Icon AAL with Firestone air bumpers? Anyone do this?

Finally putting in the dough to upgrade my suspension right on my third gen tacoma TRD OR. Current idea is to go for Icon stage 4 kit and firestone air bumpers for the rear.

I noticed the suspension kit comes with the 1.5" AAL. Based on a few people I've asked, they say airbag alone should be enough. I plan for moderate overlanding on forest service roads and long treks to death valley. No crawling or hardcore offroading.

I'm not any way close to knowledgeable in suspension work.

Would there be any benefit or advantage to combine the AAL with airbumpers? In theory I would think the airbags would provide the comfy ride with ability to carry additional load while the AAL provides extra "weight insurance" for my Alu-Cab canopy/CVT tent with camping gear and equipment.

Is this not common because it's an ignorant suspensions question or is this redundant/contradicting in function that most people don't do?

 

Interested to hear thoughts on this, as I am in a similar position. Firestone bags + Daystar cradles today, but looking at suspension options down the road with similar setups.

I did see in another build you may have to extend your cradles to hit the axle tubes because of the additional thickness of the leaf pack.

 

I just installed the AAL and had previously had just airbags. I only inflate the airbags when hauling to level the load. However, I wanted to lift the back a bit to add larger tires. I also had an annoying issue with the rear when hitting dips or bumps where both tires hit at the same time. It felt like I got kicked in the kidneys. I believe it was the overload spring since the stock springs are pretty flat.

Once I added the AAL pack it and removed the overload, it solved the problem. Now I have a pretty decent ride in the rear and the added benefit of airbags when needed. I am using the cradles and when fully deflated, the airbags don't touch.

 

Dakars, airbags and cradles here. I have not extended the plate down to the axle tube - it's on the "to-do, but not to-day" list. No issues so far after 60K