Behold! The Air Spring Nightmare! (2008 Ram 1500 4x4)

[Andy Douglass]

Long rambling ahead; here is the summary:

Tried to install Firestone Air Springs, they seemed to have been fabricated by either a trained baboon or bottom-tier moron. Returned, ordered Air Lift Springs (yes I ordered the correct kit for the truck) and they do not fit on the frame properly. Air Lift customer support ticked me off and wasted most of my day. Total time spent on air springs thus far with zero progress: 10 hours in 90 degree sun. Now what do I do?

Rambling yet therapeutic string of complaints:

We are in the midst of an air spring nightmare. Our FWC Hawk will be ready in mid-August, so I have been making (and attempting to make) the suspension upgrades I see as necessary. Last year, when I was researching options for my wife's Ram, I had decided on a Hellwig rear sway bar and the Firestone air springs. So that's what we ordered.

The Firestone kit arrived last week and I got to work on installing it one hot evening after work. The long story short is that after jacking up the truck and taking the rear wheels off, things were not lining up right on one side. Since the parts are symmetrical, I swapped out one assembly for the other and then discovered that one of the large brackets had been fabricated poorly. The Firestone brackets have three "ears" along one side that are bent in the same direction 90 degrees. Somehow the moron at the metal brake had managed to bend the outside ears in the wrong spot, with the middle ear being correct. I couldn't imagine how someone could do this without realizing it, and it even seems to my limited knowledge to be impossible to do unintentionally. Since all three ears are supposed to be bent at the same spot and at the same angle, wouldn't they just brake them all at once with the same setting? Anyway, it's hard to describe what the issue was. I am normally pretty forgiving of manufacturing mistakes because they are bound to happen. But this one was so puzzling that I lost confidence in the brand.

I returned the kit and ordered the Air Lift Load Lifter 5000 which also gets excellent reviews. We decided at that time that we wanted to get an on board compressor to help with leveling the truck at camp. So we also ordered the Air Lift Wireless Air kit. Everything, including the Hellwig sway bar arrived. So I jumped into the install yesterday after work. Jack the truck up, set the jack stands, and took off the wheels. Again. The Air Lift kit has you mount an upper frame bracket to the bottom of the frame over the rear axle, using the bolt holes for the stock jounce bumper. I found that the frame on our truck, which we bought new from the dealer and has never had any mods done to it, does not have a flat surface on the bottom of the frame over the rear axle. There is a component of the frame, present on both sides of the truck, that laps over the main frame body, which adds about 1/4" of thickness. So the big Air Lift bracket cannot sit flush on the bottom of the frame because the front edge sits on the lower part of the frame. When I installed the bracket exactly as the instructions say, the front end is 1/4" lower than the back end, so you can see daylight between the bracket and the frame at the front, and it is right where the mounting bolt goes so to tighten the bolt to spec would either bend the bracket or tweak the bolt.So

So I looked around online and found no one with the same issue. I rechecked the frame. The way it is is obviously how it is supposed to be from the factory; the lower part of the frame runs forward on both sides all the way to the transmission cross member, which is welded to it. These are all factory welds; no one snuck up and did some freelance welding on this truck. The welds are perfect, probably done by a robot. There is no damage or bending that caused the issue; it is clearly a 1/4" plate that is wrapped onto the main frame body. It was after 5 PST, but I called the Air Lift phone anyway. The message said they are open from 8 to 8 EST.

Today, I started calling them at just before 8 PST. At first the number would just ring. A few more tries were met with a busy signal. At one point, I got the "We are closed" message that I had heard the night before. I decided to tackle the sway bar while waiting. When I was almost done with the sway bar, I finally got through to Air Lift after being on hold for 30 min. The service rep I spoke with told me he had never heard of this issue and asked for photos. That's why we took photos of everything the night before. He told me he would forward the photos to the engineer. "Perfect!" I said. "Thanks for the help." I said. This was about 10 this morning. After a trip t the store for some more jack stands and a better jack, and a driveway tire rotation, and finishing up on the sway bar, I decided that I would need to call them again before everyone went home. With the hours being 8 to 8 EST, and it being just after 3 PST, I figured I had waited a reasonable time and had not gotten a call back or even an acknowledgement that my emailed photos had been received. After another 30 min. hold session, the same rep I had spoken with in the morning answered. I told him I had not heard anything. He said he would check with the engineer and call me back, but the engineer may have gone home. So here it is 5 PST, and I have not heard back.

