Air bags

[bronze_10]

I had firsestone coil right air assit load bearing air bags installed on my 2005 dodge durango the other day. When I picked it up I immediately started complaining that the back of the truck was sitting a lot higher than I remembered and I didn't like it. When I got home I backed under my boat expecting the ball to be sitting way higher than normal. It wasnt. It was sitting exactly the same as it alway has but since I knew something was different I automatically was thinking I could see it....

So here is my initial break down..

I purchased a new aluminum load rite trailer this spring. It's a very nice trailer but there are a few significant differences between this one and my mfi trailer. For one this trailer has a much longer tounge as you can see from the pics below. Add to that the rear axel are a lot further back and you get a really nice pulling trailer that also add tounge weight on your vehicle. My truck could handle it pretty easy but I still wanted more stability so air bags it was.

I use a 2 inch drop hitch to pull my trailer. Prior to the trailer being set on the ball and no air in the air bags the bottom of my drop hitch to the ground was 16.5 inches as seen by the pic..


After the weight of the trailer was put on my truck the measurement changed to 15 inches even. An inch and a half drop on my old girl. Not too bad! But it was enough to blind people with my head lights.So once the trailer was on the truck I aired up the air bags... 5 psi at a time and measured the change. At approximately 42 psi the drop hitch was 16.25 inches from the ground. The boat was still a little down in the front so I changed the drop hits to a zero drop hitch and now the trailer is exactly level. I have pulled the boat around town for a few miles and it feels a lot better already.

Although the squat and the bounce were not that bad for the average drive to and from the lake I did not like the small double bounce I could feel going over bridges and large bumps. It wasnt too pronounced but my wife could feel the difference the new trailer made without the air bags. On this forum we have people from all walks of life. Some like me have extensive trailer pulling experience.. ( grew up farming and then drove semis for 10 years).. others don't have much experiemce. In determining if you want to spend the extra money on something like this don't think about your normal drive to and from the lake... think of the bad day on the road that may happen. Stability affects cornering and stopping distance on every vehicle. When something bad happens on the road and you have to slam on the break if the back of the vehicle isn't stable enough u can literally be pushed into and accident even with brakes on your trailer. The boucle in your rear suspension will actually "unload" the rear breaking axel of your vehicle and reduce its effectiveness. Then the jack knife occurs. And regardless of one's perception if you jack knife a vehicle and a trailer you take for ever to stop. The same applies to the sudden lane change. We try not to do these manuvers with the boat but if the day comes where u have to swerve to keep from being involved in a deadly accident the extra stability will and does make the difference.

Sorry I got long winded... I'm waiting for my kids to get ready for school. Also I typed all of this on my phone so forgive the auto corrects. Lol

 

[Rob9550]

Very informative post. I installed a 2 inch level on our 2010 Suburban last year before purchasing our boat. Now when I tow it causes the rear to drop quite a bit. I am looking at installing 1000 Series from AirLift to solve this issue. I also purchased a new hitch that is adjustable to use on both of my tow vehicles.

 

[Kevin1741]

I installed a firestone air bag system with pump. I love it. Highly recommended for stability and looks. I cant stand the rear end sag.

 

[Rob9550]

Here are the AIRLIFT bags I am looking at. I don't think I will need an onboard air pump.

 

[Kevin1741]

I didnt get the pump at first. But after the first use i realized i needed it. The ride is horrible with no load so you need to let the air out. The ability to fine tune the air pressure while driving is worth the extra $$$.

 

[Rob9550]

I didnt get the pump at first. But after the first use i realized i needed it. The ride is horrible with no load so you need to let the air out. The ability to fine tune the air pressure while driving is worth the extra $$$.

Which system did you go with?

 

[bronze_10]

I didnt get the pump at first. But after the first use i realized i needed it. The ride is horrible with no load so you need to let the air out. The ability to fine tune the air pressure while driving is worth the extra $$$.

That's exactly why I bought it as well... u need a little bump going down the road or u need to let out a little pressure for the ride the toggle switch is right there.

 

[Kevin1741]

I want with Firestone ride rite System and I got it from auto anything.com they were the least expensive

 

[tdonoughue]

So, I have a question:

Does the air bag give you all of the stability and safety that you need? Seems that the issue is that your tongue weight is too great if it is dragging the back of your vehicle down. Would it not be better to measure that tongue weight and compare it against the tongue weight rating of the vehicle? And then adjust the wheels or the weighting of the boat to achieve a better balance?

Sincere question here; not being critical at all. Just trying to learn a bit more.

 

[bronze_10]

Like I was saying in my post the total tounge weight of the boat and this trailer only squat my truck by an inch and a half... no where near aproaching a level where the truck.can't handle it or isn't designed for it... the tounge weight is just to the point with this trailer that I want the added stability and the long wheel bade however you are correct. The rear axel could be moved forward to take off some of the weight... a few inches would make a difference however the location of the axel non my trailer would have to move several inches forward due to a cross beam being in the way... the front axel would have to.move far enough forward to pass that cross member ... on take his railed the from axel is the one with the brakes so I would have to move the axel too far forward and reply the brake lines.. at least for my taste.... I like the long wheel base.. however I did speak with the marina I bought the trailer from about doing just as you suggest but when measured we found the cross member interference. .. and scone I wasn't over the limit for my truck I just did the air bags... hope that explains it..

