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Air Bag Installation

mrxlh

Oilfield Trash
5,904
430
Stigler, OK
This is a reprint of a writeup I did after installing a set of Firestone Air Bags.

Hello all, don't post here much, usually hang out in the 6.0 diesel forum, however figured this is where the post belongs.

The company I work for is very gracious and supplied me with a set of Firestone air bags for my truck due to the large ammount of tool weight I am required to carry. I think retail price on them was $250 and change.

Anyway, I followed the directions per firestone. All in all they were pretty straight forward. The only problem I had was with the 1" and 1/2" spacer blocks used to fasten the lower mount to the helper spring. You use them in combination (meaning what ever combination gets the lower mount the most level with the frame rail) However I could not get the 1" spacer between the main leaf pack and the helper spring. I ended up using a piece of 1/4" flat bar and drilled the holes accordingly. The mount bolts which are carrage bolts 7" long are also a pita to tighten. There is very little clearance between the nut and the leaf pack. I cut my bolts off to where you could get a gear wrench on them and it went much easier. This coupled with the 1/4" flat bar made it way easier to install than the way you normally mount them.

The only part of the kit that sucks for the less mechanically inclined and tool deficient was the fact that you have to drill the frame to mount the upper bracket. The directions covered this pretty good as well. The no-drill area is 1-1/2" from the edge on the top and bottom of the frame. (meaning you need to drill your holes no closer than 1-1/2" from the upper or lower edge of the frame) They thought this out whenthe made the bracket though, cause you can get it to where you are at least 2" from the edge of the frame. One tool that is a must on this install if you are going to do it by yourself is a transfer punch. The other tools that are required are a good drill, 5/16" drill bit to install the air fill valves, a 3/8" drill bit to drill the holes in the frame, and I highly suggest a 3/16" pilot bit for the frame, quite simply, its pretty thick.

Install time if my neighbor would not have come over and interupted would have been 2 hours.

Here is the steps I used.

#1. Secure with chocks the front wheels in both directions.

#2. Jack up rear end, and place jack stands under each side of the axle.

#3. Very important......Shake test the truck before you go any farther, if the sucker falls on you your toast, SAFETY FIRST. You have to get under it to install the nuts on the inside of the frame and to move anything on the driver side frame rail you might hit with a drill.

#4. Remove both rear tires.

#5. Follow the instructions as per assembling the upper and lower bracket to the air bag, but do not tighten the lower fastner, leave it loose to allow for side to side adjustment. Snug the top 2 bolts with a wrench or socket. They are fixed position, so no harm there.

#6. Put the whole assembly in place and figure out which spacers make the lower bracket the most level with the frame. If its a 05' F250, it is going to take a 1" in the front and a 1/2" in the rear.

#7. Lay out your holes in the frame, I did this by myself with a locking tape measure and a prybar and a transfer punch that fit sung in the upper bracket holes.

#8. Remove the entire assembly to drill the holes, trust me its much easier to drill straight without all that crap in your way.

#9. Make DARN SURE you move the wire harness and brake line that runs inside the driver side frame rail. A good tip here would be a drill collar to limit the depth of the drill bit. The passenger side on my 05 did not have anything running in it, double check yours before drilling.

#10. Put your safety glasses on, as "you can walk on a wooden leg, eat with false teeth, but you cannot see with a glass eye". Pilot your centerpunched holes with the 3/16" bit, (normal HSS drill bits will work, as the frame is not hardened) then follow up with the 3/8" bit.

#11. Mount the entire assembly in place, using the correct hardware. Make sure to center up the lower bracket over the upper leaf mount. Tighten the bolts accordingly. (35 ft. lbs.)

#12. Install the air brake fittings in the top of the bag, (there was plenty of room on my 05 to do this after installing the bags on the truck)

#13. Pick a spot for the 2 air fill valves. Drill a 5/16" hole and again use the supplied hareware, beware that these valves are brass and do NOT need to be gorilla tight, you'll break them. I highly recommend you use both and not a tee with a single valve, this allows you to control the ride height if a load is not centered in the bed, like my pack rat tool boxes that are off to one side.

#14. Install and route the push on air brake hose and secure the line with the supplied zip ties.

#15. RE-install the rear tires, remember to torque the lug nuts to 150 Ft. Lbs using the torque pattern in your owners manual, and do not oil the threads as this changes the friction and will result in either a broken stud or a severly overtightened lug nut.

#16. Take the truck down off the jack stands.

#17. Fill with air and check for leaks with soapy water solution at all connections. *note they recommend 70psi as a test pressure, keep in mind these bags are not very big so they pressure up pretty quick, be quick and gentle when shooting the air to them.

#18. Get on a level surface, and level the truck front to rear, then side to side. Take the truck out for a test ride and make your pressure adjustments from there.

I have about 1000 lbs of tools and equipment in my bed which as mentioned before is not loaded in the center, but I suggest start out at 20 lbs. and see how it rides. I have mine at 20 in the drivers side bag, and 10 in the passenger side bag and it now rides like it did before all the tools went in. Remember that 1 psi increments can make a big difference. Therefore I suggest purchasing a hand pump that can be obtained fairly cheap from your local Harley Davidson dealer used to set the air ride shocks on the dressers. (usually around $30-$40, and it is small enough to fit in your glove box as well) I just happen to own a 06' Street Glide so I have already purchased a hand pump for my bike and it worked out great for fine adjustment.

I cannot wait to pull my 11,000# toy hauler again now that the air bags are installed, should make it ride like a dream. Even with my 1000# weight dist. hitch I still am a tad below level in the rear of my truck while towing, NOT ANYMORE!!
 

6L PWR

Kansas Chapter member
Thanks Lester (yeah, I know it's Ryan, but Ryan says to call you Lester and he's POWER HUNGRY)! That's a great write up. I've been considering these myself, but I don't really haul all that much, so it may be one of the last mods I do at this point.
 

Kep4

Jäger
Nice write up Ryan. I've bought the 'no-drill' set of Firestone air-bags and hope to make the time to install them in March.
 
Great write-up, man! I appreciate the time and effort of your experiences here!
 

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