Airbags? Maintenance and up keep

I’ve read a lot of post about using them but I’m curious of how is the up keep and maintenance of them? Currently I run timbren and they have done well at keeping my truck level, handling has been good also. This past summer I took a 2 1/2 week trip to Maine, I brought extra gear then I would normally bring. About 200lbs in the bed. More then I would normally bring. It did sag a bit. My trailer is very light weight but is tongue heavy. I’ve been tossing the idea about putting in airbags. My next big trip will be from SC to Alaska and back. I’ve read that they will bleed down over time and i would bring extra fittings incase I ruptured a line. The one thing I like about the timbren is they are installed and basically trouble free. And yes summo springs are also and option I’ve looked at.

 

I both like and hate my airbags. I like that at any moment/load change I can adjust pressure and keep i nice level ride. But the cost is that its more stiff, should check pressure at least once a month. I run 15 PSI because of my diamond back cover, tool bin and a ton of shit for any number of situations in said bin. And to be honest im not sure how this will fucntion when I go offroading.

 

I don’t understand why you are modifying your truck because you put 200lbs in it occasionally.

 

I suspect air bags are non-optimal for any sort of driving on or off the road.

 

He said he pulls a trailer that is tongue heavy plus he’s driving it from SC to AK

I pull a 14’ trailer 2-3 times a year from NC to CO or TX and I’ve got bags on my truck.

I don’t understand why you don’t read the post before typing a snippy little response

 

I suspect you’re not too familiar with air bags

 

The tongue weight was not quantified. If the OP is worried about 200lb in the bed I have to guess a heavy tongue weight in the same range of nothing to require modification of the truck.

 

Honestly dude I’ve had a fantastic experience with bags. I’ve got firestones in my truck.

I keep mine deflated unless I’ve got my trailer hooked up. Two weeks before I hook my trailer up for a long trip I air them up and leave them with 30 or so PSI to make sure they hold air. It sucks for that time cause ride suffers but I’d rather see a leak before leaving on a trip across country where I will depend on them maintaining PSI

 

Are you trolling or are you being serious here?

 

You are of no help in understanding why the OP thinks he needs to modify his truck. Perhaps you could help the OP answer his question about air bag maintenance.

 

I have the airlift version, if I mantain my 15 psi I'm fine. This weather shift got me messed up.. 3 days ago it was 50 degrees, fine add air. Today it was 94.. ok, little bouncy... I'm mostly happy with mine,I just needed to figure out the right psi so I didn't bottom out.

I could spend 500 and get the automatic level pump... I dunno, might do it.. just waiting for the new tundra, that will do towing.. this gets a lift and full off road

 

If you’ll look, I did give him my take and experience with bags

also, same argument could be made for your posts

 

I wasn’t trying to answer his question. I was asking my own question. You choose to flame me instead of trying to answer my question; which you couldn’t a anyway because the question was not directed at you. Tacomaworld FTW.

 

I clicked "watch" because I'm interested in airbags too.

I keep getting notifications. It's mostly just you saying stuff unrelated to anything. You haven't even asked any questions. Just made statements. You say yourself that you weren't trying to answer OPs question. So what are you doing here then? You don't understand why someone would use airbags? Just sit back and read what others are saying.

Now....back to airbags and peoples experiences with them please.

 

Seems like you already are leaning towards the passive helpers.

I'd just go that route and don't look back.

Airbags aren't for everyone. I love and hate them as well.

It's amazing that you can restore ride height no matter what weight. But worrying about leaks and to deflate after unloading etc is a pain.

I forgot to let out 40psi after the dump once and I thought I was going to bounce into another lane haha.

 

Have you considered Timbren?, from @Timbren-Industries

 

Buying quality parts and having it professionally installed will lessen the chance of failure and leakdown. Yes, pneumatic systems can leak from time to time but in my experience it is from someone previously working on the system and reusing a one time use fitting or not putting Teflon on the threads. Airbags themselves can have long lives, in the commercial applications I work on, 20 years of severe duty is not uncommon.

 

I roll with that psi for quite a few days just to make sure my shit doesn’t leak before a trip. It’s definitely sketchy

however I installed mine myself and it’s holding up perfect. From eastern NC to Colorado with a heavy 14’ trailer I lost 3psi in one and 4psi in the other after the drive and 4-5 days of the truck sitting while we hunted.

If you install yourself, make sure that you a) cut the lines square and b) inflate them to the max and do the soap test. I used a ratcheting pvc cutter for the air lines and it worked great

 

Do I assume correctly that air bags you are referring to do not have a damper? If so, I can see how they could lead to a lot of bouncing. Increasing your spring rate without increasing your damping is going to lead to poor ride quality if taken too far.

Why do you worry about your ride height while hauling a load? I don’t see how it causes an issue unless you are hitting the bump stops or you are scraping the ground. Is it aesthetic thing?

I’ve never heard a good explanation of what problem air bags are trying to solve other than they reduce “sag” during occasional hauling/towing which isn’t a problem in my mind.

 

I have Firestone Ride-Rite airbags installed on my truck. So far they have been mostly maintenance free. Every several months I will inflate and spray them with soapy water looking for leaks.
So far so good.

Before loading truck with gear, I measure my trucks rear suspension height pre-load. Once loaded, I measure again and just add enough air to bags to raise suspension back to pre-load height and down the trail I go. I’ll re-measure here and there during the trip to make sure everything is behaving.

Overall, pretty easy and useful suspension/load helper.