Firestone air bag kit for a 60? (1 Viewer)

[JMHAZ]

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for a Firestone Ride Rite air bag kit for the rear of our 60. I thought they were available but I can't find a source anywhere. Does anyone know of one, or do I need to try another make? The Firestone product seems to be a bit higher quality than the Air Lift. Any experiences there? What about Goodyear?

Thanks . . .

Jonathan

 

[Tinker]

Never knew Firestone had such a product - I've used Air Lift before & they were OK, not great.

Now for my normal noob nudge: put your location in your sig line so your neighbors will volunteer to help. E.g. if you were in or near Denver, Denver Spring could probably help - they're the best around with truck suspensions.

 

[Michael Hanson]

I used air shocks, no bags exist as a direct add on. Mike

 

[JMHAZ]

Location added, thanks.

Here's a link to an Australian company that carries the type of kit I'm referring to. I believe the bag is made by Firestone.

PROBAG AIR SUSPENSION, Australia's largest range of air suspension components and kits, we are the largest importer of air suspension components into Australia, selling only Top Quality air suspension components, stocking Airide Technologies, Tubular

I had very good luck with an Air Lift kit on a 1990 Toyota pickup, then not-so-good luck with one on a Tacoma - the lower bracket refused to stay hooked on the spring U-bolt. But if that's all we have available here I might have to go that route again.

 

[JMHAZ]

Yikes, how did that link turn so long?

 

[MANUCHAO]

I used the ridetech on my 60 for almost 2 years without any issues...
As stated above.. it was not a bolt on but it has held better than expected....
I would buy it again with out any concerns.....

Let me know if you want to see pics of how I modded mine to make it work....

Better yet here is the link to my thread

https://forum.ih8mud.com/60-series-wagons/292490-airbags-my-fj60.html

Its for sale..

On the firestone airbags.. I remember reading on one other mudder using this bags and being really happy with the results as well.
It is listed on the same link...

 

[JMHAZ]

Thanks, Frank - I'd found your air bag thread while searching, and I like your top mount solution for the generic ARK 3004 kit.

I found the part number at RideTech. Looks like that set would be less expensive in the end than importing the Firestone kit from Australia. Hmm . . .

 

[Moby]

Several of us have used the airoverleaf kits from ridetech with good results.

 

[Kynot62]

If your springs are bad just replace them. You won't gain any weight carrying capacity as our wagons are already almost maxed out unless you switch to a full float. The stock semi float is only rated to carry so much weight

And I really doubt the firestone kit will handle the full articulation of a 60 being wheel hard.

But if you can't be persuaded otherwise, try AWDirect.com. They are a towing supply catalog that had the firestone kits in it last time I looked.

Tony

 

[FL cruiser]

I used the cheap $55 Airlift bags. Had to make mounts though.
Year and a half so far so good.
Can now carry 150 gal of veggie in the back which is quite heavy.

Made swing off break away top mounts for wheeling.
Unload truck, totally deflate bags, and go wheel.

 

[JMHAZ]

Tony, thanks for the comments. Our springs are fine. Our issue is the large discrepancy we experience in rear load. We occasionally tow a trailer with a fairly heavy tongue, and we have a 40-gallon fuel tank where the spare tire used to be. So the difference in weight over the rear axle can be hundreds of pounds from day to day (even within GVWR) - just the situation for which air bags were designed. Our medium OME springs with air bags should retain proper height and ride under all conditions. Since we're travelers and not rock crawlers, any loss in at-the-limit axle travel is unimportant.

I've had very poor luck with add-a-leaf kits, which always seem to concentrate stress on the added leaf (broke two on different vehicles). We tried the heavy OME springs, which worked perfectly as long as we had a full tank of fuel and the trailer. Otherwise it was pogo-stick action at the rear. When we had a Tacoma and a Four Wheel camper, air bags allowed us to retain proper ride height and a decent ride whether the camper was on or off.

FL, I'm impressed with your engineering there!

 

[MANUCHAO]

Sounds like you have tried plenty of different set ups....

