My family just bought a 33ft weekend warrior 5th wheel toy box and now I need air bags on the truck. I was interested in the Firestone bags but not their air system. Viair has a setup with a 2.5 gallon tank and a system to fill up to 37 inch tires. How do I make that air system work with the air bags and use a in board controller like my dad has with his firestone kit. Also looking to add a train horn down the road. What are your thoughts and suggestions. I have a 06 Lbz 4x4 crew cab.
Thanks

:grd:

I have the Firestone air bags with a VIAIR compressor. You can buy the Firestone controller wihout the air compressor and then just hook it up to the VIAIR system. There are a couple pics of my air controller and compressor mounting setup in my garage.

I have the Firestone air bags with a VIAIR compressor. You can buy the Firestone controller wihout the air compressor and then just hook it up to the VIAIR system. There are a couple pics of my air controller and compressor mounting setup in my garage.


Do you think you can post some of the pic's or email them. How did you seperate the air tank/compressor from the air bags? Is there a electronic switch set up or check valve that the firestone switch/valve will operate to regulate and maintain air pressure at the air bags? If I am correct my dad's set up (firestone) turns on the air pump to directly increase pressure and deflates at the inboard switch.:help2:

I don't have any pics other than the ones posted in my garage. The firestone controller (model 2241) comes with a dual needle gauge to monitor the air bag pressures and two pneumatic switches to raise or lower the pressure in the bags. The controller comes with instructions which have a schematic drawing of the air line connections. The compressor just pumps air into the reserve tank. A line from the tank goes to the pneumaic switches. The output from the pneumatic switches goes to both the air bags and the dual needle gauge. I mounted the gauges and the pneumaic switches in the overhead console with a "Trippen mount". I added a single needle gauge in the console to monitor the pressure in the tank, and I used one of the electric switches to actuate the combination relay and high pressure switch which starts and stops the compressor. The pictures in my garage show the overhead mount with the dual needle gauge on the left and the single needle on the right. The pneumatic switches are mounted in the underside of the console, and the switches to the right of the gauges control the compressor relay and power to my winch. Its actually easier to hook up than to describe. The hardest part was fishing the wires and air lines up to the overhead console, and figuring out the air line routing behind the gauges to make it fit in the small space. You can mount the controller under the dash for an easier install if you prefer. I bought all the parts except the "Trippen mount" from Summit Racing, and did the install over a weekend. The compressor is mounted horizontally on the shelf behind the rear seat, and the air tank is mounted to the inside of the truck frame in front of the fuel tank. While I was at it, I added an air chuck in the bed near the left rear corner for filling tires. If you need more info let me know.

I'm running a similar set-up. 2 gallon tank that the compressor fills up, I have a manual on-off switch for the compressor and also a pressure shut of switch in case I forget to turn it off.

I'm running a single guage with pneumatic switch. For my Firetruck horn I bought a 12V electric solenoid and T'd off the tank. I wired the solenoid directly to my horn with a toggle switch to turn it on or off. When the toggle is "on" I get both my regular horn and the air horn.....get's people's attention pretty well.

Good luck,

Chris

I have a Thomas compressor, similar to the Firestone, but a little larger. I have that fill two 3-gallon tanks. I have air horns, controlled by an electric solenoid valve. I also have my helper bags controlled by the same means. Each bag has it's own electric valve for filling and dumping. I also have a gauge for my tank pressure and a dual gauge for the bags. I used to install airbag suspensions for show trucks and had a lot of stuff left over, so I got busy one day and threw it all in.