Firestone Airbag Kit W27602445 Ride-Rite Kit + Digital Air Compressor

Firestone airbag kit

$393 W217602445 Ride-Rite Kit for Toyota Tundra

W217602445

Airbag installation for a 2017 Toyota Tundra 1794

It's the same old song and dance or is it? How about a REMIX? Ok check this out.

Today 10/26/2018 I installed the Firestone airbag kit W217602445 for my "Street Fighter" Tundra. Yep 95% of my driving is on bituminous surface even though i live on a farm. Unlike off road builds I'm building a street 4x4 that meets the needs of most Tundra drivers.

The air bag install went according to the printed instructions and youtube clip except for a few glitches. The First glitch - After marking the airbag location on the lower mount it seemed to walk off the target while torquing the mounting bolt because of the locking bolt head. I grabbed a 3/8" impact to lock it down and found that was not the answer either looking at a sheared off bolt in the mount. #@*!!# Chinese crap bolt!!!!

The second glitch is minor bending a few brackets to clear the round end plates for the bag. No big deal.

Now entering "It's never been done before"

Firestone offers a frame mounted remote controlled air compressor kit for this air bag installation for a mere $200 to $300 bucks, Not a bad deal right?

I placed a digital $40 air compressor for all your needs located in the huge armrest of the truck, yep just sitting there, so it can be used to fill the air bags, Tires and other inflatables plus no exposure to the elements. Thats the best idea ever!.

Hmm where should I drill the hole for the compressor feed tube?

There's a shit ton of electronics in this truck if I drill through a wiring harness this project is over.

Here's the answer - Drill about 1/4" forward of right front mounting bolt in the armrest mount. There's 2 layers of steel to clear before you exit the trans tunnel then the routing of the tubing for the airbags becomes crystal clear to the installer. Hopefully on the outside of the frame rail to evade heat of the exhaust system.

The cool part of this particular installation is that pumping up your airbags only takes a moment. But filling up your tires priceless.

The 12v power supply for this install is the power point (cigarette lighter) inside the armrest which is controlled by the ignition switch.

Adding a rear sway bar is my next project.

Thanks for reading and keep the shinny side up and the dirty parts down.

 

Nice install.
One observation is that, I assume anyway, you have one air line that feeds a T connector that splits off to feed both airbags?
I feel like not having each bag run on its own line isn't a great idea. If you have a load in the bed that shifts from one side to another, it could, the air can and will shift to the opposite bag. This would increase the pressure in the non loaded bag and let all the air out of the bag on the side the load shifts to. Causing even worse body roll.
Maybe this isnt the case and I'm wrong but when I ran bags in my Tacoma I ran each bag on it's own line.

 

I would disagree with separate air lines because of frame twisting if a bag looses pressure. I also would secure any load in a pickup bed. And as far as uneven loads in the bed Ive never come across that yet. Thanks for your input

 

I've spent a lot of time with air suspension, I've had 3 cars on full air ride and installed airbags for towing on 2 trucks and soon to add them to my tundra. Teeing the bags together can cause excess body roll, when the truck leans it squeezes the pressure out of the now compressed bag into the bag that is decompressed and now at a lower pressure, causing it to overexaggerate the body roll. Think of it like squeezing a balloon, when you squeeze one side, all of the air goes to where you aren't squeezing.

 

My Tundra was set up with a rear sway bar before adding an Air-Lift system.
It didn't lean with just the rear bar, and it doesn't lean now with bags fed by a T.

 

Yep Im not leaning or experiencing any body roll of any kind. Actually just the opposite.

 

A rear sway bar will make all the difference.