slightly irritated right now

[oly884]

Well, my drivers side air bag has been destroyed, twice.

Yes, that's right twice. First time, the lower mount for the bag magically "hopped" off the u-bolt. Pissed me off because that's $100 bucks. Then today, I install a new air bag, make sure it's "hooked" onto the ubolt, drive 3 miles, and BOOM! So, now my options are

1. order another bag from airlift
2. buy another airbag kit from another company that is hopefully competent in their design
3. take a look at what deaver could set up for me.

I'm willing to take suggestions.

 

[flyingwil]

Wow that is horrible! What brand are you currently using again?

 

[oly884]

Wow that is horrible! What brand are you currently using again?

Airlift. I've heard great things about them, KC is running them, I guess I just haven't had luck with their product. And with it breaking 3 miles after I installed it, I don't think I'm going to stick with them.

 

[Scott Brady]

Oh man David, sorry to hear that...

I would recommend the Deaver route. I just upgraded to the 11 leaf pack and am super happy. And I am likely a few hundred pounds heavier than you.

 

[oly884]

Oh man David, sorry to hear that...

I would recommend the Deaver route. I just upgraded to the 11 leaf pack and am super happy. And I am likely a few hundred pounds heavier than you.

Thanks man, I'm thinking they can build some springs to suit the needs of my camper and extra gear just fine.


If it is the case that I do get the springs, the question becomes, do I lift my truck? The front would be easy, just do the TRD lift up front unless anyone has any warnings about it.

btw, i'm only looking 1.5 to 2" tops

 

[kcowyo]

....the lower mount for the bag magically "hopped" off the u-bolt. ......today, I install a new air bag, make sure it's "hooked" onto the ubolt, drive 3 miles, and BOOM! .....

Sorry to hear about this, but things don't magically "hop off" David. Possible installation error there? When you say U-bolt, do you mean the u-bolt that holds the spring pack to the axle?? It doesn't mount there, it mounts forward of the u-bolt, towards the cab. I looked at your pics and it looks like it is in front of the u-bolt but it's hard to tell...

Jonathan Hanson warned me that his had once "walked off" the spring perch, so I watch that rather closely but so far no problems on trails in Moab, Colorado and Montana.

And BOOM! what...? The bag popped? Overinflated maybe? I run 65 PSI in town and 85 PSI on the trail when loaded with camping gear. With a Shell model you shouldn't be nearly as heavy as me, so 60-70 PSI should be plenty on the trail, maybe 50 PSI-ish in town.

I don't think you'll have better experience with Firestone airbags as they are virtually the same product as Airlift. If the installation and inflation are correct for your application but just not working, the Deavers are a great option. I was amazed at the travel Ursidae69 has with his Deavers.

I prefer the ability to adjust the airbags over the fixed spring packs but that's because I don't plan on keeping the camper on the truck year round. You can order Deavers with 1.5 - 2 inches of lift and throw some coil spacers up front for an equal lift all the way around.

I would start with the Deavers first if you go that route. With the camper on the back, the Deavers will bring your back end up to level so your headlights are not pointing to the moon.

Sorry to hear about the problems already but it doesn't sound like the bags were installed and/or inflated properly. Have anymore info you can share?

 

[oly884]

Sorry to hear about this, but things don't magically "hop off" David. Possible installation error there? When you say U-bolt, do you mean the u-bolt that holds the spring pack to the axle?? It doesn't mount there, it mounts forward of the u-bolt, towards the cab. I looked at your pics and it looks like it is in front of the u-bolt but it's hard to tell...

Jonathan Hanson warned me that his had once "walked off" the spring perch, so I watch that rather closely but so far no problems on trails in Moab, Colorado and Montana.

And BOOM! what...? The bag popped? Overinflated maybe? I run 65 PSI in town and 85 PSI on the trail when loaded with camping gear. With a Shell model you shouldn't be nearly as heavy as me, so 60-70 PSI should be plenty on the trail, maybe 50 PSI-ish in town.

I don't think you'll have better experience with Firestone airbags as they are virtually the same product as Airlift. If the installation and inflation are correct for your application but just not working, the Deavers are a great option. I was amazed at the travel Ursidae69 has with his Deavers.

I prefer the ability to adjust the airbags over the fixed spring packs but that's because I don't plan on keeping the camper on the truck year round. You can order Deavers with 1.5 - 2 inches of lift and throw some coil spacers up front for an equal lift all the way around.

I would start with the Deavers first if you go that route. With the camper on the back, the Deavers will bring your back end up to level so your headlights are not pointing to the moon.

Sorry to hear about the problems already but it doesn't sound like the bags were installed and/or inflated properly. Have anymore info you can share?

I followed the installation manual to a T. They were mounted correctly, forward of the U-bolt with the wonderful "hook" thing over the U-bolt as stated in the install manual.

It "walked" off from where it was supposed to be and broke off the top half of the air bag, hence the BOOM. And it was not over inflated, it was at 60 PSI.

I know you have had no problems with them and that's great. With the recent experiance, I really don't trust their product anymore.

