Air Bags & Campers

In my experience with prior half ton, sagging rear end is a result of WDH that is not properly adjusted or overloaded rear axle. Spend $15 at a scale to understand where you stand before deciding if air bags are an appropriate investment.

Yes it will raise slightly. I keep mine at 10 psi. when not towing when I hookup the trailer with the WD hitch it jumps to just over 15psi. it is a small jump, but because of the load on the bags the pressure will increase. I run mine at 35 psi when leaving and on the road for a trip. and coming home I need to drop it to 20 psi. due to the weight change of the trailers tongue weight. It is nice to be able to dial in the WD hitch with the air bags. I highly doubt you will need to run 50 psi in the bags to level out. if you do you need to readjust your hitch setup.

BTW, I have the Air Lift bags with the Dual gauge setup that I can adjust left and right independently if needed right from the front seat. I don`t need to adjust independently, but I don`t want the air pressure transferring right-left or left to right during turns. it helps with stability more so on a Truck camper and maybe a 5`er, than when your towing a TT.

Fishnmagician, the answer I got on another forum was exact opposite and not what I expected. But I was willing to accept his answer since I really don't know.

Your answer, however, fits more into what I thought. If I put in 50psi before loaded, hook up and load up, what is my pressure then? 80 psi?

I intend on having two air gauges inside the truck, one for the tank and one for the bags. They'll be permanently mounted and the gauges I'm looking at are not cheap. $170 each. The one I'm almost ready to buy for the bags is a 0-60PSI gauge.

I don't want to buy the 0-60 and then max it out once I'm loaded up. Since the air compressor and air bags aren't installed yet, I can't test it either.

My experience is completely different then what these guys are telling you, I put between 38-42psi in my air bags BEFORE I load my 3800lb camper in the bed, After it is loaded, it jumps to 80-85psi. Now with only 1000lbs, you will not see that much increase.

edit: After re reading your post, maybe I misunderstood your ? The guys are right, once your loaded the psi won't change

Someone gave me the answer and how his experience applies. I appreciate everyone's help.

Tim

myowneq wrote:

hddecker wrote:

Your air pressure will not raise because of the load, it will raise because of heat that may is generated by the bounce coming up from the axles.

For my own curiosity, you monitor this from inside your truck while towing?

You are being too anal and trying to over think the situation.put some air in and hook up.then you can assess if you need more or less,not rocket science.
I run with about 40lbs loaded and it is still in there. Not a problem as it rides like a feather! JMHO Jb. Btw an old tire gauge works fine ,no in transit adjustment needed for me...

No the pressure won't increase
I just check mine with a gauge once a week

hddecker wrote:

Your air pressure will not raise because of the load, it will raise because of heat that may is generated by the bounce coming up from the axles.

For my own curiosity, you monitor this from inside your truck while towing?

myowneq wrote:
Hi Everyone,

I have a question. I think I know the answer, but I want to confirm.

I'm putting Firestone airbags on the rear to level out when I'm towing my camper. I plan on putting a pressure gauge inside so I can monitor when I'm on the road.

I'm looking for a pressure gauge. From what I've heard, I'll probably have only 50psi in the bags when towing. I've found a few, but I don't want a 0-200 range when I'm only using 50.

So, finally, here's the question. Let's assume I have 50 psi in the bags. If I put in 1000 pounds in the bed, the pressure gauge would increase, right? And if so, do you think it would be a small jump, let's say 10psi or would it be a big jump like another 50psi?

Thanks,
Tim

Your air pressure will not raise because of the load, it will raise because of heat that may is generated by the bounce coming up from the axles.