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Tundra Air bags

rattlewagon

rattlewagon

shitboxin
Joined
May 20, 2020
Member Number
552
Messages
486
Loc
Northfield Vermont
Looking to put bags on my 19 Tundra. No compressor, just the simple firestone setup with lines out the back.

I keep seeing a T fitting listed as a way to fill both bags at once, evenly. Seems smart

My question: Does that make the air travel back and forth between bags when traveling? Does it lean and squish? Am I over thinking this?

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I just drove across the country with a severely overloaded 1/2 ton silverado towing an enclosed trailer. I put bags on it before I left, T'd the bags and It didn't lean or rock at all.

I did put a ball valve on one side of the T just in case it rocked bad but never needed to isolate the bags.

I think with something like a cabover camper you'd want to isolate them.
 
mjlogan88 said:
I just drove across the country with a severely overloaded 1/2 ton silverado towing an enclosed trailer. I put bags on it before I left, T'd the bags and It didn't lean or rock at all.

I did put a ball valve on one side of the T just in case it rocked bad but never needed to isolate the bags.

I think with something like a cabover camper you'd want to isolate them.
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If most of the overload is from the trailer I can see that. Hitch puts all the weight dead center in the middle of the truck so roll forces are negligible.
 
i ve had bafs on my 150 for 2 plus years, never thought about separate lines, just a tee, and i cant tell if it leans or not. but its always trailer loads not pay load in the bed, so who knows hmmmm learned something today.
 
Maybe look into sumo springs as well. As mentioned above. You don’t want air traveling back and fourth…. Unless you are hardcore flexing lol. Bags are nice because you can add/remove psi as needed, but the sumo springs were attractive to me since they are simple and don’t need adjustment.
 
The camper groups I'm in on fukbook are 50/50.

50% say bags, isolated, with compressor and gauges.

Other 50% say sumo springs, or Timbrens, with most running upper and lower units (Timbrens). The lowers can be disengaged I think.

I dunno. Got my 1st slide in, got a 02 stupidduty, and a mild jeep on a car trailer. Think I'm going to try sumos.

We put them on a buddy's MH, with a Helwig sway bar and a big stabilizer thing on the front, and it drove light years better. F53 chassis fwiw.
 
be careful with the fittings that are molded into the tops of the bags. I torqued them to spec and I still have one leaking on my ram. I spent the whole trip to hammers and back filling up my passenger side bag every fuel stop. if your not going to have a compressor plumbed in get your self one of those no loss air chucks they use to fill shocks with. I found that the air volume is so small that even using a tire gauge to check the pressure was releasing enough to drop the bag a couple psi.
 
blthomas said:
The camper groups I'm in on fukbook are 50/50.

50% say bags, isolated, with compressor and gauges.

Other 50% say sumo springs, or Timbrens, with most running upper and lower units (Timbrens). The lowers can be disengaged I think.

I dunno. Got my 1st slide in, got a 02 stupidduty, and a mild jeep on a car trailer. Think I'm going to try sumos.

We put them on a buddy's MH, with a Helwig sway bar and a big stabilizer thing on the front, and it drove light years better. F53 chassis fwiw.
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The difference is the MH has wieght all the time.

I've heard almost nothing good about timbrens unless you just want stiff ass suspension. Airbags for a camper seem ideal since you aren't stuck with them all the time.

Not sure what sumo's are though :flipoff2:
 
YotaAtieToo said:
I've heard almost nothing good about timbrens unless you just want stiff ass suspension. Airbags for a camper seem ideal since you aren't stuck with them all the time.
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Most of the newer 15ft uhauls have them and the lightest thing I've put in one of those trucks is 5k. They ride fine for a box truck unloaded. I wouldn't hesitate to put a set on something that BDLs pretty regularly.
 
arse_sidewards said:
Most of the newer 15ft uhauls have them and the lightest thing I've put in one of those trucks is 5k. They ride fine for a box truck unloaded. I wouldn't hesitate to put a set on something that BDLs pretty regularly.
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I don't think anyone expects an empty box to ride well at all :laughing:

Big reason people buy half tons is for a decent ride and to use them as a DD.
 
YotaAtieToo said:
I don't think anyone expects an empty box to ride well at all :laughing:

Big reason people buy half tons is for a decent ride and to use them as a DD.
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How well is well? Wasn't a fuckin boat like my lesbarus are but it certainly wasn't bad by any stretch.

I wouldn't have any qualms about throwing them on a lighter vehicle so long as they left enough uptravel to deal with potholes.
 
arse_sidewards said:
How well is well? Wasn't a fuckin boat like my lesbarus are but it certainly wasn't bad by any stretch.
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I'm with you, I spend a lot of time in 1 tons and up. But they aren't 1/2 tons.

arse_sidewards said:
I wouldn't have any qualms about throwing them on a lighter vehicle so long as they left enough uptravel to deal with potholes.
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I think thats the problem, they basically sit on the axle. Little to no uptravel.
 
YotaAtieToo said:
The difference is the MH has wieght all the time.

I've heard almost nothing good about timbrens unless you just want stiff ass suspension. Airbags for a camper seem ideal since you aren't stuck with them all the time.

Not sure what sumo's are though :flipoff2:
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I have a 2015 Ram 2500 with a 3" Carli lift. The rear springs are pretty soft, it rides nice empty. I use Timbrens when I'm towing or hauling heavy. I typically swap out the stock bump stops for the Timbrens for the first trip in the spring (along with airing the tires up), and they stay in most of the summer unless I'm taking a longer trip or planning to go offroad. The first inch or two of rear travel is still soft, then gets harsher on bigger bumps when they make contact. I wish it were as easy as an in-cab air setup, but realistically it takes 5-10 minutes to swap them out. I chose the Timbrens over air bags because I didn't want the stiff ride when empty. I'm happy with them.

