I have the sagging front spring syndrome plus I am building a HD front bumper. Combine all that with a 1/2 ton engine and I'm looking at front air bag assist.

After searching the forum it seems that most don't recommend re-arching. The Super Lift springs sound good but several had posted that they just created an air ride in addition to the OEM front leaves. I like the idea of air over leaves for the ride and limiting effect.

I can't find any aftermarket company that makes a front kit that doesn't cost more than my annual insurance, tax & licensing combined .

I have a welder and steel to make my own brackets if need be. My question is how do I spec out the bags? I assume that they are rated in pounds and by dimensions? Would you just calculate the front springed weight? But won't the leaves still carry some of that? Several threads mentioned that they added an expansion tank since the bags were so small. I wasn't looking for anything fancy, just a single air fitting to fill both at once with a shop compressor.

I've followed the various recommended vendor sites and see all the options. Anybody already figured all this out and care to share the details/results?

 

I was looking into this about 2 weeks ago, gathering some information to use later. I was looking at Kelderman air rides and they are using a 5323 airbag in their ford kits, looking at the dimensions and such, I'm pretty sure it will work in the dodge with the right front brackets. The only thing that prevents me from making a set right now is time.

 

Check this link: https://www.dieseltruckresource.com/...nt+spring+lift

This guy used Firestone 2600lb air bags. I plan on doing this some time.

 

I looked at air bags and air shocks. I wound up adding a long leaf and a short leaf on each side. the truck rides like a truck and it is only 1.5 inches higher in the rear. The biggest concern from my point of view were the Ubolts. I had to have them made.

A pair of grade 8 bolts of the proper size took care of the two studs that were too short on the passenger side of the dana 60.

 

Hey you rustled me up. Well as far as math goes all I did was consider motor weight and about half of overall vehicle weight. I thought that 5k sounded good so I went with it. I took the tires off the front and then sat on a stool with a cool beverage and stared at the spring for over an hour. Im a thinker, not so much a drawer. I then, piece by piece welded up some bracketry that seemed to work. The top is C channel and the bottom is some 18lb I-beam that I boxed and cut on BIG TIME with my blue flamed hack saw. I shot air to them until the springs started to loose their compression. So I would say that Im about 90 percent on the bags. I dont have tanks to add volume, I did think about it but they ride good and Im way too busy to tackle anything else right now. It is a lot of cutting and grinding but for what Kelderman charges it was a steal. The bags are cheap I think they were 40 a pop or something close. I need to get some better pics of it all and let those do the talking. Im sure I could talk about it all day long but if your like me youll read the first two sentences and then go scrolling for some pics. Ill try to get some tomorrow.

 

I just bolted in a set of NAPA(I think they are Gabriel-made) air shocks on my Trailduster that spec'd out for the rear of something like a mid-80's GM car. Like a Monte Carlo or Cutlass. Easy as changing shocks and worked great! They can lift the front about 2in + and rode MUCH smoother/quieter. My local NAPA parts guy took the compressed/extended lengths of my originals along with the mounting eyebolt measurements and looked them up in a chart from one of their books. Believe they cost $80 and one easy afternoon of work. I only have a steel brush guard and some lights on mine, so I don't know what capacity they might stand, but running them @ 60psi lifts a good 1in +. They are rated for 100psi.

 

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Yea thats what I'm talking about - some pictures!

"Check this link: https://www.dieseltruckresource.com/d...+spring+lif t
This guy used Firestone 2600lb air bags. I plan on doing this some time."

Thats the link that gave me the idea of making my own brackets. His looked like a very basic and simple setup.

And the leaves I was thinking of were Skyjackers not Super Lifts, BTW.

I even saw the "air bag shocks" when searching the web. A step up from air shocks I guess. Air shocks are the quickest & easiest solution but I worry about transferring all that weight to just those shock mounts? I had 'em on the rear of my '76 Duster back in the days but that thing weighed nothing compared to the front end of the CTD.