CR-Y62 Air Bag Coil Delete / Replacement Kit

This kit replaces the rear coils in a Y62 Patrol with our AAA Super Duty Air Bags

This Aussie made kit replaces the rear coils in all Y62 Patrols. Some people buy AAA air bag kit for the softness. What ever air is needed to run the vehicle at a given height then that’s how stiff it has to be. No more stiffness than needed and any softer and it will sit lower.

The most popular reason for buying AAA air bag kit is so you can always run the vehicle at a set height no matter the load and not compromise the softness when unloaded. Here’s why it’s important to always run it at a set height – As the rear goes up and down the alignment of the wheels alters so much you can actually see that the rear wheels lean in (Camber) or point inwards or outwards (Tow In). Driving with poor alignment compromises handling and causes significant wear on tyres. It also impacts fuel economy. By maintaining your ride height you prevent the alignment form changing. By running the AAA Coil Delete kit in conjunction with the Auto Levelling kit the rear of your vehicle will always be at the same height no matter how heavy or light the load. Put the van on and it will still be the same. Plumbers attach the car trailer and then load the excavator onto it and still their Y62 sits at the same height. And all the time it is no stiffer than it has to be to do the task and when they unload it goes back to normal and again, still sits at the same height. No buttons or adjustments, everything is automatic which is exactly how the engineers want it to be.

The Coil Delete kit replaces the coil springs. It really is just a matter of removing the bolt for the lower control arm at the wheel end and the coil literally falls out. No need to touch the shock absorber as it is mounted to that other lower arm we dont even touch. No matter if you have the old style shocks or the sophisticated HBMC suspension this kit will work. The entire kit is effectively plug and play – we only use pre-existing bolt holes so there is no drilling, welding or cutting. The only thing you take out is the old coil and you could put that back in if required.

Another advantage is the weight distribution on the factory lower control arms. A coil spring has a foot print of approx 175mm diameter and when you stiffen it up with a heavier coil and an internal air bag insert that’s a lot of load on a relatively small area. Factory arms are reported to fail with coil springs. The lower mounts use 8mm thick plate that spans the entire length and width of the factory arms. Not only do the bags cushion impact better than coils (softer) but they spread the load over the maximum possible area. Customer feedback over the past few years show that factory control arms are not bending when running the Coil Delete kit. An emerging trend is for people to have aftermarket control arms and the Coil Delete Kit also bolts up directly to the Ontrack Billet arms.

The AAA Auto Ride Height Kit features pneumatic valves as used in the truck industry. A valve body is mounted to the chassis K frame using the hand brake cable bolt. There’s a swing arm that’s attached to your lower rear control arm. It senses the wheels in the up and down positions. When too low (loaded) it the arm position lets air into the bags and they inflate. When too tall (unloaded) the arm lets air out of the bags. There’s a tolerance in the middle which allows minor up and down such as discrete road undulations and corrugations etc without inflating or deflating occurring. For this there are no electrics and so no need for buttons on dash etc. The engineers love it because the bags and ride heights cant be tampered with while driving. The compressor has a relay triggered by the car’s ignition. If the ignition is on the system is live and with a pressure switch the compressor will turn on automatically when it senses that air is needed.

The kit comes with AAA CX02 Compressor and 1.2L air tank. The compressor mounts mounts behind the passenger side headlight again using existing bolt holes. Nothing has to be relocated and it just goes straight in. For wiring we provide a fuse tap (piggy back) that picks up a trigger for the relay from the fuse box and so there are no mods to wiring, no stripping wires and no soldering.

When the valve body in the AAA auto ride height kit senses a drop as you load up it opens the air supply from compressor to bags and the compressor pumps the bags. There is tolerance when you hit small bumps and corrugations so it is not calling for air. But when you hit a big bump for a brief split second it calls for air. Rather than the compressor turning on for a brief moment every time you hit a big pump it will call for air from the tank. And then when the tank gets low enough the compressor will come on automatically to top up the tank. It means the compressor will hardly ever come on but when it does it is just to top up the tank. The tank for air suspension needs to be small so it reaches pressure almost straight away. A tank for tyres needs to be a lot bigger otherwise there is no use having a tank for tyres. Also pumping tyres is a once or twice exercise each year and not something you do every day. You need to be able to jump in and start the car and drive off straight away. You certainly don’t want to be waiting for a big tank to fill with air. We strongly recommend that compressors and tanks for air suspension have nothing to do with compressors and tanks for tyres – keep them separate. If you were to seek a GVM your engineer will insist upon this too.

A recent development is the introduction of stainless braided lines at the valve bodies. The only plastic (Poly Urethane) air line runs from compressor at front of car to the rear – we run that down the inside of the chassis if we were to fit your kit.

Here’s what you need to know about engineering – If you take the coils out and replace them with air bags an engineer still has to sign off on that. Engineers have differing opinions but one thing’s for certain, none of them want to see that you can adjust your heights while driving and they all want to see an automated system such as this that keeps your ride at the same level. Not only will the engineer want to see the Auto Ride Height system he will need to look at everything else you have done to the car like how much heavier is it over standard, what tyres are you running, etc and how does all of that impact your handling and ability to stop quickly with a heavier load etc. 

Steve at AAA says when he grew up on a farm the tractors back in those days were built so farmers could rebuild them. With that philosophy Steve has made sure all the AAA gear is bolt in and can only go in one way using pre-existing holes making it as simple as possible. This means the average person with some mechanical aptitude could fit this kit so long as they read instructions. The Coil Delete kit alone takes only 1-2 hours to assemble and fit and if you go the full auto levelling then allow the rest of the day. A hoist certainly makes life easy but it is not essential.

It is super important that the person doing the fitting understands that if a bush is undone (like replacing control arms) that it is done back up when the car is at ride height and not dangling at full droop on a hoist. The reason is that the bush does not spin but the rubber within it twists. If done up tight at full droop on a hoist it pre-twists just to sit at ride height and then if you deflate the bags to squat the car they must twist even further and you risk damaging the bush. The bush should not be twisted at ride height so it only needs  to twist a little each way to squat or lift. With the AAA Auto Ride Height system you don't have up/down buttons and so there is no full height and full squat option and so your bushes are much happier too.

All bolts in this kit are hi-tensile grade 8 for added strength. This is the highest rating possible and you wont break them by over tightening.

Please note the new brackets and Auto Ride Height system have undergone a patent design application to try to stop the copy cats out there.

To finish off we are based in Melbourne and work closely with all the top Y62 gurus. AAA is very well regarded for their excellent product knowledge in suspension systems and passion for Nissans. We don't just do Y62 suspension and have over 75 other air bag applications. We have 2 off road race Patrols and we run Cliffhanger 4×4 Event and Ultimate 4×4 Challenge so you’d be hard pressed finding more passionate off roaders connected to the industry.