2nd Gen Non-Engine/Transmission for camper: airbags or Roadmaster?

[geusterman]

I am going to "camper" my new HO 2500 (the choice of camper being a great subject all its own!) and wondered if there is a consensus on Firestone airbags versus a spring assist for stabilizing the load. Anybody?

 

[Dieselnerd]

I've got the camper package on mine. If I didn't, I would go with airbags and an on board compressor. In fact I have been thinking about taking off my camper overload springs and going to either the Air Lift or Firestone air springs myself. That way you can level your rig depending on how much you are carrying.

 

[QRTRHRS]

Somewhere their is a post about a bad experiance with Roadmaster's and a camper on the back. I have Roadmaster's on my 3500. They did help remove some of the freeway slap and improved cornering a bit. I don't usually have that much weight directly on my bed. I noticed no change pulling my gooseneck. Had I to do over though, I would have applied the money towards airbags.

 

[BigMike]

I put airbags with an onboard compressor on my truck for towing my 5er. I didn't have the camper package, and was getting a fair amount of sag when I hitched up. Airbags have solved that problem. I love the onboard compressor. Don't know anything about Roadmaster.

 

[JohnMcIntyre]

The Answer.....

I use both the Firestone airbags plus the Roadmaster set-up. The two together are very complementary!

i've travelled west coast to east coast and across the big pond and though most of Europe and I have had no problems with the combined set-up... . Supporting details are in the sigfile within the truck profile below... ...

 

[geusterman]

"Across the pond... . with airbags and Roadmasters" Gee John, sounds like both of them will really help me get around! HA! There you are in Malaysia and still can't stay off the TDR! I worked in Taiwan last year and had to check into the Diesel Page regularly. Talk about addiction! Hope you can come back often.



I have the camper special which appears to be an extra spring which last year was two springs as I understand it. Also, there is a sway bar under pumpkin. Some of you are saying that is sufficient and others are saying something needs to be added. Is it the weight of the camper here that causes that? A 10' Lance or another all-weather is going to hit 3000 lbs dry easy. And we want to carry them. I was going to stay close to 25-2600 lbs but with all the stuff we have to add it will hit 3500 easy. I have 3450 lb tires and I am imagining some help with the load. Sounds so far like air bags are step one and possibly Roadmasters step two. Why can't the camper spring be left on with air bags? Thanks gentlemen. George

 

[Cobra]

Geusterman,

Here is my . 02 cents.

I have an 01 2500 with the camper special setup. I bought the bigest Coachman camper to haul. The truck saleman told me I probably should put air bags on the rear so I did. (Air lift air springs). I made two trips to Fla and when big rigs would pass me or on sharp turns at speed on the Interstate my heart would race from all the swaying.



I told my son-in-law about it and he said take the air bags off. You are raising the bed above the overload springs. I got more opinions from this forum and many said get Rancho 9000 and take off the air bags.



I took off the bags and put on the Rancho 9000 and now I can drive on the two lane highways in Penna. at unmentionable mph no racing heart and quite comfortable riding.



Life is good, happy trails to ya

 

[JohnMcIntyre]

Originally posted by geusterman

[B Gee John, There you are in Malaysia and still can't stay off the TDR! [/B]

Actually George, I 've moved on again from KL in the Far East and now I'm back in Europe once more, currently on assignment in Switzerland until the end of the summer.

 

[geusterman]

Cobra--thanks! You have reminded me of Rancho's which I have heard over the years to be the "camper fix" and have forgotten all about them. It makes sense that the weight needs to be "down" on the springs for stability, not held up and off the suspension. Your extra heavy camper is a good acid test for heart paralysis prevention testing. Thanks again. I really understand heart paralysis. My last class A motor home, fondly referred to as "Satan," was trying to stop my heart constantly. Funny, it was a Cobra.

 

[geusterman]

John--I liked Asia but always glad to get home. It has a hook in me though, and would go back. Checked your Profile and noted the Rancho's which may help more than you think according to Cobra's post. Such good info here! Tell me about your Aero tank. Quality? Installation ease? Long-term problems? Thanks. George Eusterman

 

[Dane]

I have Air Lift air bags and Roadmasters for hauling my cabover. Great combo imo...

 

[C Schomer]

The Airlift bags work great with my 5th wh. I'm glad I forgot to order overloads. A stabilizer bar would be nice for a slide-in. I've been working on a compressor setup to control the bags and the Rancho 9000s. I tried it out last night and it worked super! Craig

 

[Deezul1]

I had airbags on a 75 f250 4x4 with a 11. 5 camper. That ford 4x4 is quite high from the factory. Overload springs didnt solve the problem of sagging in the rear but the air bags were great. I would measure the rear bumper height unloaded , load the camper and air the bags back to stock height. This made the head lights stay in adjustment too. If I remeber correctly I was running about 55psi in the bags. It was very much more stable around corners and winding roads too. I think that the bags need to be inflated pretty hard to gain stability. Mine was raised up off the overloads when inflated and was much better than when down on the overloads.

