eye on that. Here we'd only have a handful of nights below -25 and -30 is rare tho not unheard of.

How many miles on your compressor?
I have 260000 km on the original compressor for my 2003. If it ever caves in I will probably try a junkyard. I do not want to lose the air springs as it really levels things out when I tow my travel trailer.
 

Bow_Tied

Original poster
Member
Dec 21, 2014
453
London, ON
That's a good amount of km! Hope mine lasts that long but the way the rest of the truck is going...

Ya I'm same - like it for towing.
 

Bow_Tied

Original poster
Member
Dec 21, 2014
453
London, ON
Ok, it's been a week since the install and the bags are holding still (hooray! on to the next problem, lol)

Thought I'd also share a pic of the Arnott airbag fitting for reference:
Left to right: the ferrule (note the taper side goes to the thread in fitting), the thread in fitting with o-ring, and the white plastic thing is the shipping plug that is discarded. If you do like I did and remove the fitting the white shipping plug is helpful as a tool to reinsert the fitting without the ferrule dropping inside into the wrong orientation.

Airbag%20fitting_zpsvruc6x8k.jpg
 
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16vcabman

Member
May 10, 2018
113
Ortonville, Mi
I feel so bad.the Arnott bags through Rock here in Michigan we're $87 each. I bought a Doorman pump for $280 so my whole system was under 500. No wonder Canadians want spring kits. I have seen those for $84 without shocks. Transfer your money and get a friend to buy them. Or get an US Bank card and order and ship to US friend.
 

Bow_Tied

Original poster
Member
Dec 21, 2014
453
London, ON
Indeed, the US with the 10x buying power due to population gets things a lot cheaper than Canada. Plus our taxes are much higher. Such is the cost of "free health care" I guess. It's the exchange rate and the brokerage fees if shipping across the border that really hurt. It's expensive to live here, but it is home and one of the best countries in the world to live in so I am thankful for that.
 

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