Firestone ride rite flex pictures

Had the truck up in the mountains today and thought I would take a few shots with that bags at full stretch and full compress. At the time of pictures the bags have (driverside) 15PSI and (passengerside) 10PSI.

 

hello, just wanted to throw in my 2cents if you don't mind. i have the same system on my 05 tacoma and i wasn't getting full droop from my suspension with the bags on my truck. so what i did was take out the bolt that holds the bag to the axle bracket and replace it with a longer smooth shank bolt (6" long i think) so that the bags does not hold up the axle and when the axle comes back up the longer bolt guides the bags back into place. it gave me about 4 more inches of droop on the rear end. thanks for letting me throw in my 2cents.

 

^^^ That's an interesting solution to the problem. I've pondered this myself.

And thanks for sharing OP.

 

Interesting idea. All $.02 is welcome with me .

 

Hi, thanks for sharing your tip, i had one question: which bolt did you extend in 2407 here: http://www.firestoneip.com/RideRite/kitSearch.aspx? Doesn't extending the bolt make the suspension rattle since the base will be loose? I hope i can understand how you did this because it would be a great solution for my setup.

 

If i may ask, how have the ride rites held up? Have you extended them to full articulation often and do you keep them not higher than 15 psi when you do? Thanks for your time.

 

On another note, never fully inflate the bags (100 psi) as you could damage the axle... the most pressure I needed to run when I had a very heavy load, was 45 psi. Usually 25 psi was enough for moderate loads and 15 psi for normal daily driving. Got the warning from a Toyota service tech who saw a cracked axle on a Tacoma with air bags... the kid maxed it (cause he could) and broke his Toy.

 

I PM'd the OP of this comment, he said that he bought the bolts at a hardware store.

Looking at these pics again, I'm wondering how the bolt can be used as there is not 6 inches of depth when the airbag is fully compressed with the wheel stuffed...or am I missing something?

 

Did you check pressure while the truck was in that position in the pics? Probably not based on what I saw this weekend after installing mine. I put 25 psi in them after the install and on a flat surface. Pulled it up on the hill and checked pressure in the AM. One was 10 psi low, the other was 10 psi high and the truck was only leaning a little bit. Moved it back onto level ground and things evened out. No leaks but it seams that when you add or remove air you should be on as level a surface as possible. Can anyone with more experience than I chime in on this?

Thanks, Geno

 

That's a interesting point. I had air lift air bags and would fill the drivers side to 100psi and passenger side to 80psi all the time.
I even did several 5000km trips with them at that pressure.
I never really thought about the axles, but I guess that does create quite a stress point on the axle and frame.

Shawn.