 

[tdonoughue]

Makes perfect sense. Thanks!

 

[Shannon]

I had firsestone coil right air assit load bearing air bags installed on my 2005 dodge durango the other day. When I picked it up I immediately started complaining that the back of the truck was sitting a lot higher than I remembered and I didn't like it. When I got home I backed under my boat expecting the ball to be sitting way higher than normal. It wasnt. It was sitting exactly the same as it alway has but since I knew something was different I automatically was thinking I could see it....

So here is my initial break down..

I purchased a new aluminum load rite trailer this spring. It's a very nice trailer but there are a few significant differences between this one and my mfi trailer. For one this trailer has a much longer tounge as you can see from the pics below. Add to that the rear axel are a lot further back and you get a really nice pulling trailer that also add tounge weight on your vehicle. My truck could handle it pretty easy but I still wanted more stability so air bags it was.

I use a 2 inch drop hitch to pull my trailer. Prior to the trailer being set on the ball and no air in the air bags the bottom of my drop hitch to the ground was 16.5 inches as seen by the pic..

View attachment 36345
After the weight of the trailer was put on my truck the measurement changed to 15 inches even. An inch and a half drop on my old girl. Not too bad! But it was enough to blind people with my head lights.View attachment 36346So once the trailer was on the truck I aired up the air bags... 5 psi at a time and measured the change. At approximately 42 psi the drop hitch was 16.25 inches from the ground. The boat was still a little down in the front so I changed the drop hits to a zero drop hitch and now the trailer is exactly level. I have pulled the boat around town for a few miles and it feels a lot better already.
View attachment 36346 View attachment 36346
Although the squat and the bounce were not that bad for the average drive to and from the lake I did not like the small double bounce I could feel going over bridges and large bumps. It wasnt too pronounced but my wife could feel the difference the new trailer made without the air bags. On this forum we have people from all walks of life. Some like me have extensive trailer pulling experience.. ( grew up farming and then drove semis for 10 years).. others don't have much experiemce. In determining if you want to spend the extra money on something like this don't think about your normal drive to and from the lake... think of the bad day on the road that may happen. Stability affects cornering and stopping distance on every vehicle. When something bad happens on the road and you have to slam on the break if the back of the vehicle isn't stable enough u can literally be pushed into and accident even with brakes on your trailer. The boucle in your rear suspension will actually "unload" the rear breaking axel of your vehicle and reduce its effectiveness. Then the jack knife occurs. And regardless of one's perception if you jack knife a vehicle and a trailer you take for ever to stop. The same applies to the sudden lane change. We try not to do these manuvers with the boat but if the day comes where u have to swerve to keep from being involved in a deadly accident the extra stability will and does make the difference.

Sorry I got long winded... I'm waiting for my kids to get ready for school. Also I typed all of this on my phone so forgive the auto corrects. Lol

Mike it looks awesome and looks very level. The boat looks very clean to and can't wait to be setting in next week! Great write up..

 

[4x15mph]

@bronze_10 , who will do this type of install? Is this a local firestone tire dealer?

Ordered the Firestone kit for the MDX... finally. Thanks for the pics and post

 

[itsdgm]

I've added the Firestone bags and the air ride pumps in my 2011 suburban and 2006 Tacoma. I love this set up. I'm pretty sure both brands of bags are as durable as each other. But a few guys said that they prefer Firestone and that the connectors were better. As far as the compressor. I love the fact that air ride has the fill/dump buttons built into a single gauge (even for a dual system) and imho makes a cleaner install.

 

[bronze_10]

@bronze_10 , who will do this type of install? Is this a local firestone tire dealer?

Ordered the Firestone kit for the MDX... finally. Thanks for the pics and post

I had a local car shop put mine in..

 

[4x15mph]

I tried to put mine in but when I came across the rusted sway bar that needed to come off to lower the spring out. I punted half way in and brought it to the "pros". They called me immediately and said "we are going to have to cut out your sway bars and replace them since we can't get them off". Okay -

$311 for them to do the job (includes $60 for new sway bars and "no charge" for labor). $100 for the firestone bags.

I'll have to see how this improves the sag once it stops raining and I get a chance to take the boat out. Anyway, they seem like a good addition for my smaller SUV and I realize this is not a substitute for the correct tongue weight. Even though my tongue weight is okay, the SUV just has more sag than a traditional truck.

I have not looked around the underside of our tow SUV in awhile and I see a lot of rust going on. I usually go to fresh water so I can't believe the effect the water has on the undercarriage.

 

[bronze_10]

U will love them.. it has made a big difference in the way out truck pulls. Not 4hat it was having difficulty before but now it is much better... my WIFE even drove the truck and trailer all the way from Florence sc after the Charleston run... all the way to our driveway... !!! And it's dead sexy too!