I ordered a pair of Ride Rites from JC Whitney for an early fathers day present for myself. They arrived today and I hoped to get them installed tonight. I got the drivers side done so far, but not without some minor issues.

First, the jounce finger (part of the block) that the lower bracket installs over is wider than the bracket so it won't slide up against the spring. Not a big deal but a pain when laying on your back with a 4.5" grinder spraying sparks all over yourself, not to mention the 44 gallons of gas nearby.

Second, I started the passenger side, but will have to loosen or remove the Helwig to remove the large plate/shock bracket because the lower bag bracket wont slide in with it there. I think it will be ok once I get the bag bracket on, but it had to come off anyway to do some grinding on that side.

Third, my arms are a little short. Wrenching, fitting, grinding, requires the use of a lot of muscles that I'm sure will be sore tomorrow.

Fourth, I had no help. I would recomend help.

Overall not bad so far, I may be a little whinney because i'm tired and didn't get it finished like i hoped.
All gripes aside, it is a nice kit. I'll let ya know how tomorrow goes.

Dave.

 

Been there, done that. I agree with everything you said but I was able to get the passenger side on without taking my Helwig Rear Sway bar apart. Like you said, a was also a little nervous with grinding off the jounce bumpers with 44 gals of gas right there. Haha. But after all is said and done, with 1300lbs of trailer tongue weight, you'll really like them. Good Luck

 

Well tonight was a pain as well but I did get it done. It just plain sucks putting these things on laying on the garage floor. Everything is just out of arms reach. If I had a garage lift it would have been a piece of cake.

We'll test them out this weekend.

 

I've got the same problem, any reason you guys didn't just make the cut out in the bracket for a little wider? Seems like that would be way easier. Just grind it out a little, test fit, paint and install. Still way more work that it should be.

 

Been a while since I've been on FTE and realized I didn't follow up this thread. Love the air bags! They are the icing on the cake to top off the rest of the mods. I run them at 30 lbs. when pulling our travel trailer and they make the truck feel very stable in the rear almost to the point you forget the trailer is back there. Very pleased!

 

Great report. Probably going to add Firestones to mine!

 

DaveandJennyP, I'm not sure if you have a controller hooked up to your system, but we offer a few options, and a couple of them are wireless. Having the adjustability of air springs is great, being able to adjust on the fly is awesome!

golfmedik, if you have any general questions, you can shoot me a PM. Or I can find an Air Lift kit for your application.

 

Another newbie question from me guys I've only had my Excursion a week or so, and haven't towed anything yet - but my truck has standard springs and they look like the same ones that have been fitted from the factory

I've been reading about people chaning the leaf springs front and rear, and that's what I was going to do, as I want the truck to handle better on the road, and my TT has a lot of tongue weight, so I want something to level it................but wondered how hard the ride would be when I'm not towing

Would these air bags work well for what I want? Would I still be better changing the springs, then adding the air bags, or just add the air bags front and rear, and have low pressure in for road driving, then increase the pressure when the TT is on?

 

Change the springs, then if you feel you need bags, then add them. My new springs are awesome! The truck should have come from the factory like this!

 

The new springs would probably work for you. Air bags are nice since you'd have the adjustability for any situation.