AIRLIFT AIR BAGS?////////UPDATE////////////////////////////

[joelyn]

Have the airlift air bags installed on 2012 ram 1500, will be towing our 28 ft TT weighting about 4900lbs with a tongue weight of about 380lbs. Anyone have these bags and if so how many lbs of air should u put in the airbags? they are rated up to 100lbs.... how do i know how much to add for a good ride? what do i look for? if anyone can advise me or tell me what they put in the bags when traveling.

asked the installer and he would not give me any type of answer, he just gave me the run a round.

any suggestions???
thanks

[Lynnmor]

Sounds normal to me, I run 23lbs.

[joelyn]

OK, i hooked up the trailer today and measured the height of the rear wheels from thr ground to the top of the fender which was 38ins, empty. hooked up the trailer and the truck sank 1 in, it was now 37ins at the fender. pumped up the air bags to bring the fender back up to 38ins. and that took about 24lbs of air. took it for a ride and seemed to pull ok. never went up any hills or anything like that. will be doing that on monday...
so based on what i posted does that seem pretty normal for the height when hooked up and the amount of air in the bags??? just asking, i am sure other factors will factor in. had a WDH and sway control hooked up also.
thanks

[Groover]

joelyn wrote:

Groover wrote:
All of the answers so far have been correct in that you simply inflate them until the truck rides well. Your actual pressue will depend on what type of bag you installed and quite a few other variables. Personally, I would start by inflating them until the truck is lifted back to about an inch lower than it was when you started. I feel sure that the weights you gave for the trailer are empty and that you will add both total weight and tongue weight as you load up for a trip. I would not get too excited about tongue weight until after it has been loaded and then checked. Also, just to be clear, the air bags are rated for an air pressue of 100 pounds per square inch, not 100 pounds on them.

I feel that a truck empty is at its maximum designed ride height and is at its minimum designed ride height with a full rated load. So somewhere in the to middle should be a good place for driving around and for the headlights to be well aimed. You will probably find a sticker on the hitch that tells you to use a weight distributing hitch if your trailer weighs over 5,000lbs(loaded) or your tongue weight is over 500lbs(loaded) and yours probably will be as jmtandem pointed out. The weight distributing hitch does a lot to reduce bouncing of the rear end of the truck while towing.

Finally, most people end up filling the bed of the truck with stuff when they go camping. The air bags are really more for helping with that weight than they are for the tongue weight. The equalizer hitch should handle a large portion of the tongue weight.

thanks groover,they are airlift bags with that jounce inside. ultimate 5000. yes i do have a weight dist hitch and sway bar combination so hopefully should be ok. never towed anything this long and i hope weight is not a problem for my 2012 ram 1500 hemi crew cab.
thanks again for the response

You are welcome. I am pulling about double that with my half ton and while it is loaded it does very well. I think that you will be fine. I too added the ultimate 5000's to my truck (and my daughter's F150) but found that they made the rear end too stiff. The ride was brutal on both trucks even with the trailer attached. I did stir up a firestorm when I reported that so there are obviously a lot people that have had better experiences. Anyway, I feel that the 5000s are better suited to dualies than half tons. I have a set of the 2000lb air bags still in the box that I am going to install as soon as I get the time. Hopefully these will not make the ride so stiff. The reviews on AutoAnything included several from others that had done the same thing and said that their half ton trucks road much better with the 2000lb bags. Face it, a 2000lb set of bags is plenty of extra lift for a truck that is only rated to carry 1700lbs in the first place. Actually, my truck rides nicely without the bags, I just want a little extra ground clearance on rough terrain while loaded.

I hope that you are happy with what you have but if you do find the ride to be rough like I did there is an option.

[camp-n-family]

Do yourself a favour and try to get some actual weights. Hookup and take it to a scale. Using the brochure and dry weights can be highly inaccurate.

A trailer with a dry weight of 4200lbs is likely several hundred pounds heavier once options, propane, batteries etc are added. I suspect your loaded weight to be well over 5k even lightly packed.

Same goes for your tongue weight. You say 460lbs (which is still too light for your stated 4900lbs weight). As you load the trailer your tongue weight will increase. The listed 460lbs is for an empty trailer and doesn't include the propane tanks and battery which are usually mounted on the tongue and will easily add 100+lbs to the tongue weight.

[joelyn]

Grit dog wrote:
If you have a weight dist hitch you likely don't need any help from the airbags unless you're carrying a bunch of weight in the bed.
If you're just hitched up directly, no wdh, then work off the amount of pressure to get close to unloaded ride height. Wouldn't think more than maybe 20 psi, unless again, you have weight in the bed too.

yes i will measure the height on the back wheels before loading. at least i have a starting point.thanks

[joelyn]

Groover wrote:
All of the answers so far have been correct in that you simply inflate them until the truck rides well. Your actual pressue will depend on what type of bag you installed and quite a few other variables. Personally, I would start by inflating them until the truck is lifted back to about an inch lower than it was when you started. I feel sure that the weights you gave for the trailer are empty and that you will add both total weight and tongue weight as you load up for a trip. I would not get too excited about tongue weight until after it has been loaded and then checked. Also, just to be clear, the air bags are rated for an air pressue of 100 pounds per square inch, not 100 pounds on them.

