I'm looking to spec a new 389. I've never owned a Pete before, so I need some opinions.
I'm hauling a relatively light 45K trailer that will be 13'6" high.. Same thing every time. The WB will be 305"
The front axle will be air ride, and I'm looking at these two rear suspensions.
Best ride is what I'm after.
Thanks..
Best ride, Pete Low Air or Flex Air?
Discussion in 'Trucks [ Eighteen Wheelers ]' started by George C, May 14, 2010.
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I like the low air leaf myself gives it a nice ride plus it will sit lower and level out the truck better with that air ride in the front
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we have an '05 379 with flex air and it rides great. my truck has low leaf and when i have pulled our spring ride trailer the flex air soaks up all of the bumps where the low leaf u get a lil shook up. both seem to work well but i would pick the flex air for sure.
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Don't know if you have ordered already or not but thought I've give my two cents. I've run both and and I'm currently running the Flex-Air. The Flex-air is about 55 lbs lighter but that shouldn't matter to you. Both state to have 8.5" ride heights. I personally can't tell much difference in the ride between the two. The Low-Air seemed to not roll quite so bad, but I was pulling two completely different trailers. I will tell you that I have gotten a lot better tire wear out of the Low-Air. The Flex-Air has a tendency to wear the inside rib of the forward axle. We have seen this on several of our trucks with Flex-Air. Alignments and different tires haven't seemed to help so I'm leaning toward the suspension, but I could be totally off base. If you are thinking about disc brakes, I don't think you can get them with the Flex-Air. Ride-wise, I think you would be happy with either, especially with that wheelbase.
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If you want your truck to ride nice, spec it with 11R series tires. My pete with low profile 24.5 rubber rides a lot rougher than others with 11R22.5's. I thought it was my suspension, until I bought a western star with 11R24.5s that rode great. After switching the tires on it to low profile 24.5's it rides rough just like the Pete. Wouldn't have believed how big of a difference it makes if I hadn't experienced it first hand.
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Thanks guys for your help. I'm looking to go with the Low Air, and now I might spec it with 11R22.5 rubber instead of LP 24" rubber. I just got to get used to the idea of the smaller wheel. It my actually look better because the truck will sit low with the 5" drop car hauler front axle on it.
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Definitely spec it with the 11R22.5s. I prefer the 24" LP look too which is why I ordered my truck that way (despite others telling me not to) but now that I've personally seen how much it effects the ride quality, the next new truck I order will definitely be on 11R22.5s.
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How does the flex air ride hold up under 88K loads to 95k ? How stable is it compared to air trac ?
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