Decided to try these out, similar to the timbrens but found these at autoanything quite a bit cheaper.

Are any of you guys like me, where NOTHING you decide to do turns out to be easy?

Well, I thought these were going to be easy but they sure were a PITA, not so much putting them on but getting the oem bump stops off was a WOOLY BOOGER BEAR!!! The nuts on them were so tight I could hardly budge them and the right side was so bad that it ripped the locator pin out and so I couldn't turn the nut without the bump stop turning so I just got out the sawzall and cut that sucker off!

So, anyway, I measured the stock frame to axle space and it turned out to be right at 8" and I wanted about 1.25" to 1.5" of clearance for the aircell meaning they needed to be about 6.5" to 6.75" tall. The kit comes with 4 1/2" spacers to adjust the height with but after I measured them it turned out that they would be just under 6.75" without using any spacers.

There are three mounting holes in the aircell bracket, one threaded and two open holes so that you can moved the bumper forward or back to get it aligned directly over the axle and the top piece that the bumper fits into also has a slotted hole for further fine adjustments. I ended up using the rear hole and sliding the bump stop to the front of the slotted hole for best alignment.

Then all you do is drop a bolt through the hole in the frame and bolting the bracket up and that finishes the install.

So, after about an hours worth of cussing the oem nuts that held the original bump stops on I finally got it all buttoned back up.

Will be heading up to pick up a 34' fifth wheel on Sunday and will see how well these work.

Pics:

 

Thanks for the report. After hauling our Wildcat from Dallas, TX to Elkhart, IN last week I am very interested in hearing your impression of the ride difference. As it is, when I load the Wildcat on the hitch the springs are just sitting above the overload pads so if you hit a good dip or bump it makes contact in a not so butt pleasing fashion.

I would like to smooth out the ride, but don't really think I need to go the full air bag route.

I will keep tuned in,

 

looks like with these, when u connect the trailer, these should be touching the axle. (2in drop)

the airbags make a difference on my dually.

 

Airbags are what ultimately made the biggest difference for me and my fiver.But Ive never seen these so it will be interesting to hear the report on em.I have stableloads working in tandem with the bags and Im finally not getting the teeth chattering bounce I used to get.

 

On a big fifth wheel, I get about 3.5" of drop so I'm hoping these will level it up some.

 

yep, u got the 250..

 

Best way to go for me.

 

just meant that because of the 250 you have more sag than I do with my dually. but you should be resting on the bumper all the time when trailer connected.

 

Oh yeah, sure of that. Hope it doesn't make it ride rough.

 

I had to sawzall off my bump stops when the truck was a year old.

 

I had trouble getting the bumps tops off as well. I finally figured out that the only way to get the job done was to drive a large punch into the hole in the side of the stop. I was able to get them unbolted holding them with the punch. I swear it took me 2.5 hours to get the bump stops off and about 45 minutes to install the airbags!

 

Funny thing, the only blade I had for the sawzall was a tree trimming blade, buzzed right through that stud though!

Took the truck on a short test drive down to the sonic for a hamburger, never felt the truck touch the aircells. We'll see how they do on the highway on the way to Indiana tomorrow.

 

Okay, back from Indiana.

I like the aircells, think they are just what I needed.

So, I will try and give a rating on the individual aspects and then an overall grade.

Ride empty: Almost no change, aircells only felt over extreme bumps. Grade- 95

Ride with a trailer: very good, BUT, you do feel all the bumps and large whoop-de-do's are very solid feeling. Grade-85

Ease of install: Install is pretty easy, the real pain is getting the oem bumpstops off, but this is the same as any of these kits. Grade- 80

Value for the cost, very good for the aircells, these cost me $142.80 through auto anything's ebay store. Grade- 95

So, overall grade 88.75, B+, not bad!

Anyway, took some measurements and pics, empty tire clearance a shade over 7 inches, with a 11K dry weight fifth wheel, clearance was about 5 inches, so just over 2 inches drop now with the aircells, had about a 3.5 inch drop before.

Oh yeah, and no driveline noise at all anymore.

Tried to find some before pics with a trailer on but don't have anything that clearly shows the drop. Anyway, here you go...

 

Thanks for the report