Firefyter-Emt

Well last Saturday I jacked my truck and found out what went wrong with my air bags. I was pretty suprised, I would of thought the lines to fail, or the bag to leak on the top where it sits against the factory bump stop mount base, (bump stop had to be reomved..) Or maybe where it rubs against my old rusty coils.. But I was suprised to find a big rip on the bottom where it sits right on top of their supplied rubber block!! It cracked around where the edge of the block meets the bag..

Now, I will say Air Lift is good for their product, I showed them one bag (haven't got the other one out yet, but I don't trust it, so I asked for 2.. No problem, It is going to cost me $15 bucks to ship me new bags.. That is cool. But here is the bad part, not for me, but... Air Lift has stopped the lifetime warrantey on them.. Mine are covered, but I think they stopped that this year.. Now knowing that, I will not buy them again.. I always kept them properly aired up, and they blew while sitting this winter when I was not driving it.. I mean, I could see it if they wore thru at the coil, but this is right were the bag sits on top of their rubber block.. And it did not wear thru, it cracked..

Take a peek below..

Poul D'eau

Was the crack at the edge of the rubber washer? I don't remember them being too big- maybe a 3" or 4" disk?

After looking at it for a minute longer could a rock have gotten between the bag and the washer and cut it?

What psi do you run your bags at? I keep mine at about 10-15 psi.

I'm going to toss them when old man emu shows up.

Sorry for the rambling questions... I need coffee.

I have no complaints about the air bags. They only cost $75 from JC Whitney when I bought em. They made the install/mods for my cat-back a lot easier. Pump the bags up to 25psi and you have tons of room between the rear axle and the frame

Don't get me started about my Jardine cat-back

Firefyter-Emt

Yes, exactly at the edge.. But no rock, it is kinda like a dry rot crack in perfect line with that apx 4" spacer... I kept 18psi in them, above that with out a load, and it began to affect my steering wheel from the angle of the Panrod bar..

Poul D'eau

How long have you had the bags for? 18psi is not that much to be running.

"it began to affect my steering wheel from the angle of the Panrod bar.."

I take it that you had each bag running independent of each other?

One last question, from looking at you web site I see you go camping a bit. Do you think the bad roads (bumpy) might have caused this?

Sludge

Do you think the extreme weather conditions this past winter could of had something to do with the cracking of the bag.

Firefyter-Emt

Well if I remember corectly the bags them self have a sticker that tells you to keep the bags above 5psi and not over 35psi.. The reason the bags start to effect the steering is that as the axle is pushed down by the bags, the pan hard bar pulls the axle to the right, making the truck dog track.. This has to be compensated by turring the wheel to the left.. Cold weather?? It is very well possiable.. But you would expect more.. All it would take is to beef up where it sits on that block. I am a little dissapointed in the thickness of the bag all the way around, If you have ever looked at bags made for trucks, they are sooo much thicker..

A second thought about this last winter... I think they were blown before it started.. I only put 6k on the truck all last year due to that stupid motor.. And that included a summer trip to VA and a trip to mid-Mane in the summer.. So, that did not leave much mileage put on the truck after that.. The trip back from VA really did her in.. She only got back with 4 pistons's a fireing..
:cry:

AkBillyBow

I have airbags on my 95 Dodge 1/2 ton pick-up. I had them installed when I purchased a slide in camper (2000# dry weight). I wasn't sure if I should buy the bags or go with add-a leaf springs, but went with the bags.

They have been installed since 1998, and I run them anywhere from 0psi to 48psi...and have never had a problem with them. They did rub on my wheel well liners (plastic) at first, and I cut the liner back so they wouldn't rub.

I also live in Alaska, so they have seen extreme weather and abuse during their life on my truck. They are still going great, and I just aired them up for use to pull a double axel Uhaul trailer 2 days ago. I usually leave them at 0psi when not in use, and have left them at 45psi with the camper loaded on the truck all Summer.

My point is your airbags should never have failed for the usage you have given them. It sounds to me like they are poor quality. I am no expert, and couldn't find any info like this when I was debating the purchase...just thought I would share my story with you.

P.S. I beleive my bags were made by Goodyear...and this is not a plug for them.

Hope this helps....AkBillyBow

Firefyter-Emt

Yep.. I sum it up fully to a poor quaility bag itself.. they are thin... My camper only has a 160lb tounge weight so they were never overloaded... I would of expected my rusty old springs to poke a hole... but this was nice and clean, just made them crack from the edge of the block..