Air Lift Air Suspension - Broke mine?

On my 2012 F450 with Classy Chassis RV Hauler Bed, I have Ford's standard leaf-spring / shock absorber rear suspension. Added to that, I have an Air Lift Air Bag System. My system has a wireless controller and automatically maintains the air pressure I set it to.

This all said - I have a problem with the system. At sometime on my last big trip, the truck seemed to be riding rougher than the usual rough when towing. Well, turns out that while I thought I was maintaining 55 PSI in my Air Lift bags, I likely had zero PSI in them. Not 55 and not the 5 PSI minimum. Oops. Not knowing what my situation was, I ran for a few thousand miles like this. Yeah - oops!

Spoke to Air Lift today and they told me the "199/0" code I'm getting on my wireless controller indicates a bad manifold. This manifold is electrically controlled and is expensive. I bought a refurb from them for $162 shipped. As it will arrive Monday and we leave on Sunday for another trip, I decided to replumb the system to air the bags up manually. Went to NAPA, got what I needed and replumbed it. Guess what? They won't hold pressure. Yep - I probably ruined the bags.

Been looking online at the new LoadLifter 5000 ULTIMATE with internal jounce bumper. Wondering if they will retro-fit into the Air Lift brackets on my truck now. The full kit "is" compatible. Planning to call Air Lift in the morning to confirm. Also found a local company here in my tiny town that reps the product. Doubt they'll have stock on them but maybe they can install them.

Has anyone had any experience with the LoadLifter 5000 ULTIMATE with internal jounce bumper?

I have a set of these brand new for the 04-14 F150. I've been meaning to send them back to Air Lift so I can trade them in for a set of Ultimates that will fit my Ram 2500.

I purchased them them simply because I know that if the air system ever leaks or quits at least I will know the ounce bumper will save me from an expensive repair.

In the RAM you must remove the OEM jounce pad to install, so it made sense to install the bags with the internal jounce. Caution they fill quickly. BTW, I just have two schraders on mine. I ahve an onboard compressor on my fiver, and I bleed and fill from that compressor. Less tech less problems I always say.

I have Firestone bags on mine moved them from my 11 to the 15 truck, NEVER AGAIN !! I will let them go with the trade. The new install is plumbed into the onboard compressor with a dual gauge and switches on the dash.

Jon, was the 15 the same difficulty on the left side as the 11?

Jim, what is the warranty on the bags?

Firestone bags are lifetime (and I have tested it more then once).

Chicken or the egg?
If they do have a lifetime warranty , just replace and move on. I'm "sure" the bags failing caused the wireless unit to go bad since it was constantly "on" trying to supply a stream of air.
Your truck, unlike mine, still has the factory springs, overload springs and the overload tabs to fall back on. Your bags are only keeping the truck level.


And that explains your first pictures of the new rig and truck

porthole said:

Jim, what is the warranty on the bags?

Firestone bags are lifetime (and I have tested it more then once).

Chicken or the egg?
If they do have a lifetime warranty , just replace and move on. I'm "sure" the bags failing caused the wireless unit to go bad since it was constantly "on" trying to supply a stream of air.
Your truck, unlike mine, still has the factory springs, overload springs and the overload tabs to fall back on. Your bags are only keeping the truck level.


And that explains your first pictures of the new rig and truck

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Jim & Duane,
Guess that explains why I said Jim's TV was squatting in the other post showing off the rig !!


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I had the 5000 ultimates on my 2011 F350, and now have them again on my dually. Love them. Figured the internal jounce bumper would be extra insurance for just the scenario that you had happen Jim.

Bryced15 said:

I had the 5000 ultimates on my 2011 F350, and now have them again on my dually. Love them. Figured the internal jounce bumper would be extra insurance for just the scenario that you had happen Jim.

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Exactly why I want to try it.

Air Lift will "work with me" on a bag replacement but they want to do a like-for-like exchange versus allowing me to upgrade. We'll see. I need to go out now, air it up and crawl under the truck, spray a soapy solution on the bags and try to take a picture of where the air is leaking to confirm for Air Lift that it is in fact the bags.

porthole said:

Jim, what is the warranty on the bags?

Firestone bags are lifetime (and I have tested it more then once).

