Leaking Firestone ride rite air bags?

[Charles L]

I have one that will not hold air. I just noticed it when checking everything for a weekend trip. I am not sure if it is the bag or a leaking fitting at this point. Do you think it will be ok to drive it about 60 miles for a weekend trip? If you have changed one before can you offer any tips on the process? Thanks for looking.

[Bob_C]

Spray it with a water/soap solution......then make a decision......at least you'd know....

[camper8251]

Lifetime warranty.

Firestone air springs are designed to provide years and thousands of miles of trouble-free service. The durability of Firestone air springs is such that they will often outlast other maintenance items on your suspension, such as bushings, shocks, and other components. Ride- Rite™ air springs are warranted to be free of material defects and/or workmanship for as long as the original purchaser owns the vehicle on which it was originally installed.

Will be fine as long as not overloaded. Check you valves.... They tend to leak a lot. Soap and Water.......

[Charles L]

Originally Posted by camper8251

Lifetime warranty.

Firestone air springs are designed to provide years and thousands of miles of trouble-free service. The durability of Firestone air springs is such that they will often outlast other maintenance items on your suspension, such as bushings, shocks, and other components. Ride- Rite™ air springs are warranted to be free of material defects and/or workmanship for as long as the original purchaser owns the vehicle on which it was originally installed.

Will be fine as long as not overloaded. Check you valves.... They tend to leak a lot. Soap and Water.......

Where would I gather such information concerning the lifetime warranty? I am the original owner of my 2017 Sunseeker GTS with factory installed Firestone air bags in the rear.

[Charles L]

Originally Posted by bob caldwell

Spray it with a water/soap solution......then make a decision......at least you'd know....

I plan to do this later today. Thanks for the tip.

[Bill Gail]

Originally Posted by camper8251

Lifetime warranty.

Firestone air springs are designed to provide years and thousands of miles of trouble-free service. The durability of Firestone air springs is such that they will often outlast other maintenance items on your suspension, such as bushings, shocks, and other components. Ride- Rite™ air springs are warranted to be free of material defects and/or workmanship for as long as the original purchaser owns the vehicle on which it was originally installed.

Will be fine as long as not overloaded. Check you valves.... They tend to leak a lot. Soap and Water.......

X2 on the valves leaking , also check the air lines and how they are routed . May be too close to the exhaust and failed from the heat of the exhaust.

Also check the air line where it enters the top of the air bag with the soapy water. If the line isn't seated well it will leak.

Firestone does say the bags will lose pressure over time , that's why Firestone recommends checking the pressures on a regular basis.

Firestone recommends not driving the vehicle with less than 20 lbs air pressure in the bags . Also , it is not recommended to raise the vehicle by the frame to raise the tires off the ground unless the pressure is dropped to 0 lbs. otherwise the bags could be damaged.

[Jyrocharlie]

When not needed the minimum air pressure you need to keep in Ride Rite air bags is 5 psi to prevent them from damaging themselves. https://www.etrailer.com/faq-the-basics-firestone.aspx

[Charles L]

I checked with soapy water and could find no leaking area on the air bag. The bag itself looks good with no apparent damage. I will attempt to check the air line from the schrader valve to the bag tomorrow. I never did find the air line connection on the bag. I assumed it would be on the top side but I could not feel an air line there. Perhaps it is leaking on the backside of the schrader valve in the black and gray water compartment. I have no clue how I will find the air line that exits through the wall into no mans land.

I may have to make the short 100 mile round trip with no air. It holds air for a short while 10-15 minutes.

[Bill Gail]

Originally Posted by Charles L

I checked with soapy water and could find no leaking area on the air bag. The bag itself looks good with no apparent damage. I will attempt to check the air line from the schrader valve to the bag tomorrow. I never did find the air line connection on the bag. I assumed it would be on the top side but I could not feel an air line there. Perhaps it is leaking on the backside of the schrader valve in the black and gray water compartment. I have no clue how I will find the air line that exits through the wall into no mans land.

I may have to make the short 100 mile round trip with no air. It holds air for a short while 10-15 minutes.

Have you found the air leak ?

The Firestone website will have a schematic and installation instructions showing where the air line attaches to the airbag.

My experience is the rear air bags have the air line attach on top . The air line connects by compression. It simply pushes into a plastic collar . To remove the air line , push down on the collar and the air line will pull out.

If the Schrader Valve is not leaking , and the air bag and air line connection are not leaking , the problem has to be a leak in the air line .

You might inflate the air bag to 90lbs. and listen for the hiss from the leaking air .

If it is the air line , new line can be purchased from almost any auto parts store .

Disconnect both ends and remove the existing line . If the existing routing goes through a " no man's land " simply reroute the line to where you can get to it in the future .

Let us know how things turn out.

[Bill Gail]

Originally Posted by Charles L

I have one that will not hold air. I just noticed it when checking everything for a weekend trip. I am not sure if it is the bag or a leaking fitting at this point. Do you think it will be ok to drive it about 60 miles for a weekend trip? If you have changed one before can you offer any tips on the process? Thanks for looking.

Curious , did you find the air leak ? If so , what was the cause ?

[Charles L]

Not yet. I drove it about 100 miles round trip. I have not investigated the fitting at the top of the air bag yet. I cant get my head in position to see it. I will get a mechanics mirror from work. I cant find mine.

[Calson]

I would inflate the bags and then wait for a couple days and see how much air they have lost. If it is a very little amount then I would make the trip.

I chose to put helper springs on my last RV as air bags will fail and I never wanted to be hundreds of miles from my house when one failed.

[Charles L]

They last about 10 minutes. 90 psi to 0. I suspect the fitting on the top is leaking. I need to get a mirror and check it with soapy water. BTW I made the trip with no air.

[Harvard]

X2:

"Also check the air line where it enters the top of the air bag with the soapy water. If the line isn't seated well it will leak."

That happened to our rig.