So this is my dilemma: I am easily at the point with Air Lift that I return both the spring kit and the compressor kit and go with something else. This is what I did with the Firestone kit. But I'm tired of doing that and I am running out of options. I see that Hellwig makes an air bag kit, but no compressor. And I had issues installing that damn sway bar too, although I was able to make it work.

The most annoying thing about the Air Lift kit is that I can't find anyone else with the same issue, and it is a very common truck and a very common air spring kit.

Any thoughts or experiences with these products on a 2008 Ram 1500?

 

[CougarCouple]

Hello Andy Douglass
I'm sorry to hear of the situation with the two different air springs.
Recently decided to try the Hellwig air springs on our F250, I found them from SDTruck springs. While placing my order the sales person tried to get me to go with Air Lift, and felt pushing in that direction so halted the purchase. Spoke with Hellwig really want to try them so asked for a couple of online distributors. Sure enough he says SDTruck springs, so I tell him about the recent experience I just had, and suggested he call and act like a customer to see for himself.
Well two weeks later not being able to find a better price I placed a order online $309.00. ( with SDTruck springs) Funny how none of the folks I spoke with ever mentioned they are 4 weeks back order. Oh well that's so much the way the air springs collapse just like the buying experience.
I will not be surprised when nothing just bolts up. Although unable to assist you, hopefully this will make you feel not so all alone.

Russ

 

[EDR]

I would suggest calling Timbergrove
https://timbergroveenterprises.com/old-home/
I have a newer Ram and their kit was a simple bolt on process.
They’re a small company and I had no problem reaching the owner and getting answers for my questions.
Good luck finding what you need.

 

[Advmoto18]

Sorry to hear about your frustrations.

While after-market vendors often state their components are compatible with older year trucks, such is often not the case due to small changes to frame and suspension geometry the manufacturer will make during and subsequent model year(s). As such, it is very difficult to state with 100% certainty a product will fit any truck other than the one the vendor used for R&D to engineer their product.

Having owned a 2003 F-250 and now a 1988 Land Cruiser imported from Japan, I have found such to be the case many times when ordering after-market product.

While one should not expect to modify or fabricate parts, I can certainly see where such would be the case. I had to modify parts and re-powder coat several suspension parts for my old F-250.

Sadly, customer service is hit-or-miss at many vendors. I have had nothing but superb service from Air Lift when calling tech support during my installation; mostly due to my inability to gleam certain points in the instructions (and I tend to not to refer to instructions until I'm stymied). I installed the Air Lift 5000 Ultimate on my 2016 F-350 several weeks after getting it home. No issues at all with installation.

I have been very pleased with every nugget of advice I've received from the folks at Carli Suspension and Deaver Springs.

Hope you get your issues sorted out without further headaches.

 

[Espresso]

I installed Firestone Ride-Rite airbags on my 2007 Ram 1500 4x4 a few years ago. The installation took about 1 hour and I didn't remove the rear wheels. Did you call Firestone and ask for a replacement plate? It could have been a mfg error or they could have included the wrong part with your order. Either way, I feel your frustration. I hate when a simple job turns into a complex mess. For me it usually involves 20 trips to Ace Hardware.

 

[Andy Douglass]

Cougar Couple: Thanks for commiserating with me in my consumer despair. I am really curious to see how you like the Hellwig springs, as I might end up having to go with those (see below for update on Air Lift "Customer Service").

EDR: Thanks for the recommendation, I will take a look at that company.

ADVMoto: I agree with you; vehicles can change quite a bit within a model run. I would be forgiving of Air Lift if they did not market their product as 100% certain to fit my truck. Their website states that the 88230 kit will fit my truck and includes:

• All necessary mounting brackets
• All of the hardware needed for installation

There is no indication of the possibility that due to changes made by the vehicle manufacturer the kit may not work. I spent $1000 on Air Lift products (springs and wireless compressor kit) based on Air Lift marketing the product as one that will work on my truck. See my update on their customer service below for why I feel good about my initial anger when I found the kit doesn't work.

