Stiff after airbag installation

2014 w 4in bds lift and 35s

Ride was good before the airbags. I put the 5000 air lift load lifters kit and now it jars on speed bumps potholes etc. I assume its bottoming out on the jounce bumper that is built into the bag.

Any shocks out there that would be an upgrade? I was thinking fox resy

 

Very little experience with airbags myself, but I do know it's recommended to only run 5ish psi in the bags when running with no load to keep the ride soft and to not damage the bags. The fuller the bags, the stiffer they get.

 

my dad had bags put on to take on his over the cab camper. left the bags at 5 psi i believe (as stated above) and it rides fine. at first he had them at 30 without his load on it and it was like riding on wagon wheels

 

Correct
I have them as low at 5 and still bad

 

I had the same issue. It's not really a shock problem, there's essentially no up travel so regardless of the shock it's like running into the bump stops. One solution I did that helped was I completely disconnected the air lines to the bags (and unplugged the compressor if you're using one)--this is actually easy if you don't have a compressor and just have schrader valves since you can unscrew them. But that will let the bag collapse more and not make the truck buck as much, and then when you need the bags just crawl under it and plug the lines in and reconnect the compressor fuse. That, combined with unbolting the bags from the axle side (a common modification for offroading) so the bag isn't trying to get pulled apart when the suspension droops helped a lot for me. With all that said, Airlift doesn't recommend running the bags without air but I didn't see any negative effects and the ride with any amount of air (even 5psi) is absolutely horrible.

Ultimately though, I unbolted the bags from the axle side so they only attach to the frame side, and then just completely remove them when I'm not using them. It's a pain, but at least in my case the bags I can reinstall in 15-20 minutes since they just clip onto the frame now and for most things I tow my truck has enough rake to not need the bags. Then my ride quality is unhindered the rest of the time. But if that's too much for you, then I suggest having the bags only mounted to the frame side, unplug the bags so they don't get pressurized for normal driving, and lifting the rear with extended shackles will help too so you have a bit more travel before hitting the internal bumpers. A different bag without bumpers would be a good option too, and still run them without air pressure.

 

I tried airbags for a very short time and had same experience. Even with schrader valve cores removed. I think it’s because like the OP, the bags I bought have an internal bump stop, so even empty they were rough.

 

I run my Firestone ride rite bags with 0 psi unloaded and it rides great. Yes that’s against the manufacturer recommended 5 PSI minimum so it’s my fault if they get damaged somehow. No problems after 2 years though.

If you leave the lines connected and/or valve stem cores in, it’s still a closed system. The bags will increase in pressure as the suspension compresses, so they’re not completely inactive unless you do as @snivilous suggests.

 

A shock with more compression valving would help. A friend of mine is having the same issue with his new Ram 1/2 ton; he just had bags installed but it feels like it bottoms out over speed bumps. We drove my truck through the parking lot with 5 psi (undersprung), 18 psi (optimally sprung for my my load out), and 40 psi (oversprung). He much preferred the ride of my truck when driving over speed bumps with Dobinson MRA rear shocks. His Ram has a camper shell only, but even at 5 psi we could feel the suspension blowing throw the available travel to be hard stopped by the rapidly increasing bag pressure. The factory side is quite soft.

I supposed that the rear shocks don’t have enough compression valving since they are valved for a soft, squishy factory ride, and that a slightly stiffer/sportier shock would alleviate some of the bottoming out feeling by slowing the rear suspension movement more.