right side bag is near the exhaust.. hope thats not an influencer..

Sam

 

It was real nice that they did make the effort so I could continue my vacation, and that is why I am acknowledging it.

About 2000 miles towing, unknown not towing, although I suppose if I tried hard enough I could figure it out.

Not poor materials. Firestone bags have a lifetime warranty. And I have said that overall the kit is very well made.

The leak was caused by the bag being cut by the truck's frame. There is a rolled edge that is a bit sharp (sheared) and when the bag deflates and rolls upon itself it butts up against this edge.
Only time I see it doing that though is when I dump the air. The bag is about an inch away from that area when inflated.

I hope so too. But, both bags have marks indicating contact with the frame. Light contact should not be an issue. Why it cut the bag is unknown so far.

The shield you see on the exhaust was not part of the kit. It was sent to me post installation.

 

A 2 year update

The unloaded ride is still harsh - nothing like the promises.

firestone customer service still sucks.

I have now dealt with both AirLift and firestone's customer service department.

With AirLift I always spoke to someone on the phone and always was satisfied with the level of support.

Firestone - just plain sucks.
After you finally get through to tech support you get pushed over to warranty (life time bag warranty).
From there it is all email.

They answer email at most once per day. The will not work with you if your truck is down. I had to pull my bags and take video showing the leaks before they would authorize replacements.

Being 2 years old I figured a description and video of one bag was enough. No - took a week of back and forth to get a second bag sent out after I removed it.

I asked for two of the mounting nuts because the threads on the air port fitting was so rusted I had to sawzall off the top.

No - they will not warranty the nuts - com'on - really two freak'in nuts?

I have the firestone tech r4 suspension, which means - without bags I have no suspension.

So, since we leave today for a camping trip I put a leaking bag back in because the new bag will not be here for a few days. What a PITA

BTW - I strongly recommend against the R4 system for a variety of reasons.
Ride quality
support
"not quite ready for prime time" (at least with the DRW version)
cost
side to side roll is exaggerated as your "springs" are now much closer to the centerline of the truck

It does do a good job of leveling the truck when I drop 3500 pounds of 5th heel pin weight on it. But I could have done that with standard air bags. And if I wanted auto level, standard airbags with HCV's, height control valves, could have been added.

And still no offer of assistance from Sanluis Rassani, the company that designed this system for SRW's then made some mods without testing for DRW's.

Although they at least answer emails, then blow you off.

Should have just stuck with AIrLift

 

aarrrggghhhhh

Remember - 1 email per day!

After three days of trying to get the special nuts that are on top of the bags - here is the answer I just got!

"You would have to contact a dealer to order nuts customers cannot buy directly from firestone.

I would try a hardware store first".

 

Rep points headed your way Duane, thanks for the updated review. I will disregard this system and look at something else.

 

Thanks for keeping us all posted on the suspension. And very sorry to hear that you are having such a hard time with customer service. hope you get it fixed and can get some satisfaction out of it all.

 

Steve, unless you want to go the big bucks with a Kelderman, I would just go to supplemental air bags.

Far cheaper in the end, and does the same.

One of the problems with an all air ride suspension is - well air.

If you have leaks it gets frustrating. I am in the process now of re-vamping my air system.
Got most of the leaks fixed but I just found my 5 gallon stainless steel air tank, that is mounted above the driveshaft, has welds that leak

 

Duane - Thanks for the updates. I was wondering about air ride suspension and you are making me think that supplemental is the way to go as well.

 

Sounds like a nightmare Duane, thanks for the info.

 

Well no one else has to worry about this setup.

Heading out to Hershey for the RV show we had yet another air bag failure due to a not ready for prime time suspension kit.

Just got word from the design team (sanluis rassani and firestone) that the system has been dropped.