2500 vs 3500 suspension for towing

[jpidgie]

I had the same question when I was selecting my truck. Ended up choosing the 3500 because of this review:

I’ve been eyeballing 5th wheel toy haulers for a while, and didn’t want the liability or concern of being overloaded. Maybe overkill, and my dentist loves me for replacing all of the fillings that are rattled out, but definitely happy with the decision.


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[Kimo7]

I’m going to post this in several threads because I’m so happy that I’m finally done, complete, no mas!!! Based on everyone’s experiences shared here I pulled the trigger and bought the Air Lift Loadlifter 5000 Ultimate Plus. The stainless sounded like a good idea based on others (Brutal’s) recommendations. After a few days of over thinking and watching YouTube I also bought the 74000-2nd gen compressor with the EZ mount. I was scheduled to have the guys at Trick Trucks in Chantilly VA install for me. Unfortunately I was exposed to 2 different people with COVID and subsequently quarantined so I had to cancel. I got tested and waited for my test results and all good, the wife and I were both negative.

With time on my hands, the idle mind/devils workshop theory took over and I searched the ends of the internet on the subject and through the magic of You Tube, it seemed easy enough...I would soon come to appreciate working on a truck on a lift versus underneath, on a creeper, on your back makes a big difference. Amazingly enough I still fit under the truck without needing additional clearance of jack stands but... if I’m being honest, I’m about one donut away from not being able to !

The only real setback I had is the Ultimate Plus comes with braided stainless air lines that require additional fittings that didn’t come with my kit. I took time to find quality products, I eventually got the correct elbows that mount in the bag and I was in business. I took my time and followed the instructions ... this time... I opted for the setup where compressor lines tie into a T union which gives me the ability to also manually fill as a redundancy if the compressor fails. I ran the manual line schraeder valves to the license plate bolt for easy access. The wireless remote pairs with the manifold when you first put the main fuse in. The manual says you have 5 minutes but it didn‘t take on the first go. I pulled the fuse and repeated the process and synced on the second go around. So far everything is working as it should without errors. No leaks so far, let’s see how it does overnight.

We’re going to tow the new TT this weekend I’ll post how it went when I’m done.

This video was the most helpful setting the compressor up.

 

[RPS1030]

I’m going to post this in several threads because I’m so happy that I’m finally done, complete, no mas!!! Based on everyone’s experiences shared here I pulled the trigger and bought the Air Lift Loadlifter 5000 Ultimate Plus. The stainless sounded like a good idea based on others (Brutal’s) recommendations. After a few days of over thinking and watching YouTube I also bought the 74000-2nd gen compressor with the EZ mount. I was scheduled to have the guys at Trick Trucks in Chantilly VA install for me. Unfortunately I was exposed to 2 different people with COVID and subsequently quarantined so I had to cancel. I got tested and waited for my test results and all good, the wife and I were both negative.

With time on my hands, the idle mind/devils workshop theory took over and I searched the ends of the internet on the subject and through the magic of You Tube, it seemed easy enough...I would soon come to appreciate working on a truck on a lift versus underneath, on a creeper, on your back makes a big difference. Amazingly enough I still fit under the truck without needing additional clearance of jack stands but... if I’m being honest, I’m about one donut away from not being able to !

The only real setback I had is the Ultimate Plus comes with braided stainless air lines that require additional fittings that didn’t come with my kit. I took time to find quality products, I eventually got the correct elbows that mount in the bag and I was in business. I took my time and followed the instructions ... this time... I opted for the setup where compressor lines tie into a T union which gives me the ability to also manually fill as a redundancy if the compressor fails. I ran the manual line schraeder valves to the license plate bolt for easy access. The wireless remote pairs with the manifold when you first put the main fuse in. The manual says you have 5 minutes but it didn‘t take on the first go. I pulled the fuse and repeated the process and synced on the second go around. So far everything is working as it should without errors. No leaks so far, let’s see how it does overnight.

We’re going to tow the new TT this weekend I’ll post how it went when I’m done.

