I just took my airbags off of my truck

mich800 wrote:

spoon059 wrote:
OP, how much air is in the bags when you are empty? I know Firestone recommends 5 lbs empty, which should have zero effect on empty ride. Not sure what Airlift recommends. The benefits of bags is that when empty they are not supposed to effect the ride. Something sounds wrong here...

Yes, what spoon059 said...What pressure were you running empty? I have not heard anyone that indicated any perceptible difference in empty ride quality when aired down to the minimum pressure.

If I read the manual correctly Airlift says that it is OK to use these airbags with no pressure in them. I pulled the fuse on the compressor then pulled the airlines off, let the bags bleed down and then reconnected the airlines to keep dirt out of the system. Even with no pressure sitting still you are still going to compress the bags and the air inside every time you hit a bump and it that is going to cause an increase in your spring rate. Honestly, I am as suprised as anyone that I noticed it that much.

My main point of this thread is to say that enough is enough and the smaller bags are enough for a half ton truck. The bigger bags are overkill for my truck and I probably made a mistake going for the "premium" product when I should have settled for "enough". I was just hoping that perhaps someone else might benefit from the lesson I learned.

Incidently, I also own a 2013 F150 that I put the same airbags on. That one is mostly driven by my daughter who lives in a different state so I don't spend much time in it but I had noticed that it is also harsher riding than it was new. She hasn't complained about that so I didn't give it much thought until my wife rebelled and forced me to take a hard look at my 2016 model. I may end up buying the smaller airbags for both trucks.