Air Bags and WD hitch

[marc71]

Howdy... Just installed Firestone Ride-Rite air bags on my Tundra this morning. I'm now wondering how do I set my WD hitch? Air up the bags before putting the bars on or put the bars on and add air after to the desired height?

On a side note let me just say the installation of the air bags was a breeze. I'm very excited to take the trailer out in a few weeks when we head to Talladega for the NASCAR race. Hoping to have a great towing experience.

[goducks10]

1st off you shouldn't be using air bags if you're not needing them for extra gear in the truck.
However if you do haul a lot of gear in the truck then they work great.
From my past experiences using bags with a WD I found that the best way was to load the truck up without the TT, then air the bags to bring the truck to it's original height.
THEN hitch up the TT and snap the WD bars up. Loading the truck 1st and airing the bags to set the rear up will ensure that you can then transfer the right amount of weight to the trucks front after snapping up the WD bars.
Also if you're using a friction based WD then if hitching 1st and airing 2nd you reduce the friction.

[slapshot12]

AH64ID wrote:
I don't like using the airbags to compensate for tongue weight. If the WD hitch can't compensate for the tongue weight then it's too much TW for the truck, IMHO.

What I do is get the hitch setup with full tow weight and an empty truck with 5 psi in the bags before hooking up. That's the setting I always use on my WD hitch. I then use the airbags to get back to that ride height with added bed payload (sometimes as much as 2K on top of my 1.3K TW).

I have also found it to be a better and more stable ride if the truck settles 1-1.5" over an empty stance, otherwise it's too much air in the bags and it negatively effects the ride.

I have found the same thing. I use the bags to keep the trailer level, not to raise the rear of the truck. With my current WD set up, I'm running around 15-20 psi. That gives me about 1.5" of drop from the stock rear ride height. I did lots of experimenting with airbag pressures so they were accounted found when I finalized the WD measurements.

[AH64ID]

Even that 1" you're adding after hooking the WD is setup is decreasing its effect. You would be better to let it sag the 1" and add air if you're loaded more than just the TW.

[Durb]

I followed the set up instructions for my particular hitch and it worked well for me.

- Measure hitch height with truck unloaded
- Set up weight distribution bars so hitch height is now down 1 inch from unloaded
- Air up bags so hitch is at unloaded height and no more (in my case 40 lbs)

If you put too much air in (say with an on board compressor) and raise your truck higher than level then you will unload your weight distribution tension and possibly defeat anti-sway if it is integral to your hitch.

[AH64ID]

I don't like using the airbags to compensate for tongue weight. If the WD hitch can't compensate for the tongue weight then it's too much TW for the truck, IMHO.

What I do is get the hitch setup with full tow weight and an empty truck with 5 psi in the bags before hooking up. That's the setting I always use on my WD hitch. I then use the airbags to get back to that ride height with added bed payload (sometimes as much as 2K on top of my 1.3K TW).

I have also found it to be a better and more stable ride if the truck settles 1-1.5" over an empty stance, otherwise it's too much air in the bags and it negatively effects the ride.

[rolopayne]

I am the same. I hook up with minimum pressure, just the recommended 10psi, then I raise with the onboard compressor to what I want, usually 45psi

[Dave_Mck]

I set up the bars and then air up the bags. Before I had the bags I used to go 5 links on the chains, now I go four. I don't go to a certain pressure, I just put in enough to stiffen up the rear end. I let it raise the rear end an inch or two. I've logged about 9,000 miles with this method, emergency braking, actually sliding, wind, driving 80-85 mph, it works great for my set up.