Anyone got an Atego horsebox on air suspension?

[cyberhorse]

Does anyone run an Atego 815 horsebox on air suspension? We have got a very good deal on a tidy '04 Atego which has air suspension on the rear axle. The coachbuilder has said as it is on air at the rear the horses should be fine (he always stiffens them if they are just on springs as Ategos can be a bit soft), but he can adapt it if we want before moving the box on. Just wanted opinions on this. The horses are very good travelers and have been OK on the cargo, however mine seems happier on my friends wagon which is softer hence not sure if it is necessary. The other option would be to have it done later, but it will probably be harder for them to work on and cost more to do at that point.

 

[perfect11s]

Does anyone run an Atego 815 horsebox on air suspension? We have got a very good deal on a tidy '04 Atego which has air suspension on the rear axle. The coachbuilder has said as it is on air at the rear the horses should be fine (he always stiffens them if they are just on springs as Ategos can be a bit soft), but he can adapt it if we want before moving the box on. Just wanted opinions on this. The horses are very good travelers and have been OK on the cargo, however mine seems happier on my friends wagon which is softer hence not sure if it is necessary. The other option would be to have it done later, but it will probably be harder for them to work on and cost more to do at that point.

Yes my old lorry I sold to pay some bills !! sob air suspension is good as you can lower the back of the lorry for loading and great for the horses
as it gives a better ride than springs and self levels so it maintains the right ride hight regardless of load so it makes the lorry sway less air suspension is specified for carrying delicate cargo like furiture/art or computers and is common on buses for passinger comfort
you will find you wont get so much of that horrible thump and shudder if you go over a pot
hole, however mine was vastly improved when I replaced the front shocks it had done about 300,000km not much, but the sort of milage shocks are about done the Atego is a very good chassis not bad on fuel and well made however they are quite heavy compared with say a daf I swaped my body onto the merc from it's man chassis and weighing it came out 400kg more which if you look a the specs for different chassis confirms that!! so make sure you have a light well made body or you wont be able to carry much....

 

[cyberhorse]

Thanks for that. I think we'll leave it be and try it with them. One of ours hates that thump you get with pot holes and given the state of the roads at the moment it is very difficult to avoid, hopefully the air will be much better.

We are planning to take the old chassis to be weighed when it comes off, we already have a weighbridge weight for the vehicle fully loaded with everything bar the horses on so it will let us calculate the box weight as we run it. It is a fairly modern aluminium box so hopefully it does not weigh too much in itself. There are also a lot of heavy fitments in the living we don't use or want to update and two unused heavy partitions that can come out if needed. The Atego is fairly heavy for a modern truck, hence probably best to work it all out before committing to fitting. Just need to get two horses on and I'm sure they won't agree to a diet!