[lazamus69]

Installed some #2403 Firestone Air-Assist Bags today. One of the easier mods Ive done.
Heres some pics. Only issue was I had to cut all the carriage bolts down to 3.25 inches. They were wayy too long. Other than that everything else went smoothly.

First I took the wheel off and cut the bumpstop off with a recipricating saw and a 14 tooth metal blade.

Next put the preassembled bag/bracket assembly in place

Put the u-bolt and newly cut carriage bolts in place and tighten everything up...

heres a shot of the drivers side...lots of clearance with no rubbing issues on any lines

You do have to remove the top bolt from the brake caliper and move it aside to tighten the lower bracket bolts.

Heres some shots of the bags at 36 psi with a 625 lb quad in the back

 

[Zedbra]

did you get these bags locally? been thinking of adding some, but i have a lift so i wanna talk to someone who knows what they are doing

 

[lazamus69]

I got them in the US and picked them up in Blaine. Im only minutes from the border so it makes sense. Thankfully the border gal gave me a free pass on the duty..

 

[Zedbra]

Well, with the dollar at par it may be worth looking into. What store did ya get them from?

 

[jgib01]

Looks good & thanks for the pics. These are on my wishlist, so am glad to see the install went so well. Would also be interested in knowing the store you sourced them from. I'm unfortunately a much longer distance from the border now than I used to be, but if the right set of purchases line up I may be making another trip across.

 

[VoodooSaint]

Well done and nice pics, looks like an straight forward install, do you think airbags are feasbile if you allready have a shackle or leaf lift?

 

[07nism0]

Great install and nice pictures. That is very helpful. Thanks!!

 

[lazamus69]

I ordered them from streetsideauto.com They had a 2 day sale at the end of last month to celebrate Spring. got 25 bucks off the list price...i see that they offer only 5 bucks off at the moment with the coupon code FUELIE

Firestone Ride-Rite - Ride-Rite Air Helper Spring Kit 2403 - StreetSideAuto

 

[BLACKOUTnismo]

I know this is an old thread... But if your truck is sitting level with no load, how much more upward travel do you have with the airbags?

 

[stepside]

I have the bags on my truck also.

As for the travel over stock, i'd say you could get 3+ inches over stock w/ no load... just guessing

 

[VoodooSaint]

Whats the ride like with these on stepside?

 

[stepside]

Generally speaking, day to day driving you won't notice a difference. I keep my bags aired at 10 PSI or so just enough to act as a bump stop if needed...

Now for towing! I had a popup which when loaded weighed in around 2500 pounds... when camping for a week at a time, I'd have the entire bed full of camp fire wood. The bags would provide a great, smooth ride... I think i ran them at 40-60 psi and the truck would not squat at all... You notice the smooth ride the most when you hit a bump, like on the interstate when going on/off a bridge, and the truck no longer bounces for the next 1/2 mile!! I appreciate the bags b/c for a year or so I towed w/o them!

New camper is a travel trailer 23' coming in at 4400 pounds! I run a weight distributing hitch and only need to run 40 pounds in the rear... again, bags provide a smooth ride.

I picked up an onboard compressor on ebay for $75 w/ the gauge and definitely recommend it! Its a nice feature to get them set at your personal preference... http://www.clubfrontier.org/forums/f8/installed-firestone-air-bags-weekend-long-52869/index2.html#14