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Air Lift 1000 or Firestone Coil-Rite?

13K views 21 replies 10 participants last post by  StuartV 
#1 ·
Hey folks! I haven't been on here in a while. I still have my '09. 90K miles and still loving it (and loving the factory bumper-to-bumper lifetime warranty!). :smile

I'm buying a 6000 # travel trailer, so it's time to beef up the rear suspension (beyond the Bilstein shocks I already have).

I'm looking at adding air bags and I see that the Air Lift 1000 kit is really popular here. And it's $78 on Amazon. But, looking around, I also see that Firestone has a Coil-Rite kit. The Coil-Rite kit looks like it's almost $300.

The Air Lift kit only has air bags. The Coil-Rite kit has air bags plus their "Work-Rite" (?) bump stop springs as well.

So, any real reason to spend the extra money on the Firestone kit? I'm thinking the Air Lift kit is probably all I need.

Is there any other air bag kit I should check out?

I have a small portable compressor and don't feel like I need to worry about adding onboard air or a controller. I'll air up when I hook up to the TT and deflate when I get home again. No big deal.

TIA!
 
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#2 ·
I purchased the airlift 1000 bags over a year ago and they work great. The most I tow usually is around 4,000 lbs and they handle that with ease helping to eliminate some of the rear sag since I leveled out the truck with bilsteins at the same time. I use a small portable air compressor to fill them as it doesn't take much to fill them up.
I purchased my set off of Advance Auto's website: http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/air-lift-1000-coil-spring-60818/10113154-P?searchTerm=air+1000
If you use coupon code 'TRT41'($40 off purchases over $100) and add other items to your cart to get over $115 total, you can get it with free shipping(orders over $75 qualify for free shipping) for about $80 + you would get some other items as well. Just another option for you to consider.
 
#9 ·
Well, I just tried to order it this way. Looked cool, too. For $5 more than Amazon for just the air bags, I was going to get some brake fluid and new Mechanix gloves. But, when I try to check out, it says the air bags are not available and I need to remove them from my cart. :frown

EDIT: Never mind! I deleted the air bags from my cart, added them back, and poof, it let me complete my order. Yaay! :smile
 
#3 ·
Thanks, lowrider! That coupon code looks pretty handy!

So, the TT i'm getting is 5500, dry. I reckon it will be 6000 - 6500, going down the road.

And then I'm going to put my motorcycle in the back of the truck, which is another 600 # of payload. I'm thinking the tongue weight plus bike weight is going to put the truck itself pretty near its payload capacity. And then the overall combined weight is going to be close to the truck's GCWR.

So, I'm really wondering if just the airbags will be enough, or if I really need those extra bump stops that come with the Firestone kit.
 
#4 ·
I also have the airlift 1000 bags....relatively easy install, though a pain, and work well. I carry a palet of wood pellets (2000 pounds) with them ....only a few miles. They work well and add the needed stability to get home.
 
#6 ·
Airlift 1000s. I keep around 30lbs of air when im towing.

This trailer is around 8k lbs.



This trailer is probably 8-9k lbs loaded depending on what car im towing.

 
#8 ·
I'm also running the 1000's with no issues. Easy install. Easy to use.
 

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#12 ·
i love my air lifts our camper 7200 lbs does great
 
#14 ·
That's awesome to hear. If our trucks can handle a 7200 # trailer with no problems, then this little ole 5500 # trailer I'm getting should be cake. Especially with my 3.92 gears.
 
#15 ·
no the kit comes complete its just up to you if you want single or duel i had single on first truck have seperate this truck i like the seperate
 
#16 ·
Awesome! If it comes with the hardware for dual, then I will definitely do dual. Single would be more convenient to inflate/deflate, but I like the idea of making sure it can't wobble back and forth. And, of course, if one leaks or blows, the other side will still be giving some support.
 
#17 ·
I have the Air Lift bags, and use them for payload. At 1,000 lbs in the bed they work great, much less sag than before. At 2,000 lbs there is a lot of sag, but that's to be expected.

If you are looking at spending the money for the coil-rite, you should probably look at the Tuftruck TTC-1210 or TTC-1223V springs, in conjunction with the Air Lift bags. That's what I want to do.
 
#20 ·
I had airshocks on an older vehicle.. I made a valve setup, so open the valves I can fill/deflate as if single, but then could flip the valves and isolate each side... that way I know each side is the same psi.
 
#21 ·
Thanks again for all the help here. I installed the AirLift 1000 bags Sunday a week ago. I tried to do it without jacking my truck up. I got the bags into the coils, but there was no way I could get to the air hose barbs on top, to connect the air lines. So, I went and borrowed a floor jack. Once I had it jacked up, it was easy to finish! It took me almost 3 1/2 hours, start to finish, but that included over an hour and a half to drive over to my friend's and bring back the floor jack. So, call it roughly an hour and half of actual work.

The kit did have a tee fitting for installing just one filler, but also a second Schrader valve to install as two separate fillers, which is what I did. I drilled a hole for each on either side of the license plate to make filling and checking them easy.

I drove up to pick up our new (to us, first-time RV owners) travel trailer this past weekend. Here it is with 20 # of air in the air bags. It's a 29' trailer.

 
#22 ·
Oh, and I can't BELIEVE how easy my truck tows this trailer! Pulling away from red lights, I was barely giving it more gas than normal and was keeping right up with traffic.

I accelerated to pass a couple of different PowerStrokes towing similar sized trailers - going uphill! And I never floored it the whole (6 hour) drive home.

Hemi + 3.92 gears == Towing MACHINE!!
 
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