Levelling with rear air ride....
 

So...... still in progress but wanted to let yall' know that while ALL leveling kits say they cannot be used with rear air suspension..... they can. Just put rear 2" spacers on the bottoms no problem. Last bit to work out is figuring the best way to extend the sensor bars to the new height is all. Thinking just cutting them in half on the metal rod, run a thread die down the rod, then use a tube net. WIll look again shortly, might also be able to just move the lower sensor bar bracket further up too, if that is viable I'll just do that.

The quick and dirty of it.... Note current rear height in a good point on both sides - tip, right at the lower corner of the side skirts is a good spot since you will need to be right there when you level it back out. Deflate rear suspension (need a Tech2 or will have to yank an air line) while it is still on the ground. once deflated pull air ride fuse. Jack up rear, put jack stands under the frame (want the axle to hang) and remove rear wheels. Air springs have a plastic centering piece bolted to the spring pad. Take that off. Also will need two M8 bolts that are 3" long... Put the original plastic cap on top of the new 2" aluminum spacer. Use the new 3" bolt to bolt it down. CAREFULLY remove the air ride sensor bars. The sensor arm is plastic. Spray the rubber bar ends with some silicone lube and carefully pull them off. Once both sides are done let it back down slowly making sure the bottom opening of the air springs go over the centering pieces. Put fuse back in and start it up. Move sensor arms on each side. You will be able to find the center point where nothing is happening. Leave that one and do the same on the other side then move it just a little until the compressor kicks on and that side starts lifting up. Let it go up until you are 2" (or whatever side spacer you used) higher than before. You can go the other way with the sensor arm and it will go back down some if needed. Will take a couple of times going back and forth to get it just right and level. I drilled a single small hole in the wheel house lining just above the sensor to put a zip tie through. One zip ties there plus another around the body of the sensor and use both to temporarily hold the sensor arm in place where its not going to move on you. Now you can jack the rear up again, take back wheels off again and deal with the sensor arms. Realistically if you secured them well enough you could then pull the air ride fuse and leave it at that but it would of course not auto-level and you could not use the rear lift button or the compressor for inflation. I'd strongly suggest NOT trying the rear lift button if the sensor bars are not on as it would have no way of knowing when to stop and it would probably keep lifting until it damages something or violently explodes the air bags...

Best bet is to reinstall the sensor bars so that it can auto-level like it is supposed to. I'll update soon with how I dealt with those.

Part of this is I'm also removing the nerf bars, going to be adding U steps, and putting on new Cooper STT Pro 37 x 13.5" tires - those are on a set of 18" made in the USA forged Weld Cheyenne wheels. :) Going to have to climb in for a few days as the U steps will not get here until Tuesday. With the ties plus the leveling lit (also doing front re-indexed keys) I should be about 3.5" to 4" taller. I'm only going with 2" leveling to minimize suspension stresses and plus I do not want to have to buy new shocks (or risk over extending the ones I have).

Nice little project and I think 37” is the perfect tire choice. Can’t wait to see some pics.

Weather is getting nasty, I'm beat and tired... Got the rear set where I want it and pulled the air ride fuse and will have to deal with the sensor arms tomorrow. 18" wheels.... I prefer some sidewall as mine is not a road queen. Rubber band tires are near useless for real off roading and ride hard regardless.

Small preview for now. I'll have better pics later. Also will have some details on the mods for the air ride to lift the rear with coil spring spacers. :) The pic does not do it justice. These tires are freaking huge! lol

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.hum...c89f2e9fe1.jpg

Looks great. Tires make such a big difference and tread pattern looks aggressive.

https://www.tirebuyer.com/tires/coop...205873#reviews

The tires get mostly great reviews. Will see how they fare in the long run on my H2. Initial impression after maybe 15 miles on them is they are certainly louder than the BFG KO (originals) but going from an all terrain to a mud tire I expected that. I also expect that they will quiet down a little bit once they get settled in on a wear pattern. I also still need to go get an alignment done. Also did a couple of miles in the interstate and again, really not bad at all. I can tell I have a tiny bit less power off the line.

I stopped at Lowes this morning and picked up a few bit to come up with something for the rear leveling sensor arm bars and will be working on that shortly. I'll also update the tire size in my tune to correct my speedo which is off a bit now as well. I really need some steps again. Tempted to put the nerf bars back on just for a few days until I get the U steps. Getting in a out right now is quite a chore. lol

Better pic from this morning....
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.hum...3445acce45.jpg

Mixman, you have a really nice H2. White was one of the 3 colors I was looking for during my search. I really enjoy pics so keep them coming. I respect your diehard H2 mentality and I have always wanted an H2 or H1 and after a life changing divorce followed up by an industrial accident that left me crippled I finally have what I wanted for a very long time. I really enjoy this forum and I hope for more members to participate.

What I did for the leveling sensor rods was to cut them in half. When all was said and done They needed to be almost exactly 3/4 of an inch longer. I determined this by getting everything set just right with the heights and then measuring center to center of the fixed mounting pin for the one end of the rod and the mounting ping on the actual sensor arm. One thing that did help was having a Tech2 as that also allowed me to reset the calibration point.

After a week I just rechecked everything and its all excellent. So it is doable to add run of the mill rear coil spring spacers to an air ride equipped H2. No problems at all. :) I do think with the lift and 37x13.5 tires that this is the perfect stance and all for an H2. I admittedly am a bit biased though. That being said, steps are pretty much mandatory. I actually have one u step on it now but I want to refinish them all at once so it will be another week or two before I have all 4 on. Getting in and out without a step with it this high is truly awful. At least for me pushing near 50 years old anyways... lol

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.hum...c994d241f9.jpg

And a closer shot of the new wheels and tires with spiky nuts. :D

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.hum...6dd2d2e4ed.jpg

@MixManSC What kit did you use? I am about to do the same lift and want to keep my air rides.

some kits come with different rear spacers so I want to make sure I get the right one.

Also, for the front, did you use new keys?

Can this be done without the Tech2?

Looks great.