Air Ride on a 91.5 Dodge W350
 

Ok I got a 91.5 Dodge Ram W350 single wheel and as all of yall know their rough as HELL!!!!
I was wanting to softin up the ride a little bit. I was thinking putting 1/2 ton springs on the front and back and adding Firestone Ride Rite air helper bags but also keeping the HD 3/4 ton shocks I have on it. What do yall think????

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I'm talkin bout air bags on front and back of truck not just the rear

Sounds like a good idea, only two issues. one your ride hight would have to stay the same in the front as not to affect steering and two you might have to add some sort of traction device in the rear to help out those wimpy 1/2 ton springs.

how would i go about doing that? and the highth problem i would just solve with blocks or air the bags up or both, i would do it on the front and rear of the truck and what if i built a swing arm for the rear axle? coming from the frame about the end or middle of the fuel tank to the axle would that work? I dont think i would put awhole lot of stress on everything because the swing arm would control it and keep it there but then the springs would control the ride while the bags would control the weight and ride and heighth aslo

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could i put a swing arm on the front aswell? would i need to?

blocks in the front arnt the solution.and if you put too much air inthe bags youll loose the ride quality you were looking for. I would use a shackle lift up front 1 or 2 inch when you figure out what you need, and a single link traction bar in the rear from the frame to the top of the axle so as not to loose ground clearence . or if this sounds like too much time and fab work look into the kelderman air ride kits. be warned they are pricy. ihave their kit on my truck and it rides great.:c:

Ive looked at the airbagit kits for my new 2010 1 ton and was just thinkin bout making my own and i was also think bout completly removing the leaf springs and fabbing a 4 or a 3 link swing arm kind of suspension and just have air bags and shocks but idk theres alot of differant ways i could go and i could do my idea for about $325 $375 per axle

My dad did exactly this and it worked out OK however, the Firestone Ride Rite air springs he used were too small air capacity for obtaining a really nice ride. It was kind of bouncy like what would happen if your springs were too short. However, we installed larger air bags that had larger air volume and this made it ride really nice. If you want to get an idea on what size of air bags works out well, take a look at a Lincoln Mark VIII or Lincoln Continental air suspension. I would say you want air bags that are big enough to hold 1.5-2 gallons.

Anyways, keep us up to date on what you come up with.

Oh ok thanks that helps alot when im done ill post a thread and detailed pics and list of parts and prices and such