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Hi Ron,
The system I put is designed to ride at 4 inches of lift over stock. That however is not all the way up. There are approximately another 4 to 5 inches on top of that.
Given the system is designed for 4 inches of lift I have tested it a bit at that level, yet I have it set for normal drive height at 3 inches over stock as that is all I need.
If someone needed more then four inches for rock crawling they do make a system with larger air springs which is designed for 6 inces of lift.
At 3 or 4 inches I can not tell any differearnce in perceived hardness. Please read that as they appear to be equally soft, or at least I am not able to discern any significant difference.
I can say without any question the ride is much softer then with the coil springs. Damatically softer.
I only have a few hours of off road experience with it. During that time I had it set at both 3 and 4 inches of lift.
At either height the performance was much "softer" then the coils.
Hard or looe of flex are not words I would currently use to describe my limited experiences.
I can say I did play with airing the system all the way up to about 9 inches.
At that level it does indeed get very very firm (hard) but all my suspension components are all maxed out at that height too. I could never wheel that way.
I must say, for what it is designed for (4 inches of lift) I am initially impressed. None of the war stories of lose of flex appear to be coming true.
Last winter I built my own air suspension system. The reason it's not in my Jeep is becuase it was incredibly hard and effected flex by not allowing adequate compression of the high side corners.
I see none of that with this system. I am indeed very pleasantly surprised.
In fairness, I only have 3 or 4 hours of exercising the suspension.
A week from this coming Sunday I will be leading a ride through Natural Bridge. I know these trails and obstacles like the back of my hand. After that ride I will be much more able to give an honest assessment on how it performs on obstacles I know very well. Apple to apple comparison.
All the flex I have just seems to be arrived at easier, smoother or something. It is hard to put in words.
I will get lots of photo's on that ride and perhaps that will help.
Hope your enjoying the rest of your trip! I'm headed down to Florida for a week or so, but not to wheel (Heck that whole state is only 12 feet above sea level.) Just doing the white sand beach, read a good book routine!
Frank
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