BEAUTIFUL!

That's what I needed to hear! Thanks!

 

take some pictures during your install, I'm looking at the same Air Lift setup and wonder how hard the installation is.

 

Actually, if you didn't want to wait Air Lift has some pretty good videos on YouTube.

The other side of this issue for me is that I'm not getting proper weight distribution and suspension compression from my Equalizer Hitch after lowering my truck 1.25" with Bell Tech drop shackles. Last night I took before and after measurements after storing the trailer and found that my rear suspension was compressed just over 2" inches, and the front only about 1/4 inch. I've adjusted the hitch to it's greatest point, (most spring bar tension) and although the truck handles as though the weight of the trailer is equally distributed over both axles and the truck sits level when hooked up, a proper set up calls for equal compression of both front and rear suspension. I'm working with Equalizer now to see what can be done.

One thing that I noticed was that my Mopar bolt on receiver angles upward as it exits the rear of the truck. This offsets the intended angle of 4-6 degrees downward on the head of the hitch, which is what gives the spring bars their tension after you spring them into place. I installed 1/4" square washers under the rear mounting bolts on the receiver to angle it downward, and it helped somewhat, but I'm still curious about proper set up.

After I install the air bags and make any further adjustments as recommended by Equalizer, I'll post any changes.

Keep the comments/suggestions coming if you have any.

 

Took me about 2 hours total, I just ran the valve to under the rear bumper, obviously, if I went with an onboard air system it would have taken a bit longer. Install is a breeze, the only thing I did differently from the docs, is instead of drilling into the frame and using the supplied bolts, I welded the bracket on...

 

I noticed that you welded in some of your other posts. I'm gonna go with bolting the brackets. I've got a drill motor, but no welder.

I got to thinking more about your post regarding 3/4" lift at max PSI. Your truck is lifted which makes me wonder if our install with be the same. I suspect that you had to install spacers or something to line up the brackets?

At the end of the day, the real question is with my setup will I only get 3/4" lift at max PSI, or any lift at 5 PSI. I'll post the answer after the install.

 

yeah, you've got the single bags. I have the double bulge bags which are more stable on turns and side sway but I lose out on the ride height. I lifted my truck to like 40psi and my *** end went up a good 3 inches. I'mma gonna go out right now and see what 0psi-100psi does. I'[ll take some pics and log the info. Gimme 30min. It's 1:00est right now

 

Alrighty. I went out and did some homework and took pics. These airbag ride height pressure are with nothing in the bed or hooked up to the ball. I don't know how much if any the height would change??? Empty bed pressure once again. This is the Arnott Airride i purchased off Ebay. they use GoodYear bags. i think mine said Contitech or something on them??? Installation took a total of 1hour however, this kit does not require ANY drilling or welding. Bolt-on= easy removal and no damage done. That's what I like anyways. They are rated at 5,000lb load capacity and ran me $225 shipped

Here are the stats:

0psi-stock height
6psi +3/8" to ride height (Lowest possible height)
20psi +1/2"
40psi + 1"
60psi +1.5"
85psi + 2"

So it seemed every 20psi I added resulted in the back end of my truck raising another 1/2". The good news, These bags are rated at 5K#'s so in reality i shouldn't have to inflate them anything over 50psi. If i do, I'm overloading the truck. Actually it would be a max of like 30psi for the 1500 payload or there abouts.

Here are the pics.
This is the mounting bracket that gets bolted around the frame. It's thick zinc plated metal. I didn't want to look at a Zinc strip on my undercoated frame so I squirted some more to cover the hardware all up.


Here you can see how they rest on the axle and that I ran the tubing through the frame out to the back and mounted the nozzle on the hitch near the receiver.

 

man im drooling...i want those soo bad now. easy install, and all well worth it. i want the same setup u got there, dirtydog. looks good!

 

Very nice work, with both the install and the pics/explanation.

You've clearly got lots of lift/payload capacity. My trailer has a tongue wt. of approx. 500 lbs., plus I'm driving a 1/2 ton and concerned more about ride than lift at this point, so I'm pretty sure selecting the 2000 lb. rated bags is the right choice for me.

I'm off the the parts store for new spark plugs for my 30k service. I picked up some Platinum plugs to do the work, and then located enough concerns about them being used in Hemi engine's on here that I've decided to go back to copper top stock plugs.

Again....great post!

 

Great looking install 'dog.

I went with the 2000 lb. setup for two reasons.
First, there was no way I'd ever need more than 2000# of level capacity, that means a FULL TON of weight in the bed or a FULL TON of tongue weight.
Second, I went to a buddy who owns a tire/auto repair shop in rural Ga. He does bags all the time, we are talking pure farm area here. Everybody hauls/tows. I went specifically to have him order me the Firstone kit, as it was the only one I'd ever seen/heard of. He told me he was having an issue with people bringing their trucks back with dry rot issues and failures of the bags about 2-3 years after the install and stated he had recently switched to the Air Lifts. So I had him order me those.

I like the way you can remove yours easily, but at the same time, I'd be a little concerned of a U-bolt failure, primarily if the rear or bed of the truck got hit. Kinda like you hear happening with the block lifts. Probably never happen, but I see potential.

I have no plans of ever removing mine and if I did, I could disassemble the whole thing and just leave the brackets, I guess.

As for the OP, having a suspension or body lift has no bearing whatsoever on the install. A suspension lift either replaces/adds leafs or puts a block UNDER the leafs, so the distance between the top of the leafs and frame is a constant. With a body lift, the blocks go ABOVE the frame, under the bed, so again, the spacing between the leafs and frame would again be a constant.

Also, I can see where 'dogs would provide that little bit of lift where mine doesn't. The Goodyear bags have that "bellows" in the middle, where I'm sure the little bit of lift comes from. The 5000# Air Lifts are the same. My 2000# don't have that and mostly just get fatter and firmer when adding air...

I've posted pics of my setup at least a half dozen times in this section alone, do a search. If you can't find them and want to see, PM me...