Truck Air Bag Compressor

[Larry Nickell]

I installed the Firestone airbags soon after I bought my truck last year, and purchased the compressor kit yesterday. There isn't much room for the compressor under the hood, so I was thinking of mounting it to the inside of the DS frame rail.

If you have one, where did you install it?

[mrblaine]

Originally Posted by Larry Nickell

I installed the Firestone airbags soon after I bought my truck last year, and purchased the compressor kit yesterday. There isn't much room for the compressor under the hood, so I was thinking of mounting it to the inside of the DS frame rail.

If you have one, where did you install it?

Find a spot inside the bed or under the hood. It won't like being in the weather.

[Art Welch]

Mine is on the inside passenger side framerail but it is inside a case designed to keep most of the elements out.

[DC]

My Firestone Ride-Rite air bag compressor is mounted on top of my '07 Dodge 3500's transfer case skid plate. It has been there for the better part of two years and it still looks good (no corrosion) and hasn't had any operational problems to date.

[Larry Nickell]

I got it installed in a spot that seems to be dry enough, but I'm wondering if its operating correctly.

I pumped the bags up to 70 to test for leaks, then hit the switch to release the pressure. I get a quick pffft and the gauge goes to zero, but there's no way it bled off all of the air. The operating instructions really blow. Are you supposed to hold the switch down for 10 minutes or what? I held it down for 3-4 minutes but it seems to make no difference.

[Art Welch]

Yeah that definitely doesn't sound right Larry. My system is from kelderman (with firestone bags) which sounds like a different setup entirely so I am probably not much help in that regard. All I can offer for comparison is that from full high to full low it is about 10 seconds on mine and same for full low to full high for that matter.

[DC]

Originally Posted by Larry Nickell

I got it installed in a spot that seems to be dry enough, but I'm wondering if its operating correctly.

I pumped the bags up to 70 to test for leaks, then hit the switch to release the pressure. I get a quick pffft and the gauge goes to zero, but there's no way it bled off all of the air. The operating instructions really blow. Are you supposed to hold the switch down for 10 minutes or what? I held it down for 3-4 minutes but it seems to make no difference.

From what you describe, that's not right. On my system (which has the single pressure gauge with red & black needles, along with two black manual paddle-type bleed/inflation switch handles), it takes a while to do the inflation of the bags up to the max 90 psi. When I then deflate by pushing down on the handles, I get a steady hissing sound and the bags deflate slowly & predictably (they never just drop to zero). I haven't timed it, but my guess is that it takes me about 15 to 20 seconds to drop down from about 60 psi to 5 psi (while steadily holding down on the handles). By the way, as I believe the instructions indicate, never run the bags down to zero or it is possible to damage them (when I don't have my camper or a load in the bed, I typically run 5 to 10 psi).

BTW, do you have the original hard-plumbed system with air lines running to everything, or do you have the newer "fly-by-wire" system? (I have the older system). Anyway, on the surface of it, it sounds like something isn't hooked up or connected right in your system.

Here are some pics of my set-up:

In-cab gauge controller:




Tank:


Compressor on transfer case skid (not the best shot):

[Larry Nickell]

Originally Posted by DC

BTW, do you have the original hard-plumbed system with air lines running to everything, or do you have the newer "fly-by-wire" system? (I have the older system).

I have the snazzy red line running everywhere

I found the problem and all is well now. I made a simple mistake and reversed the air lines at the control module.