Airbags on truck?

I've only had anything to do with the ride rite air bags on pickups which is made by Firestone and is that double bellows style air bag so I don't know what the characteristics are of the straight smooth wall style for lack of a better term. Companies always like to brag up their products and the wonderful performance your going to get out of it but like anything, add on air bags come with their quirks. I've installed them on older chev half tons but I see from looking at a video that more then likely most air bag kits for the 2016 chevy half ton is going to go in the same spot which is directly under the frame. The downfall of that is that the jounce bump stop can't be there any longer so now its the air bag that takes the hit internally if the axle bottoms out and why they will most likely say to maintain a certain minimum pressure in the air bag to help prevent bottoming the bag. Then there is the issue around air leakage, it doesn't take much air leaking out to lower the pressure a lot as there is so little air volume in an air bag, reminds me of inflating a bicycle tire and yes with every vehicle that has had air bags put on it that I've been around air loss was the more frustrating issue of these kits. I've never put on a kit that had the gauges in the cab and the compressor and controller ( your talking a lot more money then and running crap into the cab ) but those kits exist as well. The air bags are pretty tough though so unless one gets cut that doesn't seem to be the sore spot of these bags, its that darned air leaking out of fittings and then having to change the pressure as required and the air available to do it as your load changes. The air bags I am referring to can be inflated to 100 psi and carry they say 5000 lb additional weight, that is fricken rock hard and yes that lifts the vehicle back up but the ride would not be good at all and extremely hard on the truck because now so much of the weight is being carried on that single point on the frame and in fact could bend the frame and also its placing the weight more inboard on the axle housing. With this style of airbag anyway I find the ride to be no better to worse vs having a bit more spring if the truck is sadly lacking in spring capacity but better vs a truck that has wimpy springs and no air bags and hits the bump stops hard ( depends on how the bump stops are made and the older chev trucks didn't have the fancy progressive bump stop your 2016 has ). The pressures I've run when loaded were in that 30 and a bit higher range in reference to riding a bit rougher, much higher pressures would be awful. The end result with whatever I've had to do with a few different trucks is that a leaf was added per side on a half ton ( again older trucks then yours and a different spring style and length ) so that they could actually carry a reasonable load without requiring help with the air bag. Having spewed out that slightly rantish thought, its not that air bags have no place but they just aren't the no brainer leave it and forget it miracle cure that is claimed and sometimes a bit more leaf spring can do the job and not have to fiddle with it. But I hear you that over doing the leaf spring pack can turn a smooth car riding truck into a rough riding pack mule and I have zero experience with your vintage of truck to know what modifying the pack would do to your ride, perhaps talking to someone who actually knows something at a spring shop might help give you some insight. And last but not least, the fact is you are possibly way overloading your truck and suspension and I hope that isn't over taxing the trucks semi float axle and so forth and I bet your front end is coming up a certain amount as well, sure want to drive slow with an over loaded hitch load like that, added springs or air bags.

I have a 3/4 ton that the guy before me put air bags on. They are the double bellows style one that NF describes. After having used them for a couple years now I can safely say I will be putting air bags on any truck I own in the future. I absolutely love them. Running empty with no trailer I set them for between 20 and 30 psi, sometimes it’s a month or two before I check them and they seem to hold pretty well. when I have a trailer on I add air to maintain normal ride height yes sometimes I put in 100psi in them and the truck handles perfectly, look at your semi when it’s loaded at harvest time the gauge reads 100psi but it rides smooth because it has the weight to counter the air. same apples to air bags on a pick up. Long story short I like them and recommend them

I’ve went down some bad roads pulling the camper to the lake. It’s a 30’ bumper pull that weighs just over 10000 pounds and that’s were I need a hundred pounds in the bags. But it’s all relative with that big load when you hit a big bump the suspension seems quite soft. The driver must apply a little common sense as well, like if it’s a rough road slow down a bit it’s not a speed race when your pulling a heavy load. i would think he would be just fine and it’s not like your pulling heavy loads everyday with a half ton it’s just for those few times a year when he needs it

Thanks for the opinions guys! I'll have to do a bit more research and see if anyone else has a similar truck that they put airbags on and what they think of them. I figure I should be fine considering that I wouldn't really need the extra capacity all that often and I wouldn't be going a hundred miles an hour down rough grid roads.