Has anybody added air bags to their truck to bring it back to level while towing? If so I'd love any input. Worth it? Cost?

I tow a 35 foot 5th wheel with an F250 and have Firestone ride rite airbags. Absolutely worth it.

I went air lift and added a separate viaair compressor w/ tank underneath so I could use it to also air up tires and other things tied to an upfitter switch. Very easy install on both

I looked at putting air on mine but ended up going with this. Works well and easy install.

https://activesuspension.com

I added the cheap air lifts inside my Ram 1500 coil springs

Inflate to 40-45 psi when towing. It really helps

I imagine the higher end air lifts do even better.

Mine came from the factory with them. SRW 3500 Ram. It still rides like a 1 ton but I love the fact that I don't see hood when hooked up heavy.

I have Airlift bags on an F350. Pretty simple setup.

I had the onboard compressor, but it kept giving me issues, so I just manually fill and keep a Milwaukee portable compressor in the toolbox if I need to adjust.

I just did 3000 miles towing a 9000lb camper. Did some experimenting with the combination of air in the bags combined with WD hitch. I've seen some recommendations that say you should not have air in the bags if using a WD hitch. The truck would stay level doing this, but the ride sucked on rough roads. I found 25-40lbs in the bags with the Blue OX WD hitch worked the best.

Airlift with their wireless controller for the air compressor is real nice to have. Has Bluetooth connection to app on phone if you don't want to use their remote

Just saw a V shaped truck and camper at lunch, it bugs me so much. I've had a few campers and one of the most fun things about them was the challenge to get it the pair completely level.

Maybe that's an odd thing to find fun, but at my age I've come to accept my oddities. Kinda.

I think spending a half day or so playing around with a truck & trailer with a WD hitch on a set of scales would be a lot of fun, provided it was 70 degrees with a nice breeze and I didn't have to be on the road or pay for each weight reading. Optimizing a setup is always fun and interesting.

2002 GMC Sierra 2500HD Duramax, Crew Cab, Short bed, pull a 28' 5th wheel. Have this Airlift system

https://www.airliftcompany.com/shop/88275

I also have an onboard compressor that automatically inflates and deflates the bags to maintain ride height. The system is about 8 years old, and I swapped it from the pickup on the left to the one on the right.

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Unfortunately, something is wonky in the system. The compressor won't come on and inflate, though it will deflate. So I have to manually add air to get it level, but when I unhook, it will manually lower the truck back to normal ride height.

If the automatic part still worked, 5/5

As is, air bags 5/5, auto level 1/5

I see online that they only offer App controlled compressors now, not automatic

Roger350 said:

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I think spending a half day or so playing around with a truck & trailer with a WD hitch on a set of scales would be a lot of fun, provided it was 70 degrees with a nice breeze and I didn't have to be on the road or pay for each weight reading. Optimizing a setup is always fun and interesting.

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Our local co-op sits a block off a busy US highway. While they haven't taken out the big analog dial scale display, it's now an electronic system. So it's got a little digital display with 1" high numbers

At night and on weekends, they turn the display around and put it in the window. This is at the request of the local weight and license guys, so they can ticket overweight trucks.

Maybe see if your local grain elevator does the same

On my airlift system it would inflate for a few seconds then quit, it gave a trouble code which tied back to a faulty compressor. Replaced the compressor part of the system & all good. It's only money……

Yeah, my system is older, and that compressor is no longer made. Have to buy and install a whole new setup. I may do that.

Follow up, I decided to troubleshoot my airbag system today, inspired by this thread. Compressor works, so I looked at the electronic height sensor. Bottom of mine has cover broken off, exposing the circuit board. That could be it.

Off to the Internet for a part...

Looking..

Looking...

Looking....

Dammit, nobody has them anymore. I emailed the company, we'll see if they can help.

I'd never let officers weigh trucks on my scales. If they want to weigh a truck they can get their portable scales. I'd lose customers and trucks helping me haul grain if they found out I was letting law enforcement use my scales. One of which is right off of I40.

I let people weigh their vehicles all the time on my scales for free so they can get them registered. If a truck that isn't a customer wants to weigh their hay or cattle and get a scale ticket, I charge $10. Once we get $100 I use that money to take the employees out for beers and dinner.

Our local co-op doesn't even handle grain anymore, so I don't think they care. DEclining water table, drought, and urbanization made the volumes low, and insurance made the expenses high.

Also the feedyards and dairies chopping everything around there for silage doesn't help either. There's still some grain that is grown around Canyon, It just all goes to Amarillo or Hereford. Much like almost all the grain grown in the area.

Just sad to see a farmer's grain co-op reduced to simply selling horse feed and fixing flats

And back to my air spring woes, I talked to Air Spring and that sensor is obsolete and unavailable . They say get a whole new system. I found the part on eBay for $60 shipped, so I'm trying that, first