Hi,

I was wondering has anyone added air bags to their 2nd gen Dakotas? I have an import camper and I am looking to help the suspension out. I am considering using a kit from Firestone so that I can get the truck to sit level. THe only info on the forum I could find was for the Rams, so I thought I would see if anyone on our side has some experience with this sort of set up on a Dakota. Thanks for the help.

 

i put super springs on mine and also put a set on my neighbors 3rd gen. they ride awesome with no trailer on, and are awesome with it on. minimal sag and smooth ride. im chaecking with a vender of mine to see if air bags are recommended and if so, are they what you need. ill lrepost when i get an answer. by the way, what kinda tongue weight do you think you have there?

 

I did helper springs on two full size trucks I had and decided to do air bags on my current Ram - I'll say this, I'll never do springs again after having bags!

Just a FYI but I went to a buddy of mine who owns two tire/auto repair shops to order me a set of Firestones - the shops are rural south Georgia and he's often installing bags on farm trucks. He told me he stopped selling the Firestone kits due to bag failures - usually cracking and dry rot after only a year or two. He started selling the Air Lifts, so I decided he would know and had him order me a set (at his cost).
NOW, this was in '05 and there used to be a post or two every once in a while about failed Firestone bags, but I've not seen one in a while so they may be perfectly fine now. But I will say, I'm getting close to seven years on my bags and have never had a problem. I keep 10# of air in them full time and will go from there accordingly depending on how much weight I'm pulling/hauling. To date I've never needed more than 40# of air and max is 100# and this is pulling about 7700# of Kubota tractor, rough cutter and a dual axle trailer. I don't have the fancy on board air or auto leveler, just a valve I installed at the rear bumper.

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The only deviation I made from the instruction manual is I welded the brackets to the frame rather than drilling and using the supplied bolts.

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my vender pretty much said the same thing as Hammer^^. the ride and versatility of the bags are supreme. and to go with the air lift not the firestone.

 

You want a good comparison of "helper" springs vs. air bags. Find you someone with a similar truck with the springs and ride off-road to your favorite hunting or fishing spot with no or next to no weight in the bed. Then find you someone with bags that are aired down to 5-10# of air in them and go to the same place. One will bounce you all around the cab, the other will ride no differently than your truck does stock. Guess which???

 

I am carrying an import truck camper, so I want to get the truck sitting level. The truck sags and bit and leans to the left with the camper on, and air bags seem to be the best option for getting the truck back to level. The odd thing is that the local suspension shops are recommending an add a leaf instead of air bags. Their arguement seems to be that you need to keep your air bags inflated to at least 1o pounds and this requires maintence, and leafs are added and forgotten about. I don't think the leaf will level my truck, and I am pretty sure I won't like the empty ride. Also I am a commercial truck driver, so air bags aren't new to me. I did ask about Airlift, but Firestone seems to have a better reputation here for customer service and warranty. Thanks for the help.

 

Yep they need to be kept at between 5-10 lbs. LOTS of maintenance, I walk behind mine and check the schrader valve with a pocket air gauge about once a month, takes all of 10 seconds. Unless there is a severe temperature change I never have to add air to them. Hell if you get an automatic system with on board compressor you don't even have to do that OR adjust the bags when you put your camper on, the system will automatic level it and keep it level.

They are talking you out of it because all suspension shops stock add-a-leafs and the installation is easier - no air lines to run. Ask them how in the hell add-a-leafs are gonna level the truck side to side? But I dunno why you would even go to a shop in either case. Add-a-Leafs are a common hand tool install that might take you an hour and the bags don't require anything over simple hand tools except for a drill (or a welder if you weld them on like I did) and shouldn't take you much more than two hours...

 

Intially it was a time issue, I wasn't sure I was going to have the time to instal them before I was going to use the camper, now that isn't the case so I plan to do it myself. Then all I have to do is figure out why my trailer running lights don't work since I am planning on running a cord from the factory plug to the camper to get my running lights working. All the fuses are ok, so I guess I need to figure out if the is an inline fuse or something else I have missed. But that is a problem for another time and thread.