I feel that a truck empty is at its maximum designed ride height and is at its minimum designed ride height with a full rated load. So somewhere in the to middle should be a good place for driving around and for the headlights to be well aimed. You will probably find a sticker on the hitch that tells you to use a weight distributing hitch if your trailer weighs over 5,000lbs(loaded) or your tongue weight is over 500lbs(loaded) and yours probably will be as jmtandem pointed out. The weight distributing hitch does a lot to reduce bouncing of the rear end of the truck while towing.

Finally, most people end up filling the bed of the truck with stuff when they go camping. The air bags are really more for helping with that weight than they are for the tongue weight. The equalizer hitch should handle a large portion of the tongue weight.

thanks groover,they are airlift bags with that jounce inside. ultimate 5000. yes i do have a weight dist hitch and sway bar combination so hopefully should be ok. never towed anything this long and i hope weight is not a problem for my 2012 ram 1500 hemi crew cab.
thanks again for the response

[Grit_dog]

If you have a weight dist hitch you likely don't need any help from the airbags unless you're carrying a bunch of weight in the bed.
If you're just hitched up directly, no wdh, then work off the amount of pressure to get close to unloaded ride height. Wouldn't think more than maybe 20 psi, unless again, you have weight in the bed too.

[Groover]

All of the answers so far have been correct in that you simply inflate them until the truck rides well. Your actual pressue will depend on what type of bag you installed and quite a few other variables. Personally, I would start by inflating them until the truck is lifted back to about an inch lower than it was when you started. I feel sure that the weights you gave for the trailer are empty and that you will add both total weight and tongue weight as you load up for a trip. I would not get too excited about tongue weight until after it has been loaded and then checked. Also, just to be clear, the air bags are rated for an air pressue of 100 pounds per square inch, not 100 pounds on them.

I feel that a truck empty is at its maximum designed ride height and is at its minimum designed ride height with a full rated load. So somewhere in the to middle should be a good place for driving around and for the headlights to be well aimed. You will probably find a sticker on the hitch that tells you to use a weight distributing hitch if your trailer weighs over 5,000lbs(loaded) or your tongue weight is over 500lbs(loaded) and yours probably will be as jmtandem pointed out. The weight distributing hitch does a lot to reduce bouncing of the rear end of the truck while towing.

Finally, most people end up filling the bed of the truck with stuff when they go camping. The air bags are really more for helping with that weight than they are for the tongue weight. The equalizer hitch should handle a large portion of the tongue weight.

[joelyn]

THESE ARE THE SPECS ON THE TRAILER, WITH ABOUT 600LBS OF GEAR. WE TRAVEL LIGHT.



2004 Z 281 Specifications
Sleeps 6
Slides 1
Length 28 ft
Ext Width 8 ft
Ext Height 9 ft 10 in
Int Height 6 ft 4 in
Interior Color Neutral Beige with Maple Cabinetry
Exterior Color Aerodynamic Graphite
Hitch Weight 460 lbs
Gross Weight 6200 lbs
Dry Weight 4200 lbs
Cargo Weight 2000 lbs
Fresh Water Capacity 45 gals
Grey Water Capacity 35 gals
Black Water Capacity 35 gals
Tire Size 205/75D14C

[joelyn]

OK, i did check and ya'll are right, the tongue weight is 460 lbs the 380 was from my other trailer which is smaller.

[jmtandem]

will be towing our 28 ft TT weighting about 4900lbs with a tongue weight of about 380lbs.

Your tongue weight is WAY too low. Dangerously low, in fact. You want about 13 percent of the total trailer's weight on the tongue. Plus the weight of the hitch. If your hitch weighs around 75 pounds and you are at 13 percent on the tongue your total weight will be around 810 pounds. Anything less than 10 percent on the tongue is inviting sway issues. Hopefully you are using a weight distribution hitch and also a sway feature. Then, add air to the bags to get a level (pre tongue weight) height.

[Lynnmor]

You add air to restore the height to about what it was unloaded. Don’t expect an improvement in ride, it is just an additional spring.

[camp-n-family]

There is no right answer, every application is different. You should keep a minimum of 5psi at all times then air up when towing to what feels best. I used 15-20psi on my Tundra with 1k tongue weight.

On a side note, have you actually weighed your tongue? 380lbs is nowhere near enough tongue weight for a 4900lbs trailer. If you're adding airbags because of stability issues I would start by getting the proper tongue weights first. A stable trailer will have 12-15 percent of its weight on the tongue. You should have 600lbs on the tongue at minimum if your trailer weight is accurate.