I'm at so many levels of pissed off about this right now, and they don't seem to be wanting to return my calls.

 

[kcowyo]

I understand, I would be frustrated as well. I wasn't knocking your install skills, just trying to figure out what happened based on your original explanation.

Hopefully they'll get back to you because if the install was done correctly it should be covered under their warranty. One walking off could be a bad bag. Two walking off and it sounds like something else is going on.

I hope you'll keep this thread updated as to how Airlift responds to the problem. So far I've had good luck but that doesn't mean mine won't go BOOM when I'm driving down the road later today.

Hang in there and please let us know what you hear (or don't ) from Airlift -

 

[oly884]

I understand, I would be frustrated as well. I wasn't knocking your install skills, just trying to figure out what happened based on your original explanation.

Hopefully they'll get back to you because if the install was done correctly it should be covered under their warranty. One walking off could be a bad bag. Two walking off and it sounds like something else is going on.

I hope you'll keep this thread updated as to how Airlift responds to the problem. So far I've had good luck but that doesn't mean mine won't go BOOM when I'm driving down the road later today.

Hang in there and please let us know what you hear (or don't ) from Airlift -

Well, I heard from airlift. they were asking what pressure, what weight, and so on. They also want pictures of it. Ugh, not what I need right now. And deaver wants $650 for springs with around $90 to ship. Maybe I'll just let my truck ride on it's bump stops for a while, grrrr.

 

[oly884]

Well, the camper is off the truck till god knows when

 

[Maddmatt]

Well, I heard from airlift. they were asking what pressure, what weight, and so on. They also want pictures of it. Ugh, not what I need right now. And deaver wants $650 for springs with around $90 to ship. Maybe I'll just let my truck ride on it's bump stops for a while, grrrr.

I know you're frustrated, I would be too. But from a manufacturers point of view, those are legitimate questions. If I sold a product that self destructed within 3 miles, I would want to know exactly what happened and more importantly what lead up to the problem. The goal is not necessarily to weasel out of your warranty claim, but could be an honest attempt to make sure they don't have an engineering problem. If they've had a few blow out in your same circumstances, the pictures could very well be the evidence they need to change design, materials, personnel, etc....

Of course, that's just my unasked for opinion, but even in this day of computers, mistakes happen. They may just be honestly trying to fix the issue.

 

[oly884]

I know you're frustrated, I would be too. But from a manufacturers point of view, those are legitimate questions. If I sold a product that self destructed within 3 miles, I would want to know exactly what happened and more importantly what lead up to the problem. The goal is not necessarily to weasel out of your warranty claim, but could be an honest attempt to make sure they don't have an engineering problem. If they've had a few blow out in your same circumstances, the pictures could very well be the evidence they need to change design, materials, personnel, etc....

Of course, that's just my unasked for opinion, but even in this day of computers, mistakes happen. They may just be honestly trying to fix the issue.

Absolutely, I wasn't trying to say that that is what they were trying to do. Probably came out wrong with the whole, "stressed as hell" thing. :mixed-smiley-030: haha.

I really hope that they do good on this because when I had them, they worked great. However, I'm going to be hesitant to put on another kit unless I can find a way to mount the lower perch MUCH more secure than it is.

 

[oly884]

Well, talked with a guy at air lift. He's sending me some new parts for free. He said that it was weird that it happened as such and gave me some tips and what to watch for.

 

[Brian894x4]

I don't know much about the airlift systems, but if it's directly attached to both the spring and frame, that doesn't leave a lot of room for spring movement and I wonder if the problem has to do with the axle wrap issues I hear that Tacos seem to have. Maybe the axle wrap is twisting the bag or mount off. If you saw what your axle was doing everytime you took off from a stop, you'd probably be surprised at how much forward/backward movement there is. Is there a way to mount the system where it's not attached at both ends and has some flexability?

I have a custom rear springs from Alcan and have been extremely pleased with them as well as thier exceptional customer service and willingness to build a set of springs to an absolute exact set of specifications. Even at maximum gross weight, the ride is great and the flex is wonderful off road. I would highly recommend a set of good custom springs made exactly to your specification and weight and load center of gravity and I assume Deaver makes springs the same way. My Alcans were in the $400-500 with shipping, but that was a few years ago. The problem with springs it that if you take off the camper, your truck will be sitting rear high and will have a pretty harsh ride when unloaded. My load is pretty constant, so it's not a problem for me. Good luck.

 

[Jonathan Hanson]

David, as KC mentioned, I did have an air bag mount walk off the spring perch and destroy the bag. This was on our 2000 Tacoma, after we had over 100,000 miles of trouble-free service with an Air Lift system on our '92 Toyota truck with a Four-Wheel Popup camper on it. I think the walk-off problem is just something to be aware of and check frequently. The extra length and flex of the Tacoma springs might be a factor.

As to the other failure, that sounds like a fluke. I'd give the system another try if you don't want to spend the money on custom springs just yet.

We were very happy with the performance of the Air Lifts overall.