I have been pulling a bumper pull for several years now and starting to think about upgrading to a 5th wheel when I get home from Iraq. I'm looking at 35-40' BH models that have a "dry" pin weight in the 1700-1900 range and thinking that I may want to have airbags put on if I go this route. I have a 14' 6.7L F-250 4x4 Supercrew Lariat. I know I will be pushing the limit on the scales so I am anticipating some squat on the rear end of the truck. I have also read that it will smooth out the ride.


I am starting the PR campaign with my wife and need to get my estimated costs sorted out. She doesn't like surprises. Looking for advice from guys with experience. Would I need airbags on all four wheels or just the back two? Anybody had these systems installed and have a round about cost out the door? Is this something that I could install with enough time and the right tools? Any other mods/upgrades to make the ride smoother?


Thanks for the input.

 

Doing the work myself, my cost was between $700 and $800 for the air bags and the wireless controlled compressor system.
Anyone with tools, and basic knowledge and mechanical skills can do the install in a day taking your time.
I pulled my Raptor with bags on the rear with my F250, but my pin weight is about 1000 lb heavier than what you are looking at, so I traded the 250 for a dually and I like that a LOT better!
Good luck to you, and pics of your rig when you get the 5er hooked up!

 

Thanks for the insight. I'll start looking at systems and I will definitely post a picture of the new setup, but it will be a while before I can actually purchases anything. I still have another 4 months over here.


I really like the Raptors and would love to have one so that I could put my motorcycle in the back when we go camping but as you stated the pin weights on toy haulers are ridiculous. I bought the truck about a year ago and just paid it off last month so I won't be upgrading it anytime soon. Plus it only has about 7k miles on it right now because I only got to drive it for 6 months before I left. Much to my wife's disappointment I have been ordering parts for it and my bike so that I have something to tinker with when we are reunited.

 

I also installed my Firestone airbag system in my driveway in about 2 hours. I got just the airbags and routed the schreader valves to the bumper, and I think the kit cost around $300. A few months later I upgraded to an in cab controller with the heavy duty compressor and I think that set up was around $350. Did the install in the driveway again. This is definitely a job you can do with common hand tools and some degree of mechanical aptitude. I also would say that the in cab controller with the air compressor is the best mod I've made to my truck. If I had it to do again, I would've bought one kit and done it all simultaneously.

 

Does the compressor have an extra port so you can fill truck/ rv tires. Or is it a matter of tapping into one of the lines/ adding it on yourself?

 

The compressor only has one output port, but you can tap into the line coming out as you need/see fit. The kit I bought came with a tee to tap into the line that fills my small air tank. I routed that extra line to behind my fuel door so I can fill my air ride pin box easily.

 

Along with pin weight, you should look at the gcwr your truck has. I was running with the F250 you see in the picture. Our 04 was maxed out towing our fifth wheel. I would tow it BUT no mountains etc. we got our 2015 last month. Boy what a difference. When looking at dry weight add around 15% to get you near true down the road weights.
From another military man "Watch your 6"

 

Thanks for all of the input guys. Gives me some direction to start researching and deciding exactly what type of setup I want to put in. Whatever way I go, I think I will install it myself. Moogal, you mentioned an in cab controller. Where did you mount that? Under the steering wheel?


Bigred, the GCWR on my 14' is 23,500. That leaves plenty of room for what I want. I am estimating (need to get the truck to the scales unloaded) that the truck weighs about 8k with passengers and full tank of fuel. That leaves 15.5k for a loaded trailer. The ones that I have been looking at are about 11k unloaded with a payload capacity of 2-3k and I know that all of the gear in my current trailer is about 1k total when loaded up for a trip. I believe the limiting factor in my case is going to be the GCVR of 10,000. I'm not too worried about running a little heavy on that as long as I don't go over the GAWR on either the front or rear and I can get a level and smooth ride. Hopefully the weight police are not monitoring this thread. Lastly, thank you for your service and do some camping and drink a beer for me this summer since I won't be able to.


'Murica!

 

I mounted my in cab controller to the bottom of the dash, way down by my right foot. It's not the best place, but it's visible from where I sit, I can reach both valve switches, it's mounted to metal, and all the tubing is easily passed through the firewall (I didn't go for a wireless controller).

 

Captain 'Murica, thank you for your service. Get back to the USA safely.

 

The airbags will help with sag/squat but you don’t want to blow them up too much because you will disengage your factory suspension. I would suggest a combination of airbags and StableLoads, but many of our customers start with StableLoads because it takes care of handling issues.

StableLoad preloads your truck’s factory overload leaf springs to keep your truck’s suspension operating at its maximum stability as the factory engineers intended. This reduces and eliminates rear end sag, body roll, porpoising and drastically improves the overall handling characteristics of your truck when hauling a heavy load. Many of our customers find that StableLoad is the only suspension upgrade they need to make. We conducted a test recently to compare the effectiveness of airbags, StableLoad and a stock truck suspension:


Would be interested to see what you guys think of it.

 

Thanks Carl and thank you again Moogal. Rep sent your way. Sheryl, I have seen your ads through the forum and I haven't ruled the Torklift system out. Not that I don't trust you, but you are a vendor so I would like to get an opinion from somebody that has used them. Can anybody that has installed them chime in and speak on their experience? Thanks again guys. Lots of great advice being given here.

 

I tried, but could NOT use them on my 2005 HD F250 6.0 Diesel. I had the Ford Overload springs upgrade for CAMPER use. Also had the Ford Tow Package. As the StableLoads were not designed for this Ford package, they were not made for my truck.....HOWEVER! I was able to use the upper spring StableLoads in my truck and they work VERY well. So well that I do not require airbags.

 

I saw those on their website. Did they stiffen up your ride when you are unloaded?

 

When "unloaded", they don't touch, so that ride is unaffected. Maybe they do when a big bump happens, but as I can't see it then....??? I can not tell so all is still well!