Espresso: The faulty Firestone bracket was the correct part, it had just been bent incorrectly. It even has the same part number as the other bracket, although it was stamped with the part number upside down compared to the good bracket (small non-issue, but it just added to my impression of the product). Here is a pic of the two brackets:

The one on the top is the bad one, which you can see by the gap between the middle "ear" and my yellow level. The two outer ears are bent in the wrong spot and at about 100 degrees instead of 90. On the good one, all three "ears" are exactly the same length and bent at the same place at the same angle. I can't figure out how the fabricator could achieve those results without either being a moron or doing it intentionally. If Firestone Ride Rite was the only product on the market, I probably would have just returned it and gotten a replacement. But I had heard such good things about Air Lift, so I gambled (and lost) that their product would be superior.


Air Lift Customer Service Update:

One thing I forgot to include in my initial rant was that when I called back in the evening, the service rep told me that the only thing he could think of was if I ground down the bracket to fit the frame, although he was clear that he could not recommend that. I told him I would not be doing that.

I got the following email from him this morning:

"I apologize about the delay on this.

Being the fact that that weld is where it is at the kit that you have will not work. being that the upper frame bracket is not flush with the frame it will either may not function properly and will potentially fail prematurely.

I would recommend that you go with kit number 59551."

I looked up kit number 59551. It is not a Load Lifter 5000 Ultimate kit, it is their Ride Control product, which is significantly weaker (2000 lb vs 5000 lb) and per their website it is best "if you tow or haul occasionally". It looks like this is one of the air springs that bolts onto the leaf springs, not the axle.

So now I'm pretty sure I will just return the Load Lifter kit along with the Wireless Air kit. I could use the Wireless air kit with any brand air springs, but I've now lost confidence in this company as well. I sent an email back to him advising that I did not see his response as a good solution to a problem that I have zero responsibility for. I will update here if there is any further response.

 

[moveinon]

It is too bad you had that experience with Firestone. With my experience I would not give up on Firestone because they made one bracket mistake. I have had two different sets of their air bags on two different trucks with over 140,000 miles with no problems at all. The only change from their stock bags was to put commercial air lines on to make sure there was no leaks. That mileage included a lot of off road miles on the first truck with heavy loads so I know they can hold up under abuse and over 40,000 miles with my current truck on mixed highway and forrest service/logging roads with camper. I initially installed them because I volunteered on the Baja 1000 a couple of times and they were used a lot there -figured if they could stand that abuse that I would never put them through they could handle what I used them for. If you look at other threads on hear related to airbags you will see that Airlift does not have the same reviews as Firestone.

 

[kmcintyre]

I would suggest calling Timbergrove
https://timbergroveenterprises.com/old-home/
I have a newer Ram and their kit was a simple bolt on process.
They’re a small company and I had no problem reaching the owner and getting answers for my questions.
Good luck finding what you need.

I agree. They are highly recommended on the ram1500 forum. I think you have to cut the bumper stop bracket off but it's minor.

 

[Andy Douglass]

I did not hear back from Air Lift after my last update, so I am going to assume that when a customer purchases the product that they say will fit their truck, and it doesn't, the level of service they are comfortable with is just recommending a lesser product in their line and not making any offer to help with shipping/returning.

I've always felt strongly that as a consumer, companies are held accountable by the money we don't spend on their products. While the Air Lift products look to be made well, and the instructions are far better than the Firestone ones were, the level of service I received is not satisfactory, and as it stands now I will not be spending any money on any of their products again. I scheduled a return of the Load Lifter 5000 kit, but I was not confident Amazon would sympathize with my reasoning on returning the Wireless Air kit since there is nothing wrong with that product (theoretically, since I haven't installed it yet). So I am keeping the compressor kit, but the Air Lift sticker that came with it will go into the garbage. And I don't mean I will let it gently flutter into the trash bin; that thing will be vigorously slammed into the trash with extreme prejudice. That'll teach 'em.