This video was the most helpful setting the compressor up.

Does the compressor/remote stop at 5 psi or go down to 0 psi?

I ran the Air Lift 5000 Ultimates for several years on my Power Wagon and will be installing them on the 19 this week along with the same Daystar Cradles I had before. The internal bumpstop allows running as soft as possible at 0 psi without damaging the bags. I'd appreciate a compressor/remote, but not if I'm limited to 5 psi.

Now if UPS would show up with my Thuren suspension today, I'd get to working.

 

[Kimo7]

Does the compressor/remote stop at 5 psi or go down to 0 psi?

I ran the Air Lift 5000 Ultimates for several years on my Power Wagon and will be installing them on the 19 this week along with the same Daystar Cradles I had before. The internal bumpstop allows running as soft as possible at 0 psi without damaging the bags. I'd appreciate a compressor/remote, but not if I'm limited to 5 psi.

Now if UPS would show up with my Thuren suspension today, I'd get to working.

No - the Load Lifter 5000 Ultimate have the internal jounce bumpers, the manual says minimum of 5 psi and the remote doesn’t allow for less. The remote default for the MAX psi is 35 lbs BUT the Load Lifter 5000 allows for up to 100 lbs. You can go into the settings and adjust the air bag type to choose the Load Lifter which will then allow 100 lbs psi.

I’ve driven the truck a little today with varying psi levels. I think I can feel it stiffen up over 25 lbs but below that I’m not sure you'll be able to tell the difference between 0 and 5 lbs.

 

[Brutal_HO]

No - the Load Lifter 5000 Ultimate have the internal jounce bumpers, the manual says minimum of 5 psi and the remote doesn’t allow for less. The remote default for the MAX psi is 35 lbs BUT the Load Lifter 5000 allows for up to 100 lbs. You can go into the settings and adjust the air bag type to choose the Load Lifter which will then allow 100 lbs psi.

I’ve driven the truck a little today with varying psi levels. I think I can feel it stiffen up over 25 lbs but below that I’m not sure you'll be able to tell the difference between 0 and 5 lbs.

If you off-road, that 5 psi could lift a wheel that might otherwise plant, but with an internal jounce model, I doubt you'd see any difference. Unless you order all the parts separately, I don't think you can get a jounce-less kit in stainless. I think if you check, the net price of a 5000 steel without jounce, plus the added cost of a stainless kit (I got air-lift to sell me one direct for like $75 as I recall) isn't that far apart. That said, I ran a plastic line kit for 14 years with zero issues except the roll plates got rusty and started to bend. FWIW, the roll plates on my setup did not have full support like Kimo7's install shows and probably 1/3 the bottom plate was unsupported by the lower bracket. I could have just replaced those parts, but 15-16 year old bags (I bought it used) were not making me particularly comfortable.

If it's a concern, you could always install a manual fill/drain like Kimo7 did and make sure you have a remote power (Aux switch!) control for the compressor to keep it shut down.

 

[Kimo7]

Update - after one use of the Air Lifter air bags - I think they’re awesome and worth the money for the bag and onboard compressor combo. VERY noticeable difference in ride quality. I ended up around 22 lbs towing to the destination. It felt great and not overly bouncy. Coming home I went up to 34 lbs, I stopped there after playing with the tongue weights using the BetterWeigh to measure. Below are the screen shots that tell the tale as I was hooking up. At the minimum of 5 lbs the tongue weight is slightly over 1500 lbs with no WDH. We didn’t have a lot of stuff loaded forward so it’s surprising to see how tongue heavy it actually is.

With the bags inflated to 34 lbs it changed the distribution, reducing to slightly over 1300 lbs. When I added the WDH it really shifted to just under 1000 lbs. I was already hooked up and towing before I thought to use the weight distribution function. Glad I made the investment in the BetterWeigh device to get some sense of weights. Will verify weight of truck and trailer at the CAT scales when I get a chance.

I hope the bags and compressor sustain their performance over time. I will continue to make adjustments and see how much more refinement I can get with it.