Air bags help disconnect?

[pennstaterv]

Hi all --

I have been contemplating adding air bags to help level my tow vehicle (F350 dually) for awhile now. Recently I discovered a crack leaf in my suspension, so I am deciding whether to upgrade the leaf pack to something beefier, or to replace them and add air bags.

I am curious for anyone who has them whether it is possible to assist in un-hitching the fiver by adjusting air pressure and dropping the legs. I ask because the landing gear motor on my fifth wheel is absolutely garbage. It has been replaced and serviced under warranty and still barely works. Very slow and sometimes get to a point where it simply will not lift the fifth wheel.

Anybody ever try this?

[cummins2014]

transamz9 wrote:

fj12ryder wrote:
You'd have to be looking at something that would raise and lower the truck quite a ways. I would think that full air suspension would be the only thing that would allow that much latitude.

You might look at replacing your motor/legs with something like the Bulldog Landing Gear System . That's what I put on my toyhauler when the OEM landing gear took a dump. It's not a cheap system, but it works as advertised. One of the best things I've done to our trailer.

Not necessarily. The air assist on my 2016 Ram greatly helpespecially unhook ingredients from the 5er. Put the landing gear down and take just a very little weight off the truck and the system will dump the air allowing you to pull out without raising the 5er.

Same with my AirLift aftermarket, lower the legs down remove some weight dump the air, and unhook.

[Interex]

Air bags on a truck will definitely help to lift when unhooking. On my Tundra, the Firestone airbags will lift the truck nearly 4-6 inches from it's stock height if I max out the bags with 100 psi. With my WDH, I don't air up the bags at all and leave them at 5 psi when I'm towing. I'm eventually planning on installing a compressor with a wireless controller (Air Lift Wireless One) and will inflate when taking the load off my bars.

[transamz9]

fj12ryder wrote:

transamz9 wrote:

fj12ryder wrote:
You'd have to be looking at something that would raise and lower the truck quite a ways. I would think that full air suspension would be the only thing that would allow that much latitude.

You might look at replacing your motor/legs with something like the Bulldog Landing Gear System . That's what I put on my toyhauler when the OEM landing gear took a dump. It's not a cheap system, but it works as advertised. One of the best things I've done to our trailer.

Not necessarily. The air assist on my 2016 Ram greatly helpespecially unhook ingredients from the 5er. Put the landing gear down and take just a very little weight off the truck and the system will dump the air allowing you to pull out without raising the 5er.

The new systems sound like they raise more than standard air bags. I have the add-on Firestone air bags on my truck and they only add a couple inches at most. Not near enough to make a lot of difference. I do let air out when unhitching and add air when hitching back up, but it really doesn't help much, especially if the ground is somewhat uneven.

HAHA First off, my post you quoted was typed on my phone. How was you even able to read and understand it. HAHA!

The question the OP asked was will they help in unhooking. The bags don't have to raise or lower the truck to achieve this other than being able to raise the truck back to factory ride height after putting the load on. As long as you are at unloaded ride height when the trailer is hooked then you will simply put the landing gear on the ground, put enough pressure on them to just start raising the 5th wheel and stop. Dump your air out of the bags and you will be able to drive out.

Now if you are talking about leveling the camper with the bags then you are correct. The load assist bags will not work for that. I have a 2005 that I installed a 4-link air ride system on that I can and did level the camper with before unhooking from it. I can raise it 4" above and 4" below normal ride height. This type of system is not cheap but IMO is the only way to go if doing suspension upgrades.

[fj12ryder]

transamz9 wrote:

fj12ryder wrote:
You'd have to be looking at something that would raise and lower the truck quite a ways. I would think that full air suspension would be the only thing that would allow that much latitude.

You might look at replacing your motor/legs with something like the Bulldog Landing Gear System . That's what I put on my toyhauler when the OEM landing gear took a dump. It's not a cheap system, but it works as advertised. One of the best things I've done to our trailer.

Not necessarily. The air assist on my 2016 Ram greatly helpespecially unhook ingredients from the 5er. Put the landing gear down and take just a very little weight off the truck and the system will dump the air allowing you to pull out without raising the 5er.

The new systems sound like they raise more than standard air bags. I have the add-on Firestone air bags on my truck and they only add a couple inches at most. Not near enough to make a lot of difference. I do let air out when unhitching and add air when hitching back up, but it really doesn't help much, especially if the ground is somewhat uneven.

[pennstaterv]

transamz9 wrote:

fj12ryder wrote:
You'd have to be looking at something that would raise and lower the truck quite a ways. I would think that full air suspension would be the only thing that would allow that much latitude.

You might look at replacing your motor/legs with something like the Bulldog Landing Gear System . That's what I put on my toyhauler when the OEM landing gear took a dump. It's not a cheap system, but it works as advertised. One of the best things I've done to our trailer.

Not necessarily. The air assist on my 2016 Ram greatly helpespecially unhook ingredients from the 5er. Put the landing gear down and take just a very little weight off the truck and the system will dump the air allowing you to pull out without raising the 5er.

great... any help is better than what i've got now. I will check into the bulldog system also. ours is a toy hauler (raptor) too and like I said, the landing gear motor is total garbage.

just ordered up new leaf springs, firestone ride rite bags, and the airlift wireless compressor system. pretty pumped (no pun intended) to try it out.

[transamz9]

fj12ryder wrote:
You'd have to be looking at something that would raise and lower the truck quite a ways. I would think that full air suspension would be the only thing that would allow that much latitude.

You might look at replacing your motor/legs with something like the Bulldog Landing Gear System . That's what I put on my toyhauler when the OEM landing gear took a dump. It's not a cheap system, but it works as advertised. One of the best things I've done to our trailer.

Not necessarily. The air assist on my 2016 Ram greatly helpespecially unhook ingredients from the 5er. Put the landing gear down and take just a very little weight off the truck and the system will dump the air allowing you to pull out without raising the 5er.

[fj12ryder]

You'd have to be looking at something that would raise and lower the truck quite a ways. I would think that full air suspension would be the only thing that would allow that much latitude.

You might look at replacing your motor/legs with something like the Bulldog Landing Gear System . That's what I put on my toyhauler when the OEM landing gear took a dump. It's not a cheap system, but it works as advertised. One of the best things I've done to our trailer.

[dodge_guy]

If money were no object I would go with Kelderman Air Ride. they offer kits for stock height as well as lift kits. not cheap, but great quality.