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First Gen Cummins air ride

Old Oct 16, 2014 | 10:53 AM
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First Gen Cummins air ride

My 93 dodge rides like a tank and is really ruff riding. I was wondering if any one has put helper air bags on the front end of one of these truck. If so any ideas on prices and pictures wound be nice.

P.S. I already have air bags on the rear.
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Old Oct 16, 2014 | 04:04 PM
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I have Kelderman front air ride suspensions on both my 92 W350 and my 92 Cummins RC. Both ride nice and levels out the truck nicely.
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Old Oct 16, 2014 | 06:52 PM
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Kelderman

That looks like what i need. What kind of air pressure do you have run in the bags. Also can you only buy them from Kelderman online or is there any other places that sell them
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Old Oct 16, 2014 | 07:07 PM
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I have different pressures in the W350 than I do the RC. The RC I believe I carry 25lbs due to the lift I have on it (about 4"). The W350 I believe it was 18lbs since I only wanted about 2" of lift. I got lucky and bought both of my kits used. I did order new bags through my local Napa due to the original ones having dry rot cracks. They held air but I wanted to only install them once. The kit is available directly through Kelderman. I am not sure if its available anywhere else. Warning, the kits are not cheap. But you get what you pay for. The craftsmanship is really good on the upper and lower mounts and the tank mounts directly under the radiator support. Newer kits do not utilize the high pressure air hose. They use a nylon plastic line.
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Old Oct 16, 2014 | 07:13 PM
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Do you remember what the part numbers were on the air bags that your bought through Napa.
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Old Oct 16, 2014 | 07:25 PM
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Off the top of my head no. I have a spare in my storage. I can look tomorrow and post it. I actually found them in the firestone catalog. On their online catalog they were even listed for Kelderman.
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Old Oct 17, 2014 | 07:13 AM
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I have Firestone Air Rides in the rear of my D-350 and the pressure/wt-ratio is 1-PSI = 10 lbs .
lift.

Are the front airbags helpers or do they carry the full weight of the vehicle, from your PSI I would think only helper.

OK I see your springs.

BTW that looks too nice to get dirty.

Jim
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Old Oct 17, 2014 | 03:28 PM
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Originally Posted by Zeb Christensen
Do you remember what the part numbers were on the air bags that your bought through Napa.
Here you go Zeb Firestone #W01-358-2131

Thank you Jim. I wish it was as clean as your dually
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Old Oct 17, 2014 | 09:15 PM
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Sorry to keep asking questions, but I am trying to get an idea of how much room it will take up, so I was wondering if you could tell me how high the bottom bracket is off the leaf spring and how far it sticks out from the frame.
Thanks for the part number.
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Old Oct 18, 2014 | 05:17 AM
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The kit is available direct for about $1400

https://kelderman.com/ram_G1_air_sus..._2_stage_front
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Old Oct 18, 2014 | 11:29 PM
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$1400!
Is there any other options out there that don't cost an arm and a leg?
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Old Oct 19, 2014 | 01:20 AM
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I would think that air ride suspension would be more important in the rear than the front.

4 link suspension and a set of rolling lobe airbags would be an ideal setup for the rear, a true air ride.

On the Kelderman front system, do they have you remove any of the front leaves to lighten the spring rate using the main leaf to retain the axle?

Jim
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Old Oct 19, 2014 | 07:10 AM
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Jim no they don't. I can say that I have the Kelderman setup on both of my 1st gens and they ride nicer than my 05. I had an opportunity to buy a rear setup and chose not to. The Kelderman setup is placed that it takes away your spare tire and heavy duty hitch (which is so important for what I use my dually for).
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Old Oct 19, 2014 | 08:55 AM
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If you don't mind swapping in a ramcharger tank and losing your stock tank, a triangulated 4-link would be the way to go. But I also don't see why you couldn't move the links outboard of the frame and keep the main tank.
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Old Oct 19, 2014 | 09:34 AM
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My dad built a smaller copy of a Peterbilt air leaf for his 89 first gen W250. I had some pictures but I cant find them. I will get some later today if anybody is interested.
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