I decided that the quickest way for me to end this drama was to reorder the Firestone Kit. When I decided to not go with Firestone, that was based on Air Lift's website telling me that they made a comparable product for my very common truck. Now that I've found that is not true, my consumer hatred for the Firestone product has been scaled back to consumer mild annoyance. Hopefully they send a good kit. I don't think my delicate psyche can handle any more problems, but if there is a problem with that Air Lift compressor kit, I fear my wife will find me curled into a fetal position in the driveway. We shall see....

 

[rotti]

Ahh I really hate telling you this but....

Six years ago I put a loaded new Hawk on new 2500HD Chevy and drove away without the need for any mods whatsoever. Its been a great handling combo with no issues. I sincerely believe our "light weight" campers deserve a 3/4 ton platform.

In your shoes, I would forget the bags and get a new spring pac rated to carry the load.

 

[Andy Douglass]

Ahh I really hate telling you this but....

Six years ago I put a loaded new Hawk on new 2500HD Chevy and drove away without the need for any mods whatsoever. Its been a great handling combo with no issues. I sincerely believe our "light weight" campers deserve a 3/4 ton platform.

In your shoes, I would forget the bags and get a new spring pac rated to carry the load.

To be clear the truck the camper is going on for now is a 1/2 ton, and the camper will not be on the truck full time. So I went with the option that I thought would allow us to compensate for the camper when needed, and allow normal comfortable ride when the camper was off. Add to that the ability to do some minimal leveling front to back and side to side (2 way compressor controller) while in camp, and I made the decision to go with bags.

That truck is my wife's. My 2005 1/2 ton will be replaced in the next couple of years with a 3/4 ton, and the camper will then go to that truck when we go on trips. I would only want to go with heavier springs, or even a 1 ton, if we were having the camper on the truck full time. Most of the day to day driving we both do will be without the camper on Sonoma County roads. Those that who have experienced the "third-world" quality of our roads will understand.

 

[ardvark]

Man, I'll tell you. If its not air bags it will be something else. I not going to do my rant about one of the best loved of manufacturers, but after calling tech support and getting through, and sending pictures, and support talking to engineering, the response I got was not that I was doing anything wrong. It was sometimes you have to "move the gas tank over a little". You're joking right? Move the gas tank on my truck to make your product fit? Now when something doesn't fit I send it packing immediately. I also found if the supplier is slow to respond, Amazon gets me a response pronto.

Hate things are this way, by in my opinion, today's manufacturers can't spell quality control let alone practice it.

 

[kluber]

Andy,

I have to second Rotti's comments above. No matter how much we wish our camper + equipment combos were "just a few hundred pounds over" GVWR, reality check (at the weigh station) will prove otherwise. Our small trucks just don't have the payload capacity to handle it all.

The airbags can be helpful, but it doesn't make sense to depend upon them full time for a long time, particularly if you spend time off road. A problem with an airbag in a remote setting will turn your leafs into frowns and strand you.

I've been using RideRites (installed when I got the camper) but have recently bit the bullet, weighed my truck, pulled the leaf springs, and sent them up to Deaver to be rebuilt to carry my actual payload. I had MIT in El Cajon help me out and couldn't ask for a better shop.

It's more work and cost to do the springs, but in the long run, you'll be safer, more comfortable, and more dependable.

Karl

 

[knoxswift]

I don't have a Ram 1500. I have a Tacoma.

I have excellent success with Roadmaster active suspension. With custom springs. I agree with Karl in the post above.
However to extend the cost I first used Roadmaster on stock setup and eventually customized springs but kept the roadmaster because it worked so well.

 

[kmcintyre]

I've been thinking about changing out my springs on my Ram 1500 Outdoorsman as my camper is on full time but can't find any. All of the springs you can find state they aren't for the Outdoorsman and wonder if it's because it's slightly higher? I'd keep my airbags on too.

 

[2tallDA]

Ahh I really hate telling you this but....