Pete
 
I do the same thing with my 2018 only with bags, I ditch them for the factory bumps until I need to hook up something heavy
 
pcorssmit said:
I have a 2015 Ram 2500 with a 3" Carli lift. The rear springs are pretty soft, it rides nice empty. I use Timbrens when I'm towing or hauling heavy. I typically swap out the stock bump stops for the Timbrens for the first trip in the spring (along with airing the tires up), and they stay in most of the summer unless I'm taking a longer trip or planning to go offroad. The first inch or two of rear travel is still soft, then gets harsher on bigger bumps when they make contact. I wish it were as easy as an in-cab air setup, but realistically it takes 5-10 minutes to swap them out. I chose the Timbrens over air bags because I didn't want the stiff ride when empty. I'm happy with them.

Pete
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Does the lift give you more clearance for the timbrens?

Also your last point makes no sense. Air bags don't change the ride empty, that's the whole point
 
No, the lift doesn't give more clearance for the Timbrens. The rear lift is 1", and it came with 1" lowering blocks for the bump stops (which I use with both the factory bumps and the Timbrens). The Timbrens also came with a 1" spacer, which I do not use.

Everyone I know that has air bags says the ride empty was worse, since you always have to have some air in them. I also talked to Carli when I bought the lift, and they recommended not doing airbags on my truck. They claimed the way they package up on the coil-rear Rams makes for a stiff ride when empty. If I wanted it to ride like crap empty, I'd have just left it stock.

Pete
 
"My question: Does that make the air travel back and forth between bags when traveling?" Not enough to matter.

"Does it lean and squish?" Not unless its overloaded.

"Am I over thinking this?" Yep.

We had success with Timbren's on an '06 Tundra. Wouldn't hesitate to use them again.

I put bags on my dually so I could adjust them, separate line only because I had never used separate lines. Can't tell any difference.
 
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I used the on my tundra because 13 inches of travel is too much for bags.

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pcorssmit said:
No, the lift doesn't give more clearance for the Timbrens. The rear lift is 1", and it came with 1" lowering blocks for the bump stops (which I use with both the factory bumps and the Timbrens). The Timbrens also came with a 1" spacer, which I do not use.

Everyone I know that has air bags says the ride empty was worse, since you always have to have some air in them. I also talked to Carli when I bought the lift, and they recommended not doing airbags on my truck. They claimed the way they package up on the coil-rear Rams makes for a stiff ride when empty. If I wanted it to ride like crap empty, I'd have just left it stock.

Pete
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I've always heard you only need just a tiny bit of air in them and that.

Not sure what Carli is getting at, ram put the coils too far inboard, so the airbags I've seen go out board of that. Why would that change the ride quality? My buddy had to put airbags on his because it felt like it was going to tip over with a camper on. He also works at a place that installs stuff like that, so I'm sure he gets more feed back than most. That truck and his current truck both had/have airbags.

Good that the timbrens work for you, but swapping them out sounds like a pain, and kinda proves my point that they effect unloaded ride.
 
YotaAtieToo said:
I've always heard you only need just a tiny bit of air in them and that.

Not sure what Carli is getting at, ram put the coils too far inboard, so the airbags I've seen go out board of that. Why would that change the ride quality? My buddy had to put airbags on his because it felt like it was going to tip over with a camper on. He also works at a place that installs stuff like that, so I'm sure he gets more feed back than most. That truck and his current truck both had/have airbags.

Good that the timbrens work for you, but swapping them out sounds like a pain, and kinda proves my point that they effect unloaded ride.
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The air volume is on the small side, and therefore the spring rate ramps up quick, even with zero resting psi.

I had bags on 2 different Ram 2500 coil spring trucks. The 16 had taller lift springs and didn’t engage the empty airbags as often, so no complaints. The 19 had softer stockish (1/2” lowering) coils, I disliked the harshness since they were closer to engaging at ride height.
 
YotaAtieToo said:
Not sure what Carli is getting at, ram put the coils too far inboard, so the airbags I've seen go out board of that. Why would that change the ride quality? My buddy had to put airbags on his because it felt like it was going to tip over with a camper on. He also works at a place that installs stuff like that, so I'm sure he gets more feed back than most. That truck and his current truck both had/have airbags.

Good that the timbrens work for you, but swapping them out sounds like a pain, and kinda proves my point that they effect unloaded ride.
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I think it was something about the bags being shorter than they are for other applications, I don't recall exactly. The Timbrens absolutely do effect unloaded ride, but only on larger bumps. The time I notice it the most is backing out of my driveway (we have 45° curbs here in residential areas). I don't feel them most of the time. Our roads here are crap, and it rides nice until I hit a really big pothole or something. Improved ride quality was a big reason I did the lift, and also part of why I bought the truck I did. I had a '97 Dodge before with stock rear spring and stock rear blocks (almost 5" tall), and the axle wrap was terrible. Freeway expansion joints were miserable.

Broncokyle88 said:
Airlift sells bags with an internal bump stop that you can run with 0psi in them. I have them and like them. being able to empty them completely was worth the money to me with how shitty the roads are around here. I’m sure other manufacturers make them too, but I impulse bought the airlift through the parts counter since they were showing in stock.
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Had I known about those before I did the Timbrens, I would have looked into going that route for sure.

Pete
 
Went with the firestones and T'ed the line. I wasnt going to but the friend (the shop owner) came out with a bag full and says I put these on all the bags I do.. so I did. f2445 kit. Install was easy peasy, excited to get the trailer hooked up to try them out.

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