Air suspension front and rear

[CharlieFlynt]

Hey y’all! I hope everyone had a great Christmas and a festive New Year’s Eve and to all a Happy New Year!
Our tow vehicle was totaled, which had the Firestone ride rite bags installed (rear only). Our new tow vehicle, basically the same truck, only a different color, 2015 F-250 SRW Crew Cab Short Bed Lariat FX4.
My question really concerns the front air suspension. Can I get some comments on how well these work? I had a 2” level kit on. The front of my old truck, but I think it made the truck ride worse (looked great though!). Any and all comments, recommendations, etc. I’ll be greatly appreciated! Happy travels!

2015 Ford F-250 Lariat FX4 crew cab short bed
2017 Heartland Elkridge E292 XtremeLite
Charlie, Vicki and Mia (mama’s Chihuahua)
Retired US Navy Chief (1981 - 2007), currently employed at Schlumberger Oilfield Service Co.
Vicki is a Deputy Constable 👮

 

[cookie]

Check out this thread, look around post #3350.

Peace Dave

 

[CharlieFlynt]

I m being told that a lot of places quit installing the front air bags because they tend to break. Any comments?

Hey y’all! I hope everyone had a great Christmas and a festive New Year’s Eve and to all a Happy New Year!
Our tow vehicle was totaled, which had the Firestone ride rite bags installed (rear only). Our new tow vehicle, basically the same truck, only a different color, 2015 F-250 SRW Crew Cab Short Bed Lariat FX4.
My question really concerns the front air suspension. Can I get some comments on how well these work? I had a 2” level kit on. The front of my old truck, but I think it made the truck ride worse (looked great though!). Any and all comments, recommendations, etc. I’ll be greatly appreciated! Happy travels!

2015 Ford F-250 Lariat FX4 crew cab short bed
2017 Heartland Elkridge E292 XtremeLite
Charlie, Vicki and Mia (mama’s Chihuahua)
Retired US Navy Chief (1981 - 2007), currently employed at Schlumberger Oilfield Service Co.
Vicki is a Deputy Constable 👮

 

[Flick]

Hey y’all! I hope everyone had a great Christmas and a festive New Year’s Eve and to all a Happy New Year!
Our tow vehicle was totaled, which had the Firestone ride rite bags installed (rear only). Our new tow vehicle, basically the same truck, only a different color, 2015 F-250 SRW Crew Cab Short Bed Lariat FX4.
My question really concerns the front air suspension. Can I get some comments on how well these work? I had a 2” level kit on. The front of my old truck, but I think it made the truck ride worse (looked great though!). Any and all comments, recommendations, etc. I’ll be greatly appreciated! Happy travels!

I will tiptoe around this topic by first saying that those who put on front air bags certainly do it for their own particular reasons. I guess anything can be justified. I just can’t seem to figure it out, but I’m sure I’ll be given a lot of reasons. Lol. No matter what I hang on the back of my truck, it doesn’t affect my front at all. Or not much. Now I do like the front lift blocks and we do have 2” blocks on our truck that we think looks nice. That’s us though. We also have rear Air Lift bags with the Bluetooth compressor and l really like that also. Can’t tell any negative difference from the blocks (had to adjust my lights down but that’s easy) and the rear bags gives us a softer ride with the 5# of constant pressure.

 

[CharlieFlynt]

I will tiptoe around this topic by first saying that those who put on front air bags certainly do it for their own particular reasons. I guess anything can be justified. I just can’t seem to figure it out, but I’m sure I’ll be given a lot of reasons. Lol. No matter what I hang on the back of my truck, it doesn’t affect my front at all. Or not much. Now I do like the front lift blocks and we do have 2” blocks on our truck that we think looks nice. That’s us though. We also have rear Air Lift bags with the Bluetooth compressor and l really like that also. Can’t tell any negative difference from the blocks (had to adjust my lights down but that’s easy) and the rear bags gives us a softer ride with the 5# of constant pressure.

Thanks Flick. My previous 2015 F250 SRW Lariat FX4 also had the 2” level kit and Bilstein shocks with rear Ride-Rite air bags by Firestone and we loved the look and set up, although I personally think that the 2” front lift made her ride a little harder. I have just been curious about the front air bags, definitely not doing it at this point because of the negatives I have found out.

Thanks everyone!

 

[mlpeloquin]

A true air ride replaces the springs with air bags. Class A Diesels have air ride, no springs. Great ride, but if the airbags deflate, your RV or truck drops. In a class A Diesel, if the front drops, you cannot steer. Look at a class A Diesel when the owner drops it before leveling it. I don't know just how far a conversion on a pickup will drop if the air bags deflate, but it would be a nice thing to know before spring for the conversion.

 

[NYSUPstater]

A true air ride replaces the springs with air bags. Class A Diesels have air ride, no springs. Great ride, but if the airbags deflate, your RV or truck drops. In a class A Diesel, if the front drops, you cannot steer. Look at a class A Diesel when the owner drops it before leveling it. I don't know just how far a conversion on a pickup will drop if the air bags deflate, but it would be a nice thing to know before spring for the conversion.

If you recall, Peterbilt tried a air bag front suspension many years ago. Too many problems, so they dropped it. No-one ever since has touched it. I would like to see (besides Ram) offer rear air ride direct from factory. Ford did for years w/ the Town Car and on Grand Marquis/Crown Vics w/ the performance handling pkg.