Six years ago I put a loaded new Hawk on new 2500HD Chevy and drove away without the need for any mods whatsoever. Its been a great handling combo with no issues. I sincerely believe our "light weight" campers deserve a 3/4 ton platform.

In your shoes, I would forget the bags and get a new spring pac rated to carry the load.
Agreed. The 2008 1500 Rams didn't have the highest load capacity but a custom leaf pack would help.
I've installed two sets of Firestones on two vehicles with no issues. The second set has been replaced with Carli Long travel units.

 

[Andy Douglass]

So the second Ride Rite kit arrived last week, and I was shocked to find that it appeared to be a complete kit with no manufacturing errors or missing parts. In the interest of capping off this boring saga, I present the next and hopefully last chapter in Lovecraftian form:

"Can this be true?" I asked myself, my eyes flitting suspiciously from part to part. "Surely there must be a missing nut, a metal void, some rust, or...something?" Try as I might, I could find nothing wrong with the kit. I tried to ignore the Air Lift Wireless Air box in the corner of the carriage house, but a creeping darkness seemed to exude from it like some foul breath from the underworld. I felt my feet begin to take me out of that den of horrors, as though they had a will of their own, a will of pure self-preservation. Only the mind of a mad man could fight that will, the mind of a man mad enough to attempt such dark experiments and machinations under his own roof.

I began to lay out the instruments of my madness, muttering to myself in ancient tongues of the insane. "...ah yes, I must have the 1/2" drive 9/16" socket, the deep one, for the regular one will never fit completely over the u-bolt, and of course I must have those cursed metric sockets at hand, particularly the 15 millimeter...but how will I set the stock jounce bolts to proper torque when I know I do not have a 1/2" drive 15 mm socket? Hah! What a silly question to ask oneself when one knows that the torque wrench would never fit in there anyway. What shall I do, you ask? Well of course I will use an SAE box wrench, the closest one I can find to the evil metric size, but I shall pray to the old gods that I don't round those maniacal bolts over any more than they already are after my previous experiments. The ancient texts call for a precise torque to be set, but I shall place faith in our ability to summon the correct torque by sheer will alone. And what of the self-tapping metal screws? Which screws are you referring to? You silly man, I refer to the screws in the Air Lift compressor kit, which you and I have discussed at length. Ah, yes, I remember now. The screws that will mount the compressor and manifold to the frame, the screws that Air Lift neglected to list the pilot hole size for. But I thought we determined the size of the screws from the Air Lift parts list and then located a proper pilot hole size after hours of research in the laboratory? Well we did, but you silly man, already you forget there are two sizes of self-tapping screw and Air Lift, in their plan to spread foul humours across the land in preparation for the coming of Cthulu, only listed the size of one in the parts list. Ah, you remember now, yes, the kit contains four "1/4 14 x 3/4" self tapping screws" as well as two "self tapping screws". Well two unidentified screws will not stop us, now will it? No it will not, we will simply turn our trained eye to the screw and select a proper pilot hole size. What could go wrong?"

As I ranted to myself and shot around the workshop, my pile of instruments grew. Finally I was ready to begin, ready to right the cosmic wrongs that had festered for so long, wrongs that had turned our once happy home into a den of madness, paranoia, and suspicion. I threw open the carriage house doors and peered out at the self-powered wagon that squatted in the courtyard of our humble estate. Pure sunlight showered down and a blast of thick fetid air hit me in the face. The light seemed to dissolve out of existence below the wagon, and the dark space there gaped and growled at me like the maw of some ancient beast. I prepared for my descent into darkness, laying out all of my instruments and provisions. As I pulled myself down into the darkness, I swear I heard the laughter of the foul disciples of the Corporatikon all around me.

As I began to work down there in the darkness, my spirits were high. Surely I would conquer the beast this time. Things went well as I installed the air springs. I had to backtrack several times, but unscrewing lock nuts off of long bolts an eighth of a turn at a time was not enough to dampen my spirits. I failed to notice the sun settling near the western horizon, and the darkness growing in the east. That darkness that would envelop me later that evening, that darkness sent from the foul necropolis of Lansing, some 2,549 miles away.

