Ridetech or qa1 bagged

[Slowguy]

I’ve spent some money on this because I feel ride quality and handling is just as important as tons of power.

I am going with accuair cvt and elevel for simplicity. I have double bellow 2500 lb bags, installing shock relocators front and rear. Front and rear sway bars, cupped the front lower control arms, drop spindles, front disk with power hydraulic retrofit, front caster mod to bring the lower ca’s forward, adjustable rear panhard bar, relocated battery and tank to the back for a little better weight distribution, and every joint, bushing, bearing etc is brand new.

I’ve been reading a lot and I hate how expensive it is but with bags it seems an adjustable dampening Shock is a real benefit. I’ve only really seen qa1 and ridetech. I’m leaning toward ridetech but I’ve also seen where people have done coilovers from qa1. Isn’t that overkill? Why would you use bags and the springs on a coilovers? Makes no sense to me.

[Overdriven]

I’d be interested in seeing pics of a coilover setup with airbags. The only reason I can fathom for it is in the rear to help when hauling stuff in the bed or a trailer. I can’t see a reason for it up front.

Are you sure you weren’t seeing “shockwaves”, the shocks with an airbag around them? They don’t have a coil spring on them, just the bag wrapped around the shock.

[Slowguy]

It was actually a post on here. It started out asking about which shocks to choose with bags. Ended up saying a variable dampening shocks are the best and there are really only a few brands to choose from. Then I saw mention of QA1 but all I saw was coilovers - which seemed to not make sense with bags. Essentially, the bag is the spring. So...if you used coilovers, you would have two sets of springs. I just would like to find a shock that is specifically made for bags as I read it makes all the difference in the world on a bagged ride. Those that had variable dampening shocks loved how the truck rode afterward.

The only other option is to buy a static dampening shock - which are available everywhere and in pretty much any length you want. Kits like porterbuilt use kyb, but (as I read in the posts i found) those who swapped those out to something like qa1 or ridetech said it was like driving a different truck after the swap to a variable dampening shock.

Just want to get this right. I've taken my time so far trying to get as much info as possible on each step along the way and it seems to be turning out pretty nice. There is tons of experience on these forums and I ALWAYS use that resource to help in making these decisions. I can tell you that when I drove the truck BEFORE I did anything to it, and it was on bags then also, and had new cheap monroe shocks, it was a TERRIBLE ride. So rough it actually made me laugh as rust from the windshield rained down on to your lap and your teeth rattled together over every bump. My wife was with and asked, "what is wrong with you? Why in the hell did you buy this truck? I think this has got to be one of the worst purchases you've ever made" I told her to wait. It will be much better. Just let me get my hands on it.