Chicken or the egg?
If they do have a lifetime warranty , just replace and move on. I'm "sure" the bags failing caused the wireless unit to go bad since it was constantly "on" trying to supply a stream of air.
Your truck, unlike mine, still has the factory springs, overload springs and the overload tabs to fall back on. Your bags are only keeping the truck level.


And that explains your first pictures of the new rig and truck

Click to expand...

Duane - similar warranty though it sounded like they could wiggle out if they want to. They did agree that its likely that failure of the now out-of-warranty manifold, cause the air pressure loss to the bags and over time, the bags deteriorated due to no air in them. So they "may" help me out. More later.

I can tell you that my firestone bags have both failed (ripped) and deteriorated over time, and they always had air in them, right up until failure.

The bags that were torn were obvious. The slow leak bags leaked so slowly they only way to find the leak was to remove it.

I had to send Firestone videos to prove the leak and get replacements.
I can now change these out in the campground in about 1/2 hour. But I have to "pre-fit" the bags.

This one has a large enough leak that the bag will not hold enough air to do the soapy water test.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Casv7PB_5yo&feature=youtu.be

This one was slow enough that I had to remove it. You can see the leak is right at the fold.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eodVmEyL0WQ&feature=youtu.be

Emailing these videos got new bags shipped out.

Have you taken the bags out yet?

jbeletti said:

Duane - similar warranty though it sounded like they could wiggle out if they want to. They did agree that its likely that failure of the now out-of-warranty manifold, cause the air pressure loss to the bags and over time, the bags deteriorated due to no air in them. So they "may" help me out. More later.

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I would argue the latter - the leaking bags forced the controller to stay on all the time.
You don't hear the continuos running of the compressor because of your tank system and the distance the compressor is mounted away from the cab, in the almost sound proof compartment.

Duane - in my Air Lift install, it's separate from my accessory air system. It's just the standard Air Lift system. I've learned a lot these past 2 days

My compressor, relay and manifold are mounted under the truck, below the driver's seat, between the frame and the body. So I hear and feel the vibration of the compressor (a tiny one) when it runs. The tank is the 2 air bags.

Good news though! My leak testing today with soapy water from a spray bottle produced results. Turns out it was leaking where the Shrader valve was connected to a union which was connected to an adapter that was connected to a compression fitting - all brass. Anyway, I didn't use any tape when putting this all together. I asked the gal at the NAPA counter if I needed to and she said no. Guess she was wrong. I broke all that apart, added 2 turns of Teflon tape to all male threads, put it all back together, aired up the system and noted the pressure. This afternoon, I made a couple more pressure tests. It seems to be holding. I'll make final judgement in the morning with a final test.

Always use teflon tape on pipe threads. There are certain brass pipe threads that CLAIM self seal but that is only for first use, and it is not reliable enough, even on the first use. So if it is a pipe thread use teflon tape, more accurately stated; if sealing is dependant on the threads, teflon tape is necessary. JIC flared, SAE flared, and boss O ring fittings do not require teflon tape at all. - just saying

Jim.Allison said:

Always use teflon tape on pipe threads. There are certain brass pipe threads that CLAIM self seal but that is only for first use, and it is not reliable enough, even on the first use. So if it is a pipe thread use teflon tape, more accurately stated; if sealing is dependant on the threads, teflon tape is necessary. JIC flared, SAE flared, and boss O ring fittings do not require teflon tape at all. - just saying

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Lesson learned on this end Jim. I don't know what I was thinking anyway, I've always used tape when making air line fittings for compressors and such. I guess I was having a moment.

No, you just responded to what you were told, and that is highly understandable. I have sold thousands of brass fitting and I have heard all about the self sealing brass threads, I have seen "parts people" tell folks that the thread is self sealing, but it is only completely true in theory and less so in application. I have seen it work well for OEMs, but not in practical applications.

jbeletti said:

Lesson learned on this end Jim. I don't know what I was thinking anyway, I've always used tape when making air line fittings for compressors and such. I guess I was having a moment.

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porthole said:

Jon, was the 15 the same difficulty on the left side as the 11?

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No Duane the left was no harder for me and the 11 and the 15 were the same except I had to lower the brackets 2 inches. My problem came with my idea that since my bags had never seen a winter they would be easy to remove and reinstall, I will never transfer them from one truck to another for anyone.