My rig had the spare tire and 3 jerry cans (about 15 Gal of extra fuel) on long trips fully loaded with gear and a 3K trailer It sagged quite a bit even with heavies on the rear.. that's why i went with this bags..
I had them fill up to 50lbs (max is 100lbs) to level the truck any more and it would make the truck ass high.....

Nice to see other have come up with their own set up.. Looks good FL Cruiser.... !!!

 

[kling-on]

I used the cheap $55 Airlift bags. Had to make mounts though.
Year and a half so far so good.
Can now carry 150 gal of veggie in the back which is quite heavy.

Made swing off break away top mounts for wheeling.
Unload truck, totally deflate bags, and go wheel.

NICE MOUNTS

 

[vipergrhd]

Search

For a post on Mrlocksmith's rig he just installed a set of air bags not too long ago and it looks awesome.i think he bought it from the Aussie co. that you posted.

 

[Kurtis]

I run fox 2.0 air shocks on my rail and have been thinking about building a mount for them and using a shorter set on the cruiser in place of my regular shocks. I run SOA on stock springs with aals. The street ride and off road is nice but I want to start pulling my 24ft enclosed trailer to dersert mx races with it so I need to beef up the rear a bit. The trailer dry is 3500# won't be much over 5-6k even with bikes gear and rail. I know monroe sells these but the fox would let you get as much travel as you could possibly want or need.

Anyone ever tried this? Air shocks give a sweet ride and you can play with ride height pretty quick. even 2.0s have up to a 500# capacity. Between the two of them the existing leaf springs it should give plenty of extra support even for heavier loads.

 

[TobyB]

I've had a lot better luck with air springs than air shocks. The shocks are not very progressive,
and while they jack you way up, they have a very low spring rate, and thus tend to be very bouncy.
Whereas the air springs tend to be a pretty high rate- but only when you sit down onto them.

Makes sense- your average air shock's only 2" in diameter and runs 100+psi, whereas springs
tend to be 4"+, and I run 25 psi in mine fully loaded.

I'm in the same boat- I'm looking to tow my race rig with the 60, as opposed to the Gen 1 <koff> montero
I use now. Which works fine, with AirLift bags inside the coils. It just lacks... personality...
(ok, and has a minivan engine, which I seem to be putting heads onto every other season)

t

 

[vipergrhd]

https://forum.ih8mud.com/60-series-wagons/337599-bolt-rear-air-bags.html

Check out Marks install (mrlocksmith).

 

[Kurtis]

I've had a lot better luck with air springs than air shocks. The shocks are not very progressive,
and while they jack you way up, they have a very low spring rate, and thus tend to be very bouncy.
Whereas the air springs tend to be a pretty high rate- but only when you sit down onto them.

Makes sense- your average air shock's only 2" in diameter and runs 100+psi, whereas springs
tend to be 4"+, and I run 25 psi in mine fully loaded.

I'm in the same boat- I'm looking to tow my race rig with the 60, as opposed to the Gen 1 <koff> montero
I use now. Which works fine, with AirLift bags inside the coils. It just lacks... personality...
(ok, and has a minivan engine, which I seem to be putting heads onto every other season)

t

What type of racing do you do? I dropped a tbi350 in the 60 with the thought someday I might use it to tow and that day is getting closer. I tow with my 2500hd but its not 4wd and I want to make a trip from az to Pismo Beach this year. It would also be nice to have a recovery vehicle out when I take my bikes or the rail.
What type of air shocks have you run? I think we might be thinking about different setups. I run about 300psi in the ones on the rail but after getting the valving setup their really isn't much as far as bounce. They sop up some nasty stuff at high speeds. I run about 18" of wheel travel in the rear. My rail is a light 2 seater so they work pretty well, anything heaver i would probably go to some coil overs. I just like the simplicity of the air shocks for what I do.
On the 60 though I think it would be cool since they act as your shock absorbers as well you can lower the pressure when 4 wheeling and not give up any travel.