Air Bags-good or bad
- Thread starter Buckeye
- Start date
porthole
Retired
If you are now experiencing a sway with the new tires without the trailer you are in for an experience with the trailer hooked up.
If you have an air bag or line fail for some reason you will lose all the support for that side. Unless you have them tee'd together. In that case you will lose all the support.
If you have an air bag or line fail for some reason you will lose all the support for that side. Unless you have them tee'd together. In that case you will lose all the support.
SilverRhino
Well-known member
The failure is usually in the lines and/or fittings, not the bags themselves.
On my Air Lift system I am not real concerned with the bags going bad.......but check the lines frequently!
On my Air Lift system I am not real concerned with the bags going bad.......but check the lines frequently!
Almost all of the heavy duty trucks on the road use air bags. You are worrying about nothing that you need to be concerned about. Install them correctly being carful how you run the air lines. I prefer them to be tied together on the rear. As the other poster noted you would have a hard time finding a failed air bag that had undergone normal use.
oscar
Well-known member
They ARE the suspension, they do not make up for shortfalls of the existing suspension. Apples and oranges.
I will modify, but stand by, my original statement. If you need airbags because the suspension is overly compressed, ie to bring the *** end of the truck back up to a reasonable height, you are probably overloaded.
Will bags help reduce sway and roll? Sure. Do I prefer a suspension that is working well as designed without help? Yes. Hence the DRW's. My max trailer weight is 22.500#. Our fiver loaded comes in right at 18000#. The ride is solid and comfortable. I never have to sit up and clamp both hands on the wheel. There is little or no slop, and I feel no urge to add anything back there. It's solid from the factory, by design.
That is quite true. What is your problem with my comments? All I was noting is that the air bags are designed well and hold up to normal use.
scottyb
Well-known member
I installed a set of Ride Rites saturday. A mechanic friend helped me and we did it in about 2 1/2 hours. The upper brackets were the most difficult part. He works on trucks and is pretty knowledgeable about air bags and also stated that the air line fittings are the weakest link. If they start leaking we are going to switch the fittings for some compression type fittings. There are only 4 fittings counting the valve stems, on a basic air bag system, so it's no big deal. I may go ahead a change them preemptively and be done with it. My truck didn't sqaut too much with the 4100, but I would rather have it level and not high beaming oncoming traffic. BTW, I got them from Streetside Auto for about $100 less than other places I found them.
oscar
Well-known member
No problem with your comments. I was responding to earlier comments, the length of the thread may have put things out of context.
@Invizatu..... Believe it or not, standard pin box and a Curt 20K rigid hitch......
DuaneG
Well-known member
I looked under my truck and the Timbrens only have 1/2 inch gap. There is a spacer that I'm going to have them remove to see if that will allow more room for the shocks to work and not bounce off the axle when I hit a bump.
Our unit is not over loaded. I did lower the air pressure a lot on my new tires and noticed some improvement.
Based on the problems I am having the shop said the airbags would not make that much of a difference, so for now I am just going to remove the spacers on the Timbrens and find the PSI sweet spot. With the savings I am adding a new larger gas tank.
Sent from my cell phone. Please forgive typos and spelling errors.
Our unit is not over loaded. I did lower the air pressure a lot on my new tires and noticed some improvement.
Based on the problems I am having the shop said the airbags would not make that much of a difference, so for now I am just going to remove the spacers on the Timbrens and find the PSI sweet spot. With the savings I am adding a new larger gas tank.
Sent from my cell phone. Please forgive typos and spelling errors.
mmomega
AnyTimer
In my opinion they are a good idea. I have a set of Firestone Ride-Rites on my 2007 F350 4x4 CC SRW, I added the air compressor kit so that I can adjust the air pressure from inside the truck.
I have not had to perform any maintenance since installation, just increase the air pressure in the bags before hooking up to a heavy trailer and dropping the air down to 5-7lbs after I unhook.
I also have a FireStone automatic air ride on my F350 DRW (it is a bit more complicated in a way system and more expensive) but all I have to do is set the ride height and when I hook up to my fifth wheel and the rear of the truck drops, the system will automatically add air to the bags to bring the truck back to the unloaded height. When I disconnect the trailer, the system releases air back to the initial setting.
I have not had to perform any maintenance since installation, just increase the air pressure in the bags before hooking up to a heavy trailer and dropping the air down to 5-7lbs after I unhook.
I also have a FireStone automatic air ride on my F350 DRW (it is a bit more complicated in a way system and more expensive) but all I have to do is set the ride height and when I hook up to my fifth wheel and the rear of the truck drops, the system will automatically add air to the bags to bring the truck back to the unloaded height. When I disconnect the trailer, the system releases air back to the initial setting.
stuandkayley
Member
i wont disagree with oscar that DRW offers alot more stabilty, but i do disagree with the overloaded issue, ive never seen a truck hook up to a decent sized rig, and not sag due to weight. Aside from that where im from we get quite alot of snow in the winter, DRW + snow = a horrible drive, you slide all over the **** place, not to mention the cost of putting new tires on
oscar
Well-known member
Well, when they retracted the landing gear on my 4100 King, the rear end of my DRW went down about 3 inches. Before, like all empty trucks, it was *** high. With the fiver on the hitch it was sitting just right. So yes it sagged, but with the pre tension, if you wish, in the design it ended up "right." And that's what it's designed to do. If you hook up a trailer and the truck ends up squatting like it's getting ready to ..... you know, and you have to add "helpers" to get it level.....something ain't right.
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