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Air Bags

3K views 26 replies 11 participants last post by  TARM 
#1 ·
I have a 04 Excursion and I have these Firestone Air bags for humm less than 6 months, they were put on by my local dealer. They are complete crap the metal I think is washing machine quality steel bend very easy and the bolts I broke off while I was trying to realign the bags.

I am just wondering if anyone has any other brand or a better Firestone model perhaps? I do drive gravel roads a fair bit but I do know other guys that don't have issues like this.

Thanks
 

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#2 ·
your the first ive heard haveing that much trouble out of a set.

they may have just screwed something up doing the install
 
#3 ·
Yeah, that looks like a bad install or something. They should warranty them in that short period of time I would think.
 
#4 ·
Did you always keep a minimum of 5 psi in both bags? It looks like they've been bottomed out HARD................our installed incorrectly.
 
#5 ·
Yeah, that looks like a bad install or something. They should warranty them in that short period of time I would think.
I think the lowest pressure I ever had was 10 or 15lbs and I am on the low side as I always was checking the pressure because I had a small leak on a air line.

Where I live the customer gets told to take a hike un fortunately.

Butcher do you have a set on your EX? I am just wondering if the wrong type was put on because there is a bolt on the bottom that the whole thing sits on so not much surface area to secure it. Is the metal on all the other ones that cheap?
 
#8 ·
Looking at the picture you posted more closely, I don't know that the bag was installed wrong, but that's not impossible. Obviously the bag should slide over the larger tube that is resting on the block in your rear springs. As someone else said, the bag has been over extended and now it has misaligned everything. Was it always sitting like that? Does the other side look the same? If so, they either put too short of a bag on there, or somehow you got over-extended and it slipped the bag. The one bolt for mounting isn't abnormal (although sometimes there are three bolts depending on your setup), since the bag doesn't really need to control lateral movement. For the most part the bag is just supposed to carry the weight that presses directly down on it.

I'm kind of leaning towards your original assumption that the wrong setup was put on your truck from the beginning. Is your Ex lifted, or stock height?
 
#10 ·
I have been running Firestone airbags on my truck for 5 or 6 years without an issue. Mine are the other style where the frame mount is bolted to the outside of the frame rail and the lower end is on the leaf spring.
 
#14 ·
I would say you definitely have it set up wrong. It should be like DFW64 first picture but you are lifted so you need the spacer. Problem is you have stacked blocks so you have no way of resting on your axle. With no axle support and axle wrap that spacer will just pivot. If you cant use the bag setup that Betaracer is talking about (which is what I have) then I would look into those OUO Blocks DWF64 has. Downfall to the ones DWF64 has is you loose your rear bumpstop if that matters to you but you lost it anyways with your setup.
 
#24 ·
They have the correct pieces, they installed most everything wrong.

If they kept the factory block against the leafs and put the addtional one below it, then they would not have needed the spacer. And the bracket tat stradles the jounce stop needs to be installed properly.
 
#25 ·
IMHO you need to get rid of the bags completely. They were put there as a cheap bandaid fix to the crappy rear leaf springs. I can also almost guarantee if you check your front suspension that the leafs are sitting on the bumpstops if they have not broken completely off yet.

What you need to do is swap out the front and rear leafs with F 250/350 SRW Super duty springs. Add a set if Blisten shocks that re properly valved for the different weight distribution of the X compared to the Pickups.

Best thing to do is PM OBSWIZ on here. His name is Cary T. He will tell you all you ever will need to know about getting a X suspension properly setup. Honestly if you pick up your leafs used or from a salvage yard its fairly inexpensive to get it all done properly. You with maybe a second pair of hands could do it all in a weekend.

You will be amazed at how well and how much improved the ride and handling will be from just such a simple swap over.
 
#26 ·
Hey thanks for that info! My bumper stops are still on the front end but it still rides like a freaking logging truck even with a 350lbs steel animal mutilator on the front end. I use my EX for work and have about 500lbs of gear at least in the back and drive lots of gravel roads so it is time to build a solid suspension.
 
#27 ·
If you would like specific details on the parts etc you can PM me. But Vary can help you as well and as a vendor he can get you the best deal on the very few things to actually buy aftermarket. Trust me you will not know its your X once you fix those damn leafs and shocks. You will end up with about 1-2 of lift from it but again it only puts you to a stock height super duty PU.

If you tow to the max weight then you still may get a small bit of squat which you could handle a couple ways. Go with a F350 block and deal with a bit more rake unloaded. On X it does not look bad or like it does on a PU as they need rake to look level. You can add an extra leaf more than normal and still it would give a good ride. You of course could go with those same air bags and just pick up some better mounts for them rather than that tin can stuff they gave you.
 
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