Gary Lewis Posted September 8, 2022 Author Share Posted September 8, 2022 Thanks for thinking through it, Bob. Dane - Yes, I have the cradles and they are maybe 3/16" thick. Not enough to make a difference. Got started on the air springs. The first task was shortening the u-bolts that hold the springs on, and that took most of the day. The pic below shows the outer u-bolt having been shortened and torqued back down, but the inner one hasn't been shortened so you can see how long it was. Now the lower bracket sits nicely on the spring w/o need of the spacers. Tomorrow I need to remove the jounce bumpers as the instructions require as they might hit the air bags. And then mock things up and see if I still like the position I showed earlier. If so then I only have two holes to drill on each side. We shall see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted September 10, 2022 Author Share Posted September 10, 2022 Got started on the air springs. The first task was shortening the u-bolts that hold the springs on, and that took most of the day. The pic below shows the outer u-bolt having been shortened and torqued back down, but the inner one hasn't been shortened so you can see how long it was. Now the lower bracket sits nicely on the spring w/o need of the spacers. Tomorrow I need to remove the jounce bumpers as the instructions require as they might hit the air bags. And then mock things up and see if I still like the position I showed earlier. If so then I only have two holes to drill on each side. We shall see. Got the left side air spring on yesterday. That included drilling two more holes in the frame and removing the bump stop. The frame is pretty thick and apparently somewhat hard, so drilling takes time. And even with an air compressor and air hammer/chisel removing rivets takes even more time. So this doesn't look like a lot, but... And you'd think that just bolting things together would be quick, but when you have to move them around to find the right position it takes time. And while it might look like the bag will miss the cradle as it comes down, the axle goes to the rear with weight on it and by the time the truck is on the ground things align perfectly. Having said that, in this pic with the suspension at full droop there's 4" between the bag and the cradle. But that's with no pressure in the bag, and the instructions say to carry at least 5 psi at all time, which would make the distance 3". And when sitting on the ground with no pressure there's 3/4" of space, but at 5 psi the bag will try to lift the truck ~1/4". I'm afraid that with just 5 psi in the bags, which is what I want to run normally as the truck already sits level, I'll hear clacking on the road when the bag lifts out of the cradle and then comes back down. So I may have to put either the 1/2" or 1" spacer under the lower bracket to reduce the spacing between the brackets. On the other hand I am concerned about the bag becoming the bump stop if the spacing is too small. So I need to spend some time drawing it up to see what I'm really dealing with. And on the left is the backside of the install. In it you can see how long the bolts are. I'm not ready to shorten them as I don't want to get them too short since I may want to use the spacers, so am leaving them that length for a bit. Also you can see another problem I need to fix. And on the right you can see the type of wrench you need in order to easily reach the nuts when you turn the spacer around the way I have. The instructions have you put the spacer with the legs against the spring, but as you tighten down the force will try to flatten the spacer. This way the spacer doesn't get flattened but the nut is recessed into the spacer making it very difficult to get a wrench on it. Also you can see that there's a gap between the bottom leaf and the overload spring leaf. As I've been looking at that pic I realized that those nuts may be loose when the truck is on the ground. Luckily they sent prevailing-torque nuts so when won't spin, but I didn't put them on this round since running those nuts up the length of those bolts wouldn't be fun and I'll need to take them off when I decide to shorten the bolts. So I need to check the torque on the nuts with the truck on the ground. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
85lebaront2 Posted September 10, 2022 Share Posted September 10, 2022 Got the left side air spring on yesterday. That included drilling two more holes in the frame and removing the bump stop. The frame is pretty thick and apparently somewhat hard, so drilling takes time. And even with an air compressor and air hammer/chisel removing rivets takes even more time. So this doesn't look like a lot, but... And you'd think that just bolting things together would be quick, but when you have to move them around to find the right position it takes time. And while it might look like the bag will miss the cradle as it comes down, the axle goes to the rear with weight on it and by the time the truck is on the ground things align perfectly. Having said that, in this pic with the suspension at full droop there's 4" between the bag and the cradle. But that's with no pressure in the bag, and the instructions say to carry at least 5 psi at all time, which would make the distance 3". And when sitting on the ground with no pressure there's 3/4" of space, but at 5 psi the bag will try to lift the truck ~1/4". I'm afraid that with just 5 psi in the bags, which is what I want to run normally as the truck already sits level, I'll hear clacking on the road when the bag lifts out of the cradle and then comes back down. So I may have to put either the 1/2" or 1" spacer under the lower bracket to reduce the spacing between the brackets. On the other hand I am concerned about the bag becoming the bump stop if the spacing is too small. So I need to spend some time drawing it up to see what I'm really dealing with. And on the left is the backside of the install. In it you can see how long the bolts are. I'm not ready to shorten them as I don't want to get them too short since I may want to use the spacers, so am leaving them that length for a bit. Also you can see another problem I need to fix. And on the right you can see the type of wrench you need in order to easily reach the nuts when you turn the spacer around the way I have. The instructions have you put the spacer with the legs against the spring, but as you tighten down the force will try to flatten the spacer. This way the spacer doesn't get flattened but the nut is recessed into the spacer making it very difficult to get a wrench on it. Also you can see that there's a gap between the bottom leaf and the overload spring leaf. As I've been looking at that pic I realized that those nuts may be loose when the truck is on the ground. Luckily they sent prevailing-torque nuts so when won't spin, but I didn't put them on this round since running those nuts up the length of those bolts wouldn't be fun and I'll need to take them off when I decide to shorten the bolts. So I need to check the torque on the nuts with the truck on the ground. Gary, it looks like you need a longer vent hose as you apparently have more down travel than the hose is designed for. Looks like a workable plan. On the frames, yes they are hard to drill, I forget what exactly they are, but I think it may be what is called HSLA (High Strength Low Alloy) and can be a royal pain to weld. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted September 10, 2022 Author Share Posted September 10, 2022 Gary, it looks like you need a longer vent hose as you apparently have more down travel than the hose is designed for. Looks like a workable plan. On the frames, yes they are hard to drill, I forget what exactly they are, but I think it may be what is called HSLA (High Strength Low Alloy) and can be a royal pain to weld. Yes, the hose didn't stretch very well. But I think a new, longer hose will be easy to install. I'll do that as part of the air spring install. Speaking of which, that won't happen today, or at least not much thereof. A friend from church is headed over to change shocks on his late model SuperDuty. We'll see how long that takes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted September 12, 2022 Author Share Posted September 12, 2022 Yes, the hose didn't stretch very well. But I think a new, longer hose will be easy to install. I'll do that as part of the air spring install. Speaking of which, that won't happen today, or at least not much thereof. A friend from church is headed over to change shocks on his late model SuperDuty. We'll see how long that takes. Got the right side air bag installed and the hoses run from the bags to the rear bumper today. Since I'm plumbing the bags in parallel that will require a bit different arrangement than came with the Firestone kit. I'm going to create a little manifold that will take the 1/4" tubing in via compression fittings on the rear, and have 1/8" pipe fittings for the Schrader valve and gauge on the front. I plan to make an aluminum bracket that the pipe fittings will go through, and it'll mount to the rear bumper opposite the trailer connector. We'll see what that looks like and maybe some pics tomorrow or Wednesday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted September 13, 2022 Author Share Posted September 13, 2022 Got the right side air bag installed and the hoses run from the bags to the rear bumper today. Since I'm plumbing the bags in parallel that will require a bit different arrangement than came with the Firestone kit. I'm going to create a little manifold that will take the 1/4" tubing in via compression fittings on the rear, and have 1/8" pipe fittings for the Schrader valve and gauge on the front. I plan to make an aluminum bracket that the pipe fittings will go through, and it'll mount to the rear bumper opposite the trailer connector. We'll see what that looks like and maybe some pics tomorrow or Wednesday. Bought the bits and pieces for the manifold to connect the air lines to the fill valve and pressure gauge and put some of them together. In the pic below everything is together with joint compound save for the reducer bushings and the Schrader valve and pressure gauge. The bushings will go through the vertical part of the aluminum channel, after the channel is trimmed and fashioned a bit, thereby securing the manifold to the bracket. Then the Schrader valve and gauge will be added and the bracket secured under the bumper on the opposite side from the trailer connector - hopefully tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grumpin Posted September 13, 2022 Share Posted September 13, 2022 Bought the bits and pieces for the manifold to connect the air lines to the fill valve and pressure gauge and put some of them together. In the pic below everything is together with joint compound save for the reducer bushings and the Schrader valve and pressure gauge. The bushings will go through the vertical part of the aluminum channel, after the channel is trimmed and fashioned a bit, thereby securing the manifold to the bracket. Then the Schrader valve and gauge will be added and the bracket secured under the bumper on the opposite side from the trailer connector - hopefully tomorrow. Nice! I like the gauge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted September 13, 2022 Author Share Posted September 13, 2022 Nice! I like the gauge. Thanks. I wanted the gauge in there so I can tell if there's ~5 psi in the system. But that gauge goes to 160 psi so it might be hard to read. On the other hand, if I had 100 psi in the system and hit a bump with both tires the pressure could go well over 100, so I needed the room on the top end to prevent damaging the gauge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArdWrknTrk Posted September 13, 2022 Share Posted September 13, 2022 Thanks. I wanted the gauge in there so I can tell if there's ~5 psi in the system. But that gauge goes to 160 psi so it might be hard to read. On the other hand, if I had 100 psi in the system and hit a bump with both tires the pressure could go well over 100, so I needed the room on the top end to prevent damaging the gauge. Nice! You're almost ready to go on a (off)road trip with your son. Have you considered something heavier than aluminum channel to protect it? I know you're unlikely to need the departure angle, but doesn't your grandson like fording creeks? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce moose4x4 Posted September 13, 2022 Share Posted September 13, 2022 Bought the bits and pieces for the manifold to connect the air lines to the fill valve and pressure gauge and put some of them together. In the pic below everything is together with joint compound save for the reducer bushings and the Schrader valve and pressure gauge. The bushings will go through the vertical part of the aluminum channel, after the channel is trimmed and fashioned a bit, thereby securing the manifold to the bracket. Then the Schrader valve and gauge will be added and the bracket secured under the bumper on the opposite side from the trailer connector - hopefully tomorrow. Gary, I figured you would go for something like this to inflate directly from the cab.. https://www.4wheelparts.com/p/firestone-ride-rite-air-adjustable-leveling-control-panel-2149/_/R-BBQZ-2149 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts