If you're a trucker driving long hours over endless stretches of road, it's probably fair to say that stay comfortable and avoiding fatigue, aches and pains while you drive is one of your top priorities, and fitting a specialised, suspended truck seat in your cabin is one of the best ways to achieve this. However, not all suspended truck seats are created equal, and if you're in the market for a new seat you will have to choose between options fitted with mechanical or pneumatic suspension.
Tuck seats fitted with mechanical suspension use coil springs and shock absorbers to absorb vibrations and bumps and keep you in a level driving position, and were considered the gold standard of suspended truck seats for many years. However, more and more drivers are now turning to pneumatically-suspended truck seats, which use air-filled pistons to keep you comfortable.
These modern suspensions have a number of advantages when compared to mechanical suspensions, but also one or two disadvantages, so you should make sure you know what you're buying before you invest in a truck seat fitted with air suspension.
What are the advantages of choosing pnuematic suspension for my truck seat?
Fully adjustable
Most mechanically-suspended truck seats are adjustable, so you can set them to a position and level of shock absorption that suits your needs and the roads you typically traverse. However, this adjustability is limited to preset settings. Pneumatic suspensions, on the other hand, can be fine-tuned by adding or removing air from individual pistons within the suspension, allowing a driver to modify their suspension settings until they reach the ideal level of comfort for their needs.
Computerised shock absorption
Modern pneumatic truck seats are fitted with sophisticated computerised systems, capable of reacting to bumps and vibrations almost instantaneously and preventing particularly savage lurches from throwing you out of your driving position and causing potential injury. Mechanical suspensions do not have this facility, and tend to prove less comfortable over longer journeys as a result.
Longevity
The springs and shock absorbers of a mechanically-suspended truck seat endure an enormous amount of strain over their working lives, and tend to wear out and become less effective as the seat ages. Because pneumatic suspensions use air to absorb shocks rather than strictly physical means, they tend to last much longer without losing effectiveness, and are less likely to malfunction on the road.
What are the disadvantages of choosing pnuematic suspension for my truck seat?
Expensive
Unfortunately, this extra comfort and functionality comes at a cost, and pneumatically-suspended truck seats tend to be more expensive than their mechanically-suspended counterparts. his extra expense can be offset somewhat by the increased longevity of pneumatic seats.
Difficult to repair on the road
If you're a dab hand with a wrench and hammer, you may be able to fix a mechanical suspension yourself if it malfunctions or fails entirely mid-journey. While pneumatic suspensions are less likely to malfunction, if they do they almost invariably require repairs to be carried out by trained technicians, which can be more expensive and inconvenient.
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