Good Afternoon! I just want to introduce myself and the company that I work for. Many of you already know Air Lift Company as the "air bag" company and many of you are using our products. My name is Brad Matznick and I am a Product Manager here at Air Lift Company. I have 17 years experience here in the areas of Engineering, Production Operations, New Product Development, Sales Engineering, and Customer Support. I am currently assigned to the new product development team and my responsibilities include facilitating the new product realization team. Air Lift Company has a keen interest in what our customers are saying about our products and working to improve the areas that need improvement, and developing new innovative products that add value to our customer's experience.

I'm just letting you know that I will be here nearly every day reading some of your posts and will be available to answer questions about our products and how to use them. Thanks!

Happy trails,

 

Welcome to FTE Brad! It's nice to see the big name sponsors here.

 

Welcome aboard! If something new comes out let us know.

 

I love your product and if I needed air bags on my new truck I would buy yours again.

Welcome to FTE you are a welcome addition....

 

Thanks Lakedweller.. glad to be here, and chears back at ya!

Brad

 

Been using your product for years with no problems.

Denny

 

Produce? What kind of veggies?

 

Radishes.. red ones.. matches our air bags!!

 

Brad,

At what pin weight on a 5er should I be considering air bags on an '06 F350 6.0?
Mike

 

I'm curious to see other's suggestions, but I would judge that on ride quality. I also don't know what your pin weight is. Air bags are a performance enhancement product so start by assessing your driving and riding experience; does your vehicle feel under sprung.. does it wallow a bit in the rear.. does it sag with your headlights up in the air.. is your ride bumpy (low frequency)? The first sign is usually the truck sagging a bit, but if it's not, then you may not need them. If you have any of these issues then you are a candidate for a ride and handling improvement by adding air bags. Does this make sense to you??

I have a lot of stories because I spent a few years here at Air Lift as a dealer sales consultant.. out in the field talking to people like us using or selling the product. I remember my first experience (I was green!!). I had a horse trailer dealer really excited about selling our product but he wasn't quite convinced by it yet. So I asked one of our engineers to go with me to his store on a Saturday and do some installer training and evaluation. The dealer had an F350 and was pulling a 36ft living quarters horse trailer with a 6,000 lb pin weight. We finished the installation and he said "now for the test.. let's go get my trailer". I think he could hear me swallowing hard from the back seat as we drove down the road to hook up. He backed up to the trailer and lowered it down while I watch the load murder the truck. He adjusted the air bags so the truck was level and we took off down the road. I was embarassed by the poor ride and frankly was wondering what I was doing trying to convince this guy to buy and sell our products. Our engineer told him to add air but I'm thinking... the truck already rides like crap, more air is more spring rate.. stiffer ride.. what's he doing to me! We were already at about 82 psi but when he got to about 97 psi it was just like someone disconnected the tires from the road and pushed a big cloud under us. I was impressed!! The lesson I learned that day was that the air bags ride like a dream compared to the factory overloads and adding air pushed the truck up off his overloads. He became a dealer. If you are ever driving through Corrunna, Mi stop and ask the local trailer dealer about this story and see what he says.

So, what does this have to do with the question? I guess maybe it's all about how your vehicle behaves when you are loaded up with air bags. Bottom line is, if your performance is in question, .. buy the product and try it out. If you don't like it, return it for the 60 day money back guarantee. Air Lift Company has your back!

Happy trails!!

Brad

 

Our trailer has 3200 to 3400 lbs on pin weight and a 50 gal aux tank in the box of the truck. If I put 40 psi (with on board compressor) before I drop the trailer pin weight on the truck it goes to 55 psi with the trailer and the trailer and truck set level and the difference in the ride is like day and night. I would install them anytime that the truck was close to level or past level with the load you are carrying.

Denny

 

For the Loadlifter 5000 system, how far can the bag compress (i.e. how much distance between the brackets where the bags are mounted) before you risk damaging the bags? I ask because, on my truck (05 F250 4x4), the brackets for the jounce bumpers only leave me with about 1 inch of compression. It seems fine when I'm towing and they are aired up, but when I'm unloaded with the bags at 5 PSI and doing a little off-roading, a little more travel would be nice.

 

Brad,

I think the point about seeing how things work before throwing a ton of money at something is crucial. I used to do a lot of work on motor home handling. What I found so often is folks just started throwing parts at things without trying to figure out what was happening.

I always used to encourage new owners to set their truck up first and see how things looked and felt. Then start adding components.

So let me ask you this and it's a toughy. How do you set up to tow a travel trailer with spring bars when you have air bags and what are your thoughts about loading the rear axle with air bags as opposed to using spring bars to transfer weight to the front axle?

As you know, you can level the entire load through the use of bags alone, but the handling sure doesn' feel the same as it does with spring bars. I suspect this one is sure to generate controversy.

Steve

 

That's a great question Steve. Many years ago I was posed with that situation and looked to a hitch manufacturer to help get an answer. According to that manufacturer, the way to set up weight distribution bars is to first measure the distance (unloaded vehicle) from the front wheel well opening to say, the center of the axle (or ground I suppose) to get a reference point. Hitch the vehicle up and adjust the bars until the front end is back down within 1/2" of the original reference point. It sure made sense to me so we adopted that methodology to tie into the air spring adjustment. It's trial and error, but if your vehicle is now sagging, you don't have enough suspension/spring rate/load carrying capacity, so increase the air pressure. Now readjust the weight distribution bars and try it all over again. When you are finished, your vehicle should sit about level, handle and ride well, and the front should be back within a half inch of stock height. I've used this method and it seems to work well, but it takes a bit of time to find the right link and pressure. Once you do that, you know how to set up every time.

I would add that you never use a weight distribution bar to take the place of inadequate suspension, and never use air springs to replace the need for weight distribution bars. Many people make the mistake of moving up to heavier bars, but that results in an unbalanced load.. more load on the trailer and the front of the vehicle. AND, you risk not having enough steering traction and brake control in the front. DON'T DO IT! (ask me how I know!!)

Brad

 

Hi Brad,

Here's where it gets tricky, and I have also had the same conversation with the hitch tech support. On many applications, I can level with spring bars completely or air bags completely. I have a number of folks who come in with their air suspension models, usually factory installed, and hook to some very large trailers. It levels up and they leave. I don't like it and to me it doesn't even look like it is handling well leaving the lots.

Same thing with after-market setups. I can, and have leveled my trucks using just my air bags, although I do it only on light weight trailers, but doing that adds rear axle weight. Obviously it is a heck of a situation because I don't think any manfacturer, at least to the best of my knowledge, has ever actually tried to address this question on a test track where it could savely be done.

Now let's go the other way. One think I could do is deflate my bags, level with my spring bars, and then bring my bags up, but that doesn't do much for ride quality. Obviously to really explore this question, I think we would need a set of scales, along with a test track.

Now on this forum, there are a good number of folks who have been towing a long time and frankly I don't worry much about them. I would bet they could tell me in five miles or less whether something is dialed in correctly in terms of handling.

I know the half inch rule, or in some cases the one inch rule, but sometimes you can adjust either using air bags or spring bars and things get a little murky. I will tell you, when I have to set up a hitch on a tow vehicle someone has just purchased, I hate it when they say they are leaving the lot on a long trip and have had no towing experience whatever. Having had my own set of towing adventures along the way, it scares the **** out of me. I do everything I can to try to talk em into practicing some first or taking a route with less elevation or traffic. I think you would be amazed how many folks come onto the lot with new trucks, having never towed and leaving with something heavy on the back. Maybe there should be a law or something.

Windy as always,

Steve