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!!

 

Ryan,

Yes the firestone air bags are great, have had them on both the 04 SD and the 06 SD.
There are two models for your truck and unfortunately they got you the old model that has to be drilled to the frame (model 2071 i believe) the new no drill version that works with a turnover ball type goosneck hitch also, is model #2400. There is no drilling involved at all and takes about 45 min - 1 hour to install.

If i had known before you started i would have pointed you in that direction. If i remember correctly the no drill kit is only about $10 more than the older drill style.

 

Yes that is the kit I have the 2071. I really cannot complain as they were free, so kinda hard to gripe about it. I wish I would have done this mod 2 years ago on my 03. Everyone talks about towing necessities being gauges, and an exhaust to get set up for towing. I'm thinking more like air bags, anti sway hitch, and weight dist hitch ought to come before all that.


I am really interested in getting the leveling bags for the front. Do you or anyone else have any experience wtith them? It would apply to 05 and newer models.

 

It would seem that if you are that happy with them in the back, you would be that happy with them in the front. However, not sure that really need them though unless your truck is bottoming the front suspsension out from the rebound.

 

Great write-up Ryan!! Have been considering putting these on my SD, but have not been needing to tow so haven't done it. Thanks for your insights on the install.

 

Great info Ryan! I'll refer to this when I install them on my truck.

Definitely 'rep point' worthy, IMHO.

 

Get Model #2400, which is no drill and they are much easier to install than the model Ryan installed.

Hope this helps

 

I have never used air bags in the front. Never had enough weight on the front of the truck to need them, even with a winch installed.

Hope this helps

 

Blackhat, the reason I ask is the 6.0 is a lot of weight up front, compaired to a 5.4 or the V10, even 5psi in an airbag makes a big difference in ride quality (all I can say is wow, if I knew then what I know now, I'd have bought a set along time ago) it makes a person wonder how over worked the coils on the 05 and later 4X4 Superduty's actually are. Average price online for the coil rites is $70. At that price it may be worth a shot. To me, they just seem like a more practicle way to level the truck, insetad of the hard rubber inserts.

 

I would highly suggest this route myself. However the 2071 kit fits Ford, Dodge, and GM trucks, in case you ever wanted to use them on another truck. Or in the case of a GM or Dodge convert that already has them... ...The 2071 looks alot more stout than the 2400 from the pictures, but pictures can be mis-leading.

 

Ryan,

Yes i agree that the PSD as heavy motor compared to the gassers but the PSD comes with heavier springs from the factory than the gassers do for the same style truck.

But if you do get them and install them i will be curious how they effect your ride quality.

As for the 2400 or 2071 they use the same air bags just different brackets and the 2400's mount on the inside of the frame whereas the 2071 mounts on the outside of the frame. Also with the 2400's there is not tire clearance issues and you can install a 5th wheel or turnover gooseneck hitch with no problem.

 

I was under the assumption they were the same spring, and that is the reason the gassers sit up higher in the front compaired to a 6.0. I know my 06 company truck with the 5.4 sat a good 1" higher than my 05, both were FX4 SD 4X4 the 06 was a supercab in leu my crewcab.

The brackets are what I was refering to as looking less stout, yes the bags themselves are indeed the same for just about all the kits. The part about the 2400 mounting inside the frame rails I did not know, and that in itself would be a definate plus if you were infact using a 5er hitch or wider tires. I would most definatly recommend the 2400 kit knowing the above now. However the 2071 was free to me. Either way, the install proceedures would be similar minus the drilling of course.

 

Nice write-up, Ryan! I have a question tho... I used the Air Lift bags and I was curious about your getting the lower bracket placement of yours level with the frame. Mine came out completely different, where my bags are at a forward angle (from bottom to top) and this matches the way the springs compress and are mounted (rear of spring pack mounted higher than front). What caught my attention is the last time we went camping and were fully loaded the top and bottom of my bags were parallel (meaning they were compressing uniformly). A good friend that met us on this trip has a '99 PSD with Firestone bags on it, and compressed, his top and bottom of the bags are offset, and his upper mount is roughly parallel with the frame.

Have you loaded up your truck and seen how your top/bottom of the bags line up?

Not sure if I understood how you did your install correctly, but thought I'd pass on my experience and observations. Let me know what you think...

 

Dan, I understand exactly what you are saying, and I questioned it myself for a breif second til I got to the part where I was looking at the no-drill area of my frame. The instructions said to get it as level as you can with your 2 choices of blocks 1" or 1/2", you can probably guess how level they are in relation to the frame!! The upper bracket needs to be mounted pretty much square or level with the frame to stay out of the no-drill area. For me that was much more important than how perfect the airbags lined up. Remember they are pretty tough and will take up a pretty good bit of mis-alignment, however it is best to get as close as you can. Which is what I did.

Like I said im my post I ended up right at 2" from the upper and lower protion of the frame, which is an additional 1/2" further away from the specified no-drill area. I did air them up to 70 psi and looked closely at how they were angled, and they looked alot closer than what I thought they would un-inflated during the install. I have not hooked up to my toy hauler yet, but do have close to a ton in the bed right now.

 

There are different spring rates selected by the computer during the manufacturing process, the spring rates are determined by cab configuration, bed length, trim package, camper package, snow plow package, heavy suspension package, enging & transmission choice and wether it is 2WD or 4WD so the spring rates do vary quite abit.

Good write-up BTW