installed a rear right side airbag on the left side tonight
10-20-2011, 02:58 AM
#1
MBWorld Fanatic!
Thread Starter
installed a rear right side airbag on the left side tonight
i've had a symptomatic left rear air spring for god knows how long and have been putting off replacing it waiting for arnott to get their remanufactured rear airmatics for two years now. it's actually a good thing arnott was full of sh*t when they've said "they'll be ready in two months" for the last two years because it gave guys time to get the coil overs working.
anyways, i'm close to getting the car to cali for the coil over conversion and just weeks before i can get out there the left rear air spring goes out completely. obviously i don't want to spend money on a new $1200 oem rear air spring knowing that i'm just going to remove it almost immediately so i checked around for aftermarket and oem replacements from all the online outlets. of course, everyone was out of their $850 replacements. so then i started looking for anything used and as many of you know it's almost always the right front and left rear that go out first so there were no left rear airbags to be had.
after careful inspection i realized that the only true factor that makes these units side dependant are the hoses and reservoir...the bag itself is pretty much universal. so i located a good used right rear air spring and removed the reservoir and it's hose but i left the small nylon air tube attatched to re-use. after following the star instructions for deflating the air spring we removed the clamp and reservoir hose from the bad air spring so that we could leave those in place. the good thing is that by not removing the reservoir from the car, you don't have to drop the subframe to remove the bag! so we unbolted the bag (1 bolt) and it popped right out. installed the new bag, reattatched the reservoir line with a new heavy duty clamp, reattatched the small nylon air line and we were done. it probably took us just over an hour of actual work.
just thought i'd throw this out there because i know many of us would like a cheap (and super easy) fix for replacing bad air springs.
anyways, i'm close to getting the car to cali for the coil over conversion and just weeks before i can get out there the left rear air spring goes out completely. obviously i don't want to spend money on a new $1200 oem rear air spring knowing that i'm just going to remove it almost immediately so i checked around for aftermarket and oem replacements from all the online outlets. of course, everyone was out of their $850 replacements. so then i started looking for anything used and as many of you know it's almost always the right front and left rear that go out first so there were no left rear airbags to be had.
after careful inspection i realized that the only true factor that makes these units side dependant are the hoses and reservoir...the bag itself is pretty much universal. so i located a good used right rear air spring and removed the reservoir and it's hose but i left the small nylon air tube attatched to re-use. after following the star instructions for deflating the air spring we removed the clamp and reservoir hose from the bad air spring so that we could leave those in place. the good thing is that by not removing the reservoir from the car, you don't have to drop the subframe to remove the bag! so we unbolted the bag (1 bolt) and it popped right out. installed the new bag, reattatched the reservoir line with a new heavy duty clamp, reattatched the small nylon air line and we were done. it probably took us just over an hour of actual work.
just thought i'd throw this out there because i know many of us would like a cheap (and super easy) fix for replacing bad air springs.
10-20-2011, 07:25 AM
#3
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E55
I guess if you can make sure that it has the correct angel as per the start instruction say, it should be fine. I didn't follow it the first time and bag was gone after a month.
10-20-2011, 01:37 PM
#6
PLATINUM SPONSOR
Sure appreciate, quick ,smart and creative thinking!
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E63 Biturbo, UPD Cold Air induction kit, UPD performance crank pulley and UPD adjustable rear suspension with ride height adjustment.
CL55 UPD Cold Air Boost kit, UPD 3000 stall converter, UPD 77mm SC clutched pulley and beltwrap kit, Custom long tubes, UPD crank pulley , UPD suspension kit, UPD SC pulley, Aux. HE, Trunk tank w/rule 2000 pump, Mezeire pump, UPD 5pc idler set, Aluminum rotor hats.
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E63 Biturbo, UPD Cold Air induction kit, UPD performance crank pulley and UPD adjustable rear suspension with ride height adjustment.
CL55 UPD Cold Air Boost kit, UPD 3000 stall converter, UPD 77mm SC clutched pulley and beltwrap kit, Custom long tubes, UPD crank pulley , UPD suspension kit, UPD SC pulley, Aux. HE, Trunk tank w/rule 2000 pump, Mezeire pump, UPD 5pc idler set, Aluminum rotor hats.
www.ultimatepd.com
instagram @ultimate_pd
facebook.com/ultimatepd