With the installation of the air springs complete, I turned my attention the Air Lift compressor kit. My mouth began speaking in the ancient tongues again. "...so, where shall we put the compressor? Of course we shall mount it inside of the wagon's frame, where it is most protected. There, by the transfer case, I think I see a suitable location. Surely my drill will fit there. Ah, these are the mysterious self tapping screws, the nameless ones. But I have feverishly compared drill bits to them and selected the proper size, haven't I? Yes I have, for it must be that the proper pilot hole size would be the size of the screw's shank, wouldn't it? Of course it would, what else could it be?"

I proceeded with my mad plan, my hands working feverishly, as though they had a mind of their own. The sky dimmed above and the darkness from the east loomed. As I turned the screw with a nut driver, a sickening crunch shattered the silence and fragments of brittle metal showered down upon me. The screw had broken. "I shall not worry," I told myself. "For this compressor is mounted with four bolts, and three will be enough for now, I will simply replace the fourth screw at a later date. But now I know that I selected the wrong drill bit."

I dragged myself out of The Maw and replaced my drill bit with one a size larger. As I steeled myself for one last descent into The Maw, I noticed the darkness. It squirmed in the air all around me, writhing serpentinely, and a sense of dread crawled up my spine. "Where has the time gone? Wife? Oh wife, I beg of you, please assist me, as I am now unsure that I can complete this afore my time expires. Where are you? I know that you are here somewhere. You must help me! Oh, there you are!"

My poor wife emerged reluctantly from the carriage house. Looking back now, I know that she saw more clearly than I. She did not ignore the foul omens like I had chosen to do. But she elected to assist me despite that, bless her sweet soul. I set her to work routing the air lines while I forged ahead with the compressor. I drilled larger holes for the screws. and blessedly that worked. I moved on to mounting the manifold. But where would I put it? I now saw that the spot next to the compressor would never work, for my drill would not fit there. Feverishly I looked around for a spot, holding the manifold up here, pushing it up there. Finally, I located a place suitable. A place that my drill could reach, although at a slight angle. What harm could that do? None, I thought, for I believed myself to be destined to finish the project shortly. I set to work drilling the first pilot hole, my drill at a reckless, haphazard angle. Immediately, that sickening but familiar crunch cracked through the air as I felt the drill bit give way. In my mind, a doorway slammed open and the madness and darkness rushed in. I heard long-extinct beings call to me and sparks of red and black showered from my eyes. The door of sanity rattled on its hinges and began to splinter.

My wife found me cowering in the corner of the carriage house some time later. I must have fled The Maw and shut the carriage house doors, although I do not remember this. I remember the grasp of the Ancient Ones, reaching from out of space and of time, and to this day, that feeling, that sickening, foul feeling still occurs on occasion. I know that I might succumb to it one day, but for now I must ignore it, and pretend that this dark chapter of my life never occurred. My wife and I do not speak of this time.

So, what happened then, you ask? Well, the Ancient Ones must have lost interest, for they allowed us to overcome our tribulations without further incident. I went to work the next day, trying not to think of the transpirations of the previous evening. My wife borrowed her mother's carriage and journeyed to the Lowe's Mercantile, where she purchased a "right-angle" drill. Have you heard of such a thing? It is a miracle, it functions exactly as a regular drill, but the majority of the mechanism is in the handle, allowing for holes to be drilled in small spaces. That evening, after returning home from work, my wife and I set to finishing my foul experiment. It is true that we did not finish until midnight, but thankfully we were unmolested by further tribulations of any note. The darkness had left me, and to this day, it has not returned. I am a practical man, though, and I have come to observe a sense of dread about me. It is not great, but it is there, a whisper of dread, a thin veil of fear. Fear of what might transpire, should any of that cursed equipment fail. For I cannot be sure that the dark madness will not come flooding back in, shattering the door of sanity forever. Until then...

 

[wuck]

Most of the day to day driving we both do will be without the camper on Sonoma County roads. Those that who have experienced the "third-world" quality of our roads will understand.

Yeah, there's a bump in the road around the corner, big redwood root under it (Why did the redwood cross the road?). I think someone in the neighborhood put some sticky yellow tape and a reflector on top of it. Everybody swings around it rather than going over it.

