When I purchased my new F150 I was afraid that I would not be happy with its load carrying capacity after driving an F250 for over 20 years so I immediately put on a set of airbags. The ride was so bad that my wife refused to get in the truck after a short time. After trying everything else that I could think of I broke down and took the airbags back off. Now the truck rides much better empty and not too badly with an 11,000lb trailer behind it.I think that my mistake was that I bought the bags that Airlift advertises as their premium product but they are really intended for duallies, not F150's. I have no complaints about the quality of the product or the customer service from Airlift. In fact they are excellent to work with. My only complaint is the ride. I may order their smaller springs some day that may be sized more appropriately for an F150. I may also do like Freightliner did on my DP and put ping tanks in the airlines to soften the effects of the airbags on the ride. I regularly pull near the max rated capacity of the truck and have noticed some shudder when taking off hard from a stop. I think is from axle hop but other than that no real loss other than the jarring ride. I did not have that shudder with the airbags on. I do use a load distributing hitch to deal with the tongue weight. So my advice would be that if you are putting airbags on a half ton truck don't get the 5,000lb ones, get something more appropriately sized. Now I am pondering the best way to get ping tanks and how big they should be.

I put about 90 psi in my Air Lift bags when towing and about 20 when not. Ride seems OK to me....

Actually I think your mistake was buying an F150 for an 11,000 lb trailer.

You're grossly over weight, cue the weight Gestapo. I have bags on my 2500 Ram and only put 35 lbs in them when towing the Montana just enough to get level.

IdaD wrote:Actually I think your mistake was buying an F150 for an 11,000 lb trailer.Yeah...what he said

I have a 1500 Silverado, with AirLift airbags. They recommend minimum 5 lbs, which I run when empty an about 50 when pulling my 5000 lb. TT (to get it level)No complaints here.

I just took my airbags off of my truck | Good Sam Community

Passin_Thru
Explorer
Apr 17, 2017
Can you send me the old bags and mount?
Groover
Explorer II
Apr 16, 2017
marc71 wrote:
Lynnmor wrote:
marc71 wrote:
I recently installed Firestone Ride-Rite air bags on my Tundra, absolutely love them. It took a few trips to get the air pressure just right, I'm at between 25-30psi while hooked up and right at 5psi while unhooked. I will say it seems to ride a little rougher while empty but nothing to complain about. After I purchased these I saw an Ad for another company's product (can't remember the manufactures name at the moment) but their air bags have the bump stop built inside the air bags so you can run with zero air pressure without doing harm to the bags.

Air-Lift recommends 5 psi minimum with their air bags with bump stops.

The Air Lift Load Lifter Ultimate 88212 is one of the new exclusive air spring kits from Air Lift Company. This air bag kit will include all of the advantages of the standard Load Lifter 5000, with the added benefit of an internal jounce bumper.

The jounce bumper is made of closed-cell urethane foam in order to eliminate rough ride and provide an air cushion that will absorb shock effect and provide additional stability while towing or hauling heavy loads. This bump stop also gives the driver ability to run the air springs at zero PSI without causing any harm.

Like the Load Lifter 5000, this Ultimate Series kit will give your vehicle up to 5,000 lbs of load leveling capacity. It is also backed by a lifetime warranty and a satisfaction guarantee. With most applications being NO-DRILL, installation is fast and easy, with quality components to ensure that the first installation is the last.

This was taken right from the web site...

Those are the bags I had and I noticed an immediate and dramatic degradation in ride quality that went away when I took the bags back off. As I stated earlier my wife refused to get in the truck while those bags were on it. I suspect that the bags are great for heavier trucks and I do miss them some with heavier loads but will probably go with the smallest bag they make if I choose to put some back on my half ton truck. Now I just need to figure out what to do with bags I took off.

Now that I have confirmed that the air bag installation was the cause of my rough ride I need to call AirLift and discuss the issue with them. My limited experience with their customer service has been excellent. My helper broke a part during installation so I called AirLift and tried to buy a new part but they refused my money and expedited getting me an entire new assembly. I don't want anyone to think that I am being critical of them.
cummins2014
Explorer
Apr 15, 2017
Lynnmor wrote:
Manual

Click "Download Installation manual"

5 psi minimum, 100 psi maximum

Yes you can go to zero, but it is not recommended.

You are correct don't know why some think they can run 0 pressure in them. They do say that you can run them empty for a limited amount of time, and that too makes no sense. What is a limited amount of time. I wouldn't run any airbag without at least 5-10 psi. in them
atwowheelguy
Explorer
Apr 15, 2017
Groover wrote:
demiles wrote:
Groover wrote:
"For the love of a god let the news media know when your traveling so we can clear the roads. Seriously. "

Someone uses a 1/2 ton truck to its rated capacity and it scares you that badly? Seriously?

