Forum Discussion

10forty2's avatar
10forty2
Explorer
May 03, 2016

Air Bag Helper Suspension

Those that have installed air bags as helper springs.....

Do you have an on-board compressor that controls them or do you add air to the individual air bags with an external compressor?

I'm thinking of installing the Ride Rite system on front and rear, and also am considering purchasing/installing the compressor system to be able to inflate them on the fly. Best I can tell, to be able to inflate/deflate each corner individually, I'll have to buy 2 compressors with the dual control gauges. Each gauge/compressor appears to only control one "set" of airbags, and my installation will be 2 sets of bags....one front and one rear.

Is it worth the extra money to have that kind of inflation control (around $1,500.00, (from SD Truck Springs), for 2 compressors and 2 sets of bags for front and rear)? About half of that without the compressors. If you have the on-board compressor, then how often do you use it to adjust the air bags?

Thanks!!
  • Thanks everyone for your replies! After reading them, and finding a good sales representative at SD Truck Springs, I think I'm going to go with the on-board compressor system from Firestone along with the Ride Rite air bags. I had not seen the option for a quad controller prior to my post. It's still a bit more expensive to go that way, but I figure I'll eventually be old enough to not want the hassle of squatting down and manually checking and filling the bags before each trip. Hitting a button from the comfort of the cockpit is most intriguing for me. Plus, the quad controller the sales guy found is wireless so I can use it outside the coach to visually see the "level" of it when inflating/deflating.

    Should be an interesting job for a sunny Saturday/Sunday. If I can, I'll try to take some photos during the process and share with everyone who might be considering it.
  • 10forty2 wrote:
    Thanks everyone for your replies! After reading them, and finding a good sales representative at SD Truck Springs, I think I'm going to go with the on-board compressor system from Firestone along with the Ride Rite air bags. I had not seen the option for a quad controller prior to my post. It's still a bit more expensive to go that way, but I figure I'll eventually be old enough to not want the hassle of squatting down and manually checking and filling the bags before each trip. Hitting a button from the comfort of the cockpit is most intriguing for me. Plus, the quad controller the sales guy found is wireless so I can use it outside the coach to visually see the "level" of it when inflating/deflating.

    Should be an interesting job for a sunny Saturday/Sunday. If I can, I'll try to take some photos during the process and share with everyone who might be considering it.

    Its kind of like trying to adjust the air pressure on the inside dual without some sort of valve extension. It can be done, but it is a pain in the a$$. I believe you can set the system can be set up to air each bag independently, which will help in some conditions.