Help with Firestone Airbags / Daystar Cups

[JamesY]

I have a Ram 3500 and camper and was about to pull the trigger on some Firestone Ride Rite 'Red Label' Air bags and Daystar cups when i happened to call the mail order company and ask whether they were suited to each other. I was told they were not as the Air Bags were connected top and bottom so would not diconnect from the cups.

I looked up standard Ride Rite bags and they too seem to connect via bolts onto an upper and lower bracket. Meaning the bracket would have to be left off in order to work with the Daystar cups.

I appreciate that the warranty may be void but if there is a higher chance of them ripping apart if connected I would rather go with the un-recommended Daystar cup route. Unusually, for forums, there seems to be mainly good news and little in the way of detractors form using the Daystar cups with air bags.

For those running Firestone Air bags do you simply not connect the bottom and allow them to sit in the cups? Anything I should look out for regarding this?

 

[chris_the_wrench]

I ran the Firestone bags for awhile on my ram with camper without the daystar cups, just riderite hardware, and ripped the crap out of a pair when I'd drive it unloaded through the desert. The daystars are designed to be run with the airbags not bolted into the bottom and the cup "catches" the bag when it drops back into it. I think it's a pretty slick and simple idea. Im curious to see how you like those red labels. supposed to be pretty tough!

-Chris

 

[JamesY]

That was my concern. I will always be loaded as the camper will be attached 24/7, but even then I will be off road and don't want to be in the middle of nowhere with an expensive Fedex delivery from the US to replace the bags. So ... you just remove the bottom bracket and let me sit in the cup? i heard that you have to air the bags down whilst off road so they don't poke out of the cups at odd angles and get pinched, I can handle that.

 

[Halligan]

On my last truck I had the Firestone Ride Rite air bags with the Daystar cups. I just left the lower bag hardware off and they rode fine in the Daystar cups.

 

[Ducky's Dad]

Quite a few of the Power Wagon guys have Firestone bags with Daystar cups, and all that have posted on the PW Forum highly recommend them. My PW is an '05 and I added Firestone bags and Daystar cups about 16 months ago when I replaced the original spring packs with Carli packs. They work just fine with the bottom of the bag sitting in the cup unattached. Somewhere there is a video of the bag/cup combo in action at speed offroad, and you can clearly see the bag separating from the cup at times. May have been Carli bags, but same principle. I saw the video while I was trying to configure my "optimal" suspension. The only issue I have had is that one of the cups cracked and half of it fell off the truck, no damage to the bag. Called Daystar and they sent me a fresh set of cups, no charge. They thought it was a production flaw because they had two cases called in during the same week, but none before that.

The instructions that came with the Firestone bags have language about the bags not being compatible with or recommended for cups, yada, yada, yada... Sounds like something put in there by the legal department for liability purposes.

 

[Ducky's Dad]

New post that just came up yesterday on the PW Forum:

http://forum.powerwagonregistry.org/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=5168

 

[Trikebubble]

I have a Ram 3500 and camper and was about to pull the trigger on some Firestone Ride Rite 'Red Label' Air bags and Daystar cups when i happened to call the mail order company and ask whether they were suited to each other. I was told they were not as the Air Bags were connected top and bottom so would not diconnect from the cups.

I looked up standard Ride Rite bags and they too seem to connect via bolts onto an upper and lower bracket. Meaning the bracket would have to be left off in order to work with the Daystar cups.

I appreciate that the warranty may be void but if there is a higher chance of them ripping apart if connected I would rather go with the un-recommended Daystar cup route. Unusually, for forums, there seems to be mainly good news and little in the way of detractors form using the Daystar cups with air bags.

For those running Firestone Air bags do you simply not connect the bottom and allow them to sit in the cups? Anything I should look out for regarding this?

Yes, you just don't connect the bottom of the airbag to anything. Bolt the cradle to the lower mount instead. I guess, if you had a warranty problem, you could remove the cradle, bolt the airbag to the bottom bracket, then proceed with your warranty inquiry.