"Official" Firestone RideRite + Lift Thread

You need 5 psi minimum at all times.

The rides is a lot stiffer when your bed is empty.

 

I have not driven the truck without the bags at all but to me the suspension feels good. A little firner in the back, yes but not overwhelming. When I had the spacers installed I could really feel the difference. On my truck there is no difference in height between no air and 5psi.

For towing and loads I think it is a great compromise.

 

If you think it's stiff with the airbags and no load, try it with no spare! Big difference without a spare.

By the way, i learned something else from this experience. I went on a 1 hour trip and suddenly my tire inflation light started blinking. I got off the highway at the next exit and checked all my tires and nothing was wrong. I found out in the manual the next day that without the spare the system will send a malfunction warning blink to the instrument cluster light.

Personally this seems a little over the top. I've got brand new tires and all my driving is on roads. Most is also local. It feels like a huge weight savings not carrying that thing around in the far back of my truck. I'd rather not have it unless I was traveling a good distance from home but this system seems to want to prevent me from doing that.

With the airbags though, the spare definitely helps smooth the ride.

Without the bags my truck had a really weak left leaf pack that ruined the ride. It was sloppy. While it now it is definitely stiff over deeper highway bumps, I'd call it firm or solid for normal driving and much smoother than before.

 

Glad my experience could help. I'm not here to knock the airbags as they seem to work great for a lot of users on this forum and they worked great in my last truck. The airbags fixed one problem and created another on my baja though. I have attached some photos to explain what I was talking about with limited travel from resting to bottoming out. I can't remember the exact distance there was between the frame and bump stop before the bags but I want to say it was like 4 inches. In the photo you can see there isn't more than 3 inches of squish available before bottoming out the bags, pics were taken with 10 psi. You take 1 inch away from 4 and you made a 25% or greater change. I don't know what route I am going to take at the moment. Either new springs with 1-2" of lift and better load capacity and remove the bags, or new springs with 1-2" of lift with no change in stiffness, keep it soft, and keep the air bags in hopes that the increased distance between air bag and cup take care of the problem. I will keep you posted.

 

I'm not sure what is different about your setup but something definitely is! My airbags don't look anything like that squished look yours have. Maybe it's the cups and the additional space they take up? Looking at your setup, I don't think you really need the cups. Those are for aftermarket/lifted trucks aren't they? Your truck has a factory height or just slightly above standard doesn't it? If that's the case, there is no need for the cups and with those removed your bags have more room to breath. I've got probably 3" between each of the two outer baffles on my airbags and yours look like they are touching.

Yours look like at that given picture, they are bottomed out and won't collapse any further.

 

Tanks for the feed back Talister. If I had about 3 inches for each baffle I think I wouldn't be having this problem. Would you maybe be able to take a picture of yours, as well I will browse some previous posts. The day star cups might take up 1/4-1/2" of space. My truck is not lifted but what the cups do is allow you to install the air bags without bolting them to the leaf spring so the suspension can fully droop where without the cups the droop would be limited to the distance of what the air bags can extend to.

 

I'm getting ready to pull the trigger on the Firestone RideRites after today's trip to Home depot for some lumber. 6 sheets of plywood and 28 2x4s had the rear sagging pretty bad. I also want to install an Air Lift wireless air leveling compressor:

$666 Air Lift 72000 Wireless Air Leveling Compressor

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001OMVCN2...UTF8&colid=2F3Z1T5J4SZAQ&coliid=IWWZKVQ378NC7


Several of you have mentioned that you had one of these, and I'm wondering where you mounted the compressor and manifold. It looks like most people mount them to the frame or a cross member under the truck, but this doesn't seen like a great place to me. Unless it's under a skid plate the compressor and/or manifold would get dirty and could get banged up off-roading. There's also the problem of needing clean air for the compressor intake.


Has anyone tried to mount the system under the hood, and if so, where? It looks like it might fit on the passenger side near the firewall, and there's also two unused threaded inserts on the inner fender near the factory fuse boxes.


So, and ideas?

 

I am in the VERY, VERY slow process of putting mine on the drivers side by the fire wall. I made a bracket for those threaded inserts to hold the air pump. But have yet to install it.

 

Any idea what size the threads are, and what they are use for by the Toyota? I was going to use that spot for a plate with my off road light relays (3 of them) fuses and whatnot mounted to it. I might give it up for the compressor and manifold.

 

I'm going to get the Daystar cradles for my Ride Rite's but am also concerned with debris getting in there and damaging the bag. I'm wondering if you could bolt the cradle to the airbag instead of the bracket. I'd guess with my driving habits 90% of time the bag is floating I'd be going pretty slow. I don't plan on any fast off roading like what is shown in the video. What do you guys think?

 

Maybe a little off message...But I installed my airbags back in September and usually have them between 30 - 50 PSI - ride is much better with my cap & tools in the bed. One of my customers is the parts manager at a BMW dealership and commented that I probably voided my warranty by installing the airbags myself. I have had my dealership do my 5K oil change - I notified them about taking the air out prior to putting it on the lift. The dealership DID NOT say anything about the warranty being voided!

Anybody have any problems with warranty issues?

 

It can't void your warranty unless they prove it broke something else... which is hard to do. All that they can do is state you may be overloading capacities on your vehicle

And I'm a service advisor and have been a warranty administrator for numerous brands much higher than Toyota

 

Hmmm. Maybe the RideRites are not the solution I'm looking for. Definitely need stouter rear leafs for towing, but I don't want to compromise the sans trailer ride, especially offroading.


I guess the simplest and cheapest solution is a fifth leaf. I didn't really want to do that, but necessity rules.

 

Just get the daystar cradles... they are 80 bux and allow for full articulation, makes all the difference in the world

 

Thats the point of the air bags...imo, the added leaf would impact ride sans trailer more than the bags. The point of the bags (for me) was to try to keep the best ride possible while having the ability to tow and haul different loads.

 

Can the bags be used with a u-bolt flip kit?

http://toyteclifts.3dcartstores.com/NEW-Ubolt-Flip-Kit-05-Tacoma_p_389.html

It looks like the upper plat would interfier with the bag bracket, but hard to tell by a picture.

 

I recently have done some work to my 2013 TRD Sport LB. I added level kit (HellBent 2.5 to the front) added some Procomps and some All-Terrain 265/70/17's. I have recently in the past 2 weeks added the Firestone Ride Rite bags to the back. It still has a slight rake (which I like) and only put the bags on because when weighed down it sat on the bump stops and rode bottomed out. Now my question is during normal driving I have tried between 5-25 psi to try and figure out a good driving pressure, but no matter what I do when I hit a bump or dip if pressure is high (15-25 psi) it's back breaking (obviously!) but then I try to run 5-15 psi and still feels like I'm bottoming out. I have the stock Bilstein shocks and wondering if this is the case. Do I need to upgrade to 5100's or 5125's. Not sure where to go with this. I want to try and get rid of the bottom out feeling and need some input! Thanks!

 

Well, after installing Timbren rear bumpstops as a cheap solution to trailer hauling and bottoming out, it was just that - a cheap solution. They work alright to haul the trailer with a straight hitch, no WDH, no sway control, onroad and offroad. I've tested it out here in Nevada where I'm at right now. Had stiff crosswinds on I-15 maybe 30-35 mph crosswinds, no problem. Offroad, no problem.


But the Timbrens have their limitations in uptravel to the rear suspension. They have no give, no cushion. They're 3" above the stock bumpstops, but no give to them. Cheap, but I probably should have gone with the littleblue method.

 

I run 10psi unless hauling stuff, rides smoothe, leaves it level to slight rake lifted @3" on coilovers in front and 1" block in rear

 

I just ordered my ride rites yesterday. My truck is not lifted yet, but I'm wondering if my life would be made easier by just putting on daystar cradles now? Should I wait until I lift it? It's a 2012 base model 4x4 and is my dd, but I take it in some technical areas for recreational driving.