Its very difficult to reach the max rated tow on the f150 without exceeding Max rated tongue weight, and or RAWR of the truck. The minimum tongue weight should be 1100lbs and the f150 is rated at max 1220 and most likely your over that with a travel trailer. For RVing that 11,000 lb rating is very unrealistic especially for a TT. So the comments are based on basic math not just opinion.

That is what a load distributing hitch is for. Also, the trailer is for business and their is rarely any other significant load in the truck while the trailer is hitched up. Just me, my lunch and a couple of hand tools. So I am within the operating parameters as stated by the factory. In this case your assumed "facts" are incorrect.

A load distributing hitch puts a fair amount of the tongue weight back on the trailer so 1500lbs of tongue weight may only result in 1000lbs on the truck and 500lbs back on the trailer, leaving me 700lbs in the GVWR to cover me and my lunch. That should be adequate. I do make sure that the the bottom leaf of the rear springs is slightly engaged for the extra traction and to reduce axle wrap up. I don't let it go much farther so that steering is not overly affected.

When I adjusted my WDH so that the front truck axle was only 100 lbs. lighter with the trailer attached, it transferred only 16% of the tongue weight to the trailer axles. Did you actually weigh your rig to measure a 33% tongue weight transfer to the trailer axles?
Lynnmor
Explorer
Apr 14, 2017
Manual

Click "Download Installation manual"

5 psi minimum, 100 psi maximum

Yes you can go to zero, but it is not recommended.
marc71
Explorer
Apr 13, 2017
Lynnmor wrote:
marc71 wrote:
I recently installed Firestone Ride-Rite air bags on my Tundra, absolutely love them. It took a few trips to get the air pressure just right, I'm at between 25-30psi while hooked up and right at 5psi while unhooked. I will say it seems to ride a little rougher while empty but nothing to complain about. After I purchased these I saw an Ad for another company's product (can't remember the manufactures name at the moment) but their air bags have the bump stop built inside the air bags so you can run with zero air pressure without doing harm to the bags.

Air-Lift recommends 5 psi minimum with their air bags with bump stops.

The Air Lift Load Lifter Ultimate 88212 is one of the new exclusive air spring kits from Air Lift Company. This air bag kit will include all of the advantages of the standard Load Lifter 5000, with the added benefit of an internal jounce bumper.

The jounce bumper is made of closed-cell urethane foam in order to eliminate rough ride and provide an air cushion that will absorb shock effect and provide additional stability while towing or hauling heavy loads. This bump stop also gives the driver ability to run the air springs at zero PSI without causing any harm.

Like the Load Lifter 5000, this Ultimate Series kit will give your vehicle up to 5,000 lbs of load leveling capacity. It is also backed by a lifetime warranty and a satisfaction guarantee. With most applications being NO-DRILL, installation is fast and easy, with quality components to ensure that the first installation is the last.

This was taken right from the web site...
Lynnmor
Explorer
Apr 13, 2017
marc71 wrote:
I recently installed Firestone Ride-Rite air bags on my Tundra, absolutely love them. It took a few trips to get the air pressure just right, I'm at between 25-30psi while hooked up and right at 5psi while unhooked. I will say it seems to ride a little rougher while empty but nothing to complain about. After I purchased these I saw an Ad for another company's product (can't remember the manufactures name at the moment) but their air bags have the bump stop built inside the air bags so you can run with zero air pressure without doing harm to the bags.

Air-Lift recommends 5 psi minimum with their air bags with bump stops.
marc71
Explorer
Apr 13, 2017
I recently installed Firestone Ride-Rite air bags on my Tundra, absolutely love them. It took a few trips to get the air pressure just right, I'm at between 25-30psi while hooked up and right at 5psi while unhooked. I will say it seems to ride a little rougher while empty but nothing to complain about. After I purchased these I saw an Ad for another company's product (can't remember the manufactures name at the moment) but their air bags have the bump stop built inside the air bags so you can run with zero air pressure without doing harm to the bags.
MFL
Nomad II
Apr 12, 2017
Grit dog wrote:
1320Fastback wrote:
For the love of a god let the news media know when your traveling so we can clear the roads. Seriously.

Funny post considering that new F150 has way better brakes than that old 1st gen in your picture!
But I suppose it's irresponsible because the first number in the model doesn't start with a 2 or a 3?
My vote for weight cop post of the week!^

I agree, not bad for just a beginner wt cop!! Funny thing...our full time wt cop has not even answered the call after this many pages.:h

Jerry
Grit_dog
Navigator
Apr 12, 2017
1320Fastback wrote:
For the love of a god let the news media know when your traveling so we can clear the roads. Seriously.

Funny post considering that new F150 has way better brakes than that old 1st gen in your picture!
But I suppose it's irresponsible because the first number in the model doesn't start with a 2 or a 3?
My vote for weight cop post of the week!^