Finally, the county got around to fix it.

They added some asphalt ramps on both sides of the root. Thank You, Sonoma County.

So the second Ride Rite kit arrived last week, and I was shocked to find that it appeared to be a complete kit with no manufacturing errors or missing parts. In the interest of capping off this boring saga, I present the next and hopefully last chapter in Lovecraftian form:

"Can this be true?" I asked myself, my eyes flitting suspiciously from part to part. "Surely there must be a missing nut, a metal void, some rust, or...something?"

[Snippity . . . snip]

For I cannot be sure that the dark madness will not come flooding back in, shattering the door of sanity forever. Until then...

Nice, but you know, pics?, or it didn't happen

 

[CougarCouple]

Hi Andy
Got my Hellwig kit installed. How you liking your air springs. I also had to slightly modify one lower axle clamp so I did not have to bend the heck out of the brake line.

Really glad I got some. Truck is riding level gvwr 10,000 actual weight 9140 loaded across the scales. Rides nice slightly different than with out. 15psi


Russ

 

[Andy Douglass]

We did around 800 miles on the setup with the camper fully loaded. Since we never drove the camper without the sway bar, its hard to say if that made a difference, but between the sway bar and the air springs, the ride was surprisingly easy on our 1/2 ton. It was a little "floaty" but we got used to it and had no trouble doing 60-70 mph (we drove up Hwy 101 from Sonoma County to SW Oregon, which has quite a variety of slopes and curves).

I was a little nervous, and will continue to be so, about an air spring failure as there is no easy fix on the road. That's why I was so disappointed that the Air Lift Ultimate kit didn't work, because it has an internal jounce bumper whereas the Firestones are just air bags. I put together an air line repair kit for the truck, but if one of the bags fails....AAA plus. Which reminds me, I think I need to keep at least one of the truck's stock jounce bumpers IN the truck, so at least there is an option available without having to order parts out in the middle of nowhere.

Need to do a little soapy water test on all the air lines. The Wireless Air compressor kit seemed to behave strangely to me, frequently inflating and deflating the springs. I would expect some adjustment occasionally with big temperature swings, but it being a coastal trip, it was moderate temps the whole way. I can see how a slow leak would account for the frequent inflations, but it doesn't explain the frequent deflation adjustments. And then I started hearing the manifold simultaneously deflating and inflating. The manifold constantly monitors both air springs and maintains the pressure in each one separately, so I can understand how I could hear both inflation and deflation at the same time if it was airing up one side and deflating the other, but the damn thing was going off about every 20 minutes sometimes, again with minimal to no shift in ambient temperature. Fully loaded, I had the driver's side air spring at 50 and the passenger at 40 (max is 100). Pre-camper, we were running them at 5 PSI. So there was a lot of pressure on the system, but well within the specs, and the compressor would only kick on for a second, so well below the 9% duty cycle. The thing I dislike most about the compressor setup is the noise. Several times in camp we would have the truck windows down, and then when going to bed and closing up, we would turn on the truck to roll them up, and you have about 3 seconds after turning the key before that loud compressor goes off. I HATE making unnecessary noise in campgrounds, especially at night.

One of the things I was glad for was having E-rated tires (BFG AT Ko2). We normally run them at 35 PSI, but when the camper was all loaded, the rears looked a pretty lazy, with the driver's side more so (more camper weight on that side, the fridge was loaded and all the appliances are over there). I think I pumped the rears up to 70 and 65, and both fronts up to 50. The max PSI on these tires is 80. Between my wife and I, I think we have had about 8 sets of BFG ATs over the years, they seem to be a good balance of asphalt longevity and decent dirt performance, and they handled this pressure test really well. I didn't research best practices or anything, just went off what the tire says on it and pumped them up until they looked normal.

Overall, we were surprised at how well the 1/2 ton did. The HEMI was a little laggy up steep grades, but overall the truck performance was great. The truck's comp told us we were getting just over 12 mpg compared to normal 14, but I didn't do any math to verify the accuracy. Next truck will definitely be a 3/4 ton though.