Air Bags

[DPrew]

I had Firestone air bags on my 02' 2500 truck and am pondering air bags for my 09' dually. I'm thinking about shelling out the extra bucks for the in cab controls this time. I just wanted to hear what folks had to say about Airlift, airbagit.com, or any of the other companies.

 

[JHumphries]

Truck U just installed the kit from Airbag it on a Furd.
The system looks real nice, and it looked like it installed easily
As soon as I can convince the wife I will be buying their kit. After reading all of the info on Airbagit, I would only stick with their system. There descriptions seem legit and make sense to me.

 

[Garlic]

airbagit.com sure has alot of options, the prices are not too bad either. I purchased mine from a local company that I deal with for class 8 truck parts and got a great deal on them. I installed the auto leveler (Mechanical not electronic) and set them up to work only when there is weight on the hitch. No ride difference unloaded. I will probably install a dump valve in the near future to assist with unloading the 5'er. but as for now the system is great.

 

[MMcCowan]

I have the Air-Lift bags. I do not have the in-cab controls, but I am impressed with the quality. I set them at 30 lbs. before winter and they haven't lost any air.

 

[MMeilicke]

Why would one want airbags if you have not exceeded your axle weight rating?

 

[JHumphries]

One reason is if you lift the truck, most of the kits also 'level' the truck i. e. 4" lift in front, 2" lift in the rear.
This allows more room for tires in the front.
The problem comes when you then put a trailer on the truck. The truck now has a reverse rake because the front and rear start at the same height unloaded.
For a non-lifted truck, the air bags usually provide a smoother ride by performing the function of the overload portion of the springs, allowing the softer portion to give a smooth ride.

 

[Garlic]

IMHO; Dodge springs sort of suck. With a near capacity load on the '96 I reversed the arch, sucked to be me, I was not smart enough to get the overloads on it, so bags were my choice to correct the problem. With the 07. 5 3500 and overloads, the ride was crappy to say the least when the 5'er was on it (1,100# pin weight) and the handling was worse than the '96's. The bags, at the corrected ride height made everything, (for me at least) come together, ride and handling.

 

[mpaulson]

I have Firestone bags with the controler and have had no problems with it. I love it as I am always changing my loads from a 36' gooseneck flat deck, to a two story quad deck, and RV, to bumper hithch trailers for hauling water. the ability to adjust on the fly without stopping at a compressor is awsume. One thing though if you are hauling any loads that are top heavy, by airing up so that you are not dragging you butt on the road, you lift away from the overload leafs which gives you the side to side sway that can be quite alarming while cornering or in an emergency manuver. The air will travel from one side to the other and will feel spongy. I just installed a Roadmaster 1 3/8" sway bar kit on the truck tonight and will test it out within the week when I load my deck back on and load it up. This is only an issue if you have a top heavy load, otherwise the bags are great.

 

[JFought]

mpalso i have the sway issue as wel>> Give feedback results from the sway bar please

 

[MJarske]

I have the in cab switch. Its great to have the ability to adjust on the fly. I'm still making adjustments to the compressor mount as this frame attenuates sound thru the cab. I dont mind it but the wife complains every time the compressor kicks on.

I added an air tank which caused a problem.

I had to add a third solenoid and double pole switch. throw the switch right to set fill, throw to left before dumping. not how the in cab setup is designed, but its nice to have the tank for air tools etc.

 

[JHumphries]

All air bags should be isolated from the other side to prevent the sway problem.
MJarske has a good solution with that switch and solenoids.
Having them plumbed to gether to set ride height works, but when you are driving they should be seperate.

 

[JFought]

yes separated is ideal. but when you fill you will get uneven pressure because of the location of the valves and length of the tubs to the bag.

additionally you have the same problem with the deflate.
(the above is in ref. to individual fill and individual dump valves. )

Therefore: one fill and one dump is the easiest to install.
I just wish there was a highly restricted coupler/fitting that would highly slow the transfer of air from side to side, that would give some time to make the cure and level the truck side to side, before much sway.

I have about 1800lbs in the bed (all the time), so when i raise it up to about factory
I believe that we lose the anti sway part built/designed into the leafs to help prevent the sway.

 

[mpaulson]

There is a device that works to restrict the flow from side to side. It slows down the flow to help with the side to side transfer. I haven't and won't try them because they were something like $160 a pair or so. Super Steer has them. These will also slow down the air up time and the air down time I'm sure. I thought of making my own with a small needle valve places in each line by the bags and screwing it in to do the same effect as the Super Steer parts, but only about $15 worth of parts from the local hardware store. I won't bother now that I dropped $650 on the stablizer bar which no valving on the air bags could match for control.



check this link:



http://www.hendersonslineup.com/products/pickup-truck-and-suv/suspension.html

 

[DPrew]

Next week I'll have my $299 inside the frame air bag kit. If it looks like an easy bolt up with a few holes to drill I'll just do it myself. Otherwise I'll part with a few C-notes and let get some help. With a business to run and three kids some times it's a better investment to just part with some cash.

 

[surfbeetle]

I have the Air Lift Bags on my 95 with separate manual fill at the rear license plate bracket. . They work great but I now want the auto fill with the pump.

I saw the kit that has one gauge and looks to fill both bags together, it's the cheaper one but I don't think it's the one I want. Based on wanting to keep the rears separated for side to side control, I am assuming that I should get the kit that has the compressor and two gauges so each bag is filled independently. Is this correct?

 

[Matt400]

I did the AirLift wireless control to a pair of PackBrake bags that was pretty slick. I sold the compressor on e-bay and tied it into my exhaust brake pump/tank unit. Isolated fill & dumps, maintained pressure to the pound.
My personal experience and opinion was that even with 5 psi in the bags my unloaded ride was noticeably rougher. This may or may not have been due to the extra tough bag material and single bellows design of the PackBrake bags. . dunno.

Due to the unloaded harshness I sold the setup as I use the truck more unloaded than loaded and my springs handle the loaded conditions ok but a little extra would be welcome without the harshness.
If I try another product it may be the Hellwig Pro-Series

 

[mpaulson]

The sway bar made a world of difference with the top heavy load. The only down side I have noticed is when you hit a hole, or bump with one of the rear set of duals, it is a little bit rougher since you loose some of the independant action on the rear axle as it now moves up and down on both sides of the truck as a unit, not independantly. But overall, I wouldn't do without it.

 

[DPrew]

Well, got my kit but it's not a clean bolt up. The brake lines on the axle are in the way on both ends of the axle. I'm talking with company about how they need to ante up some braided brake lines to rectify the problem. I still can't tell if everything else will bolt up cleanly since the brake lines have me at a stand still.

 

[DPrew]

Well I finally got my Airbagit.com inside the frame rail kit installed. I think I'm the first person to buy the kit for an 09'. One bracket didn't fit because the brake lines were in the way. I had to grind the bracket to allow it to straddle the brake manifold on the axle. Some bolt holes were 1/2" but the bolts supplied were 3/8". I had to run to Home Depot to buy some stouter and longer bolts.



The kit pretty much came with no directions which made it a challenge. A few of the bolts holes had casting flaws that required me to have to file some of the holes out by hand. I'm working on getting some braided brake lines made because the kit requires moving the factory brakes lines but just leaves them poorly secured. I had to shim the bracket that goes above the airbag as well because otherwise it interfered with tightening the top bolts on the airbag.



I'm working with Airbagit.com to work out these issues. I'll let you know how well they rectify the problems. I think they have a good product but they need to work on important things like model specific directions and quality control.

 

[mules4me]

Has anybody mounted the compressor and the guages in a 09 yet. I would like to but not sure where to fit them in.



Dave