 

[Bhale]

I bought camper and truck new in '96 and had the AirLift airbags and on-board comperssorwith in-cab controls installed at the same time. This thing bounced, swayed and generally handled real bad. We even talked about getting a 3500 after the first trip. Once i put the RS9000's on it everthing settled down nicely. If you have the camper package, which adds the extra spring, you'll need different lower mounting brackets from AirLift. They sent me a set free of charge including shipping! This was back in '96, things may have changed since then. To make the best use of the airbags, i stop on a level surface and lower the bags till the bumpers are just barely touching the helper springs, usually about 85 PSI depending on what the wife packs. That seems to be best for highway runs. On side roads and such i'll often reduce pressure to 65-75 to put more weight on the helper springs. Another benefit of the airbags is leveling the camper. I can get about 4" front to back and side to side. Once the camper jacks are touching the ground, let all the air out of the bags. Real stable.



I have been considering a beefier set of sway bars and poly bushings as i've been told this will help the handling even more. Anyone have any suggestions?



Brian Hale

 

[JohnMcIntyre]

Aerotanks.....

Originally posted by geusterman

Such good info here! Tell me about your Aero tank. Quality? Installation ease? Long-term problems? Thanks. George Eusterman

George, I went for the 60 gals Aerotank in my 2nd gen 3500 4x4 after a good freind of mine over here in Europe took his 1st gen 3500 4xr plus Lance camper from Los Angeles right upto the end of Alaska, then after a few months (northern hemisphere summer), he turned around and headed south and carried onto the tip of South America where he spent the southern hemisphere summer, before returning to the origin point in Los Angeles, before heading back to Europe via east coast USA. His tank of choice was was the 60gals Aerotank and I saw the "before" and "after" views personally, before he left and when he got back to Europe.



There are other brands of Aftermarket fuel tanks out there, some in the bed variants even have toolbox/auxiliary fuel combinations as well. I have had no problems in 20k+ miles in mine across the whoile USA and parts of Canada plus most of mainland Europe. Reliability, longevity and ruggedness were all high on my shopping list, especially as the factory in Pomona California is the other side of the pond.



I'm happy to say that I've had ZERO problems since and I cannot see this changing. The kicker also is that, I can get my spare 19. 5 Rickson tire and rim in the same space as the factory stock 16 inch setup - although it's a bit tight, but I can live with that. Hope this feedback is useful - check the truck profile for the Aerotanks weblink.





JMc

 

[geusterman]

Good Aero tank report there, John. From the replies above yours it appears that the air bags are individually adjusted. Front too? With 60 gallons of fuel on one side and who knows what kind of balence issues and leveling issues there might be it appears that individual adjustments would be desireable. Is that the case?



Dane, do you have Ranchos? C Shomer, are the Ranchos air adjustable as well? The air set up would be great with some Air Lockers. Anybody do all that? George

 

[C Schomer]

Rancho make an air kit for the 9000s - you take the knobs off and put a plastic fitting in it's place. I didn't want their system because it's designed to leak - go figure! They also said their wimpy compressor wouldn't last very long if I used it for bags. I converted my rear 9000s to air adjust with the plates from Marks Custom Stuff($23) and got a three way Swagelok valve($29) and 160lb gauges. I made a manifold out of 1/8" brass fittings and got a $15 compressor at Checker. I used 5/32" Nycoil tubing and Polytite fittings for the air lines. I turn the valve to one side to pump up or lower the bags and turn it the other way for the shocks. When everything is where I want it, I turn the valve to the center - off. I put a Schrader (tank valve) on the common side of the valve for bleeding off pressure. I have to plug the compressor into the cig. lighter until I wire it permanently. Mark(MCS)told me that setting 5 on the 9000s is 150 lbs. I only adjust the rear shocks - they are in parallel and the bags are in papallel, so a 3 way valve(one common port and two branches) works for me. You could add more valves and gauges to the manifold and control as many circuits as you want. Craig

 

[JohnMcIntyre]

Firstone airbags & in-cab gizmo

Originally posted by geusterman

it appears that the air bags are individually adjusted. Front too? George

Yes, the Firestone airbags are individually adjustable from inside the cab - really useful gizmo George. I only have the airbags on the rear. The Rancho 9000s are all adjustable in-situ, i. e. crawl underneath and rotate the starwheel as and when required.



JMc

 

[geusterman]

Thanks John and CShomer. Seems like the verdict now for a large camper are Rancho 9000 (?) shocks, Firestone airbags and perhaps Roadmasters after that. Does that seem reasonable? I have 3450 pound tires and want to avoid a camper heavy enough to require duallies. BigFoot makes a nice 3/4 camper with 56 gallons of fresh water. The idea of air bags on 4 corners and leveling with them then stabilizing with jacks is intrigueing. (Wish we had spell-check here!). I appreciated all the replies and valuable experience. When this is done I am going to print it off and use it to set up my rig. My next question is one of compressors. I am assuming that a quality compressor could be driven by the engine, like in my motorhome. Is that the case? GE

 

[JohnMcIntyre]

On-board air

Originally posted by geusterman

I am assuming that a quality compressor could be driven by the engine, like in my motorhome. Is that the case? GE

Sorry to disillusion you George, but... . there ain't enough space under the hood to drive a compressor off the crank because the rear engine mount in the Dodge implementation takes up "exactly" the same space as where Cummins recommends a crank driven air supply..... The most feasible option is an electrically powered air compressor.



Also, it's wise to validate the duty cycle. Have you checked the TDR web site for Dave Fritz details or spoke with TMTT... . hmmm cancel that last bit, Amy, the new wife might not be too pleased - TMTT is on his honeymoon



JMc