Air bags how to use them

nremtp143 wrote:
I have had airbags on both of my last two duallies and it makes a huge difference in ride quality on rough roads. I have Firestone bags as they were the cheapest at Summit Racing when I bought them in '10. After a few trips with them and the bicycle/foot pump, I bought a Viair 10007 onboard air system with the Firestone dual pneumatic gauges and haven't looked back. I also plumbed in an air coupler underneath the passenger side rear door with a ball valve so I can air up tires for the rig, bicycles or pin box with no problem. It is an expense, but after seeing all of the manifold troubles with the wireless one, I went with this setup. Keep in mind that MANY people still have no trouble with the wireless one. I've used this same system on two different trucks as I made it where I can remove it pretty easily.

3 years now with the AirLift airbags with the internal jounce ,and wireless air system. To date has been flawless. Reading reviews there were issues with the wireless, but that seemed to have been ironed out.

I have had both types of air system, by far the best has been wireless for me. Ease of use, ease of installation etc. It just makes sense to have onboard air, you found out like me, its not very user friendly to do the manual thing, plus the air available for other applications.

I have had airbags on both of my last two duallies and it makes a huge difference in ride quality on rough roads. I have Firestone bags as they were the cheapest at Summit Racing when I bought them in '10. After a few trips with them and the bicycle/foot pump, I bought a Viair 10007 onboard air system with the Firestone dual pneumatic gauges and haven't looked back. I also plumbed in an air coupler underneath the passenger side rear door with a ball valve so I can air up tires for the rig, bicycles or pin box with no problem. It is an expense, but after seeing all of the manifold troubles with the wireless one, I went with this setup. Keep in mind that MANY people still have no trouble with the wireless one. I've used this same system on two different trucks as I made it where I can remove it pretty easily.

I think that the Firestone bags are a lot easier to install on a Ford than the Air-Lift. There is a bolt at the top that can be a pain.

Great info so far - I love my Firestone's. I usually run with 40-50# in them with an 11K 5th wheel. I had the same setup without them and it wasn't terrible. The bags just help stiffen up the "hinge" between the truck and trailer. You'll really like it better going over bumps and rolling sections of road. And, of course, it brings the back of the truck back to level.

Here's a video Epic did on installing Air Lift Air Spring system.

Link

Make sure that they can be run with out air. Some have an internal bump stop.
(Air-Lift came out with them right after I bought mine. On my Silverado the air bags replace the OEM bump stop.

Installing air bags are about a 2 on a 10scale of difficulty.
Yes you can leave them pumped up or air down. I choose to let the air out when we dump the camper for a few days. It's bad enough running around with 80psi in the back tires of and empty truck.
I have my exhaust brake compressor plumbed so that I can refill them easily though.

My airbags was a pretty straight forward install.
I use a bicycle hand pump to inflate and leave them around 20psi when towing, it only takes 6 pumps or so to get them to my desired psi.
No need to deflate when done, however your truck will probably ride quite a bit rougher when they are inflated.

Put the Firestone ride rites on our 2010 3500 Ram megacab. 50 psi when towing 13.5 k 5ver and 10 psi not towing. BTW was told to mount bags with loose mounting bolts then jack up frame until rear wheels were off ground and then tighten all mount bolts. Friend is an installer and said it is for alignment at full travel.

rtaylor0830 wrote:
I am thinking of putting airbags on my 2015 f350 it rides fine but it squats when I let the weight of the toyhauler. My question is how much air needs to be put in and how hard are they to install. Also when you get to a campsite do you need to let the air out and refill them after hooking back up to leave. Will a small compressor work for this. I don't want the onboard compressor.

Any reason for no onboard air, I did on my first set of airbags, that manual inflating ,deflating it got old . Installed the onboard compressor after about a year of the manual thing. Have had onboard ever since when installing airbags.

Big thing for me is the ability to change air pressure on the fly for different road surfaces. It was an experiment thing for me at first ,but found that changing the air pressure I could smooth things up a bit, pretty tough to do when manual inflating. You may get lucky ,and find the correct air pressure after a few trips, but still unable to really do much else.

IMO its well worth the investment. This last time I went with a remote control air system . Didn't have to run air lines or electrical inside the cab, and having to find a decent place for the air gauge . Just a remote to change air pressure that clips on the sun visor or in the console.