"Official" Firestone RideRite + Lift Thread

Yep, figure it out now haha.

 

With stock length shocks like the 5100's cradles are not necessary and would only limit up travel.

 

Finally installed the Riderite Firestone bag kit with the daystar cradles I have had in my shop for the past 6 months. the Archive Garage Stage 4 U-bolt flip kit with spacer works perfect for this project

 

@dpf88101 Can you go into a little more detail about the flip kit? Is it option 5 here?: https://archivegarage.com/shop-archive/ols/products/stealth-toyota-u-bolt-flip/v/UBF-001-5 How did you mount the daystar cradle to the spacer?

 

Johnny - I had the opt 4 but when I installed the cradles it negated the need for the bump stops. Opt 2 looks like what a person would need if they had their own bump stops or were going to add cradles
I will shoot photos of how I mounted the cradles. I bolted them to where the bump stop would normally go on this setup - it centers perfectly under the bag

 

Awesome, makes sense. If you could grab a photo from the top or back that would be super helpful. Thanks!

 

This got me thinking. We can look into a designing a U-bolt Flip option specific for airbags.

I saw a customer's truck that had the Firestone universal support brackets, they were all bent up, plus they were gouging the 2.5" Kings on both sides of his truck

 

@ARCHIVE if you could design something like this it would be awesome! https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...lip-daystar-cradle-bump-stop-sold-out.638686/

I off-road, but I also tow an overland trailer so I really need the airbags but hate to sacrifice my bump stops for them....

 

This would be fantastic if you would solve this for Tacoma owners that utilize the airbag kit but also still want to maintain our Offroad prowness - thank you in advance for looking into/considering this

 

You could just buy the right leaf spring from Archive Garage, 1 simple solution

 

After 8 yrs of usage, I removed my Daystars. No matter how much I tried to center them, the rubber bags rubbed on a portion of the cradle, on both sides. The ‘chafing’ started wearing out the rubber. I took them off before a hole wore through. I tried super gluing the point of contact but the flexing was too much. Using pic above, below shows the rubbing as on mine.

 

Flip kit with added Daystar base

base laminated onto a U-bolt flip kit
kit base plate is 1/2" thick and the disc is 3/8" so thickness is much increased at the critical point.

 

Valuable input. Almost like the ring on the cradle is too tall then?

 

@GREENBIRD56 You have contributed a lot of good info to this thread, I appreciate that. I am quoting you not to attack, but because you detailed the paradox of this air bag system.
Many people go this route because they fear a poor ride, and then this kit brings a harsh potential of bottoming out metal to metal that has bent frames on Tacomas, because the kit forces the removal of a chassis bumpstop.

Don't fear a bad ride people. Step 1 is to install Archive Garage Hammer Hangers® to noticeably improve the rear ride quality, corner handling and durability, customers are often shocked how much Hammer Hangers® improve the ride. This allows you to increase the spring rate of the leaf springs without the feared poor ride. We also have a very affordable Add-A-Leaf designed for hauling weight, as well as our Archive Garage Leaf Springs which are praised for their ride quality, and it's all made in USA!

We'll continue the work on a U-bolt flip w/ air bag support, but not having a chassis bumpstop is a very poor situation to be in for any offroad situation

 

Metal on metal?? Isn't the rubber of the airbag itself supposed to be a bump stop?

 

Yeah, it might only need to be tall enough to capture the end plate. The bags flatten under compression so it’s likely to rub somewhere if heavily flexed.

 

(full disclosure: I haven't read more than the first and last pages of this thread)

I'm here as a result of a search for "air bags," hoping I'd get a hit for someone selling one or two of theirs. One of mine is leaking, after about 10 years of hard use.

It looks like there's a discussion about how to do air bags with a lift and U-bolt flip, without bump stops? I've had that exact setup for 10 years. The answer is to make yourself a custom mounting plate that combines the U-bolt flip plate and the Daystar cradle plate. Then just keep a few pounds of air in the bags when you expect to be bottoming out (like wheeling or towing).

Long-term report on my really old thread linked above: I've made zero changes to that setup. I have changed other suspension bits, but haven't changed the airbag setup. The plates haven't bent at all, though I did bend an axle from wheeling with too much weight. I haven't pinched the bags, rubbed any holes through them, or had any issues at all with the setup. I've wheeled Moab repeatedly, gone through a few boulder gardens, and been all over the Mojave desert.

 

IDK, looks pretty close inside the airbag the center nuts could get real close. Even if they don't you have a few thin layers of rubber, and that clearly isn't enough to protect the frame from bending, as I showed above. See quotes below

 

Id buy a flip kit with daystar cradle option. Prefer to have a bump stop option as well

 

Just spitballing, but appears the real issue is at the top where the airbag is not centered under the frame. Having it cantilevered inboard as shown in the pictures can introduce a twisting moment to the frame. Then, if under high load, you manage to twist the lower leg of that C channel on the frame up, then it ceases being a C channel and leaves very little to prevent the rest of the frame from bending.

Rather then make compromise for a bolt on solution at bottom end, would it be better to design a different top mount to center the airbag under the frame ( and on the spring). Other option is add a cross beam between frame rails for top of air bag to mount.