1500 Silverado Crew Cab Rear Axle Swap

[BKennedy]

Picked up the air bag mounts and hardware, and dropped off the old axle for scrap. Goodbye POS

The donor has a 6.5' bed, which explains the longer park brake cables.

 

[BKennedy]

One of the few things I think I'll miss when I relocate to Arizona is Marshall's Hardware. They are 5 miles away and have nearly every type of fastner made. I went in there looking to make sure the air bags were indeed 1/8 NPT and to pick up new hardware for the mounts. They had the flat head metric bolts, the standard thin 5/8 nylon lock nuts, and the air line push fittings and tubing, even a Schrader valve, all for under $40.

Industrial Hardware in San Diego - Marshall's Hardware

San Diego Industrial Hardware store specializing in all facets of hardware needs including nuts, washers, hex bolts, socket head screws and more! Hard to beat quantity discounts available on many hardware products.

www.marshallshardware.com

 

[BKennedy]

Installed the air bags, pumped them up to 45 PSI and left it for 45 minutes. Still has 45 PSI. I don't think I'll run that much air in them ever with what I tow. It lifted the rear about 3". I'll play around with the pressure when towing the horses to the beach on Sunday. One of the bags is seriously showing its age, but its not something that will leave me stranded when it fails so I'll buy new bags then. They are expensive, $160 each.

Air lines are covered with braided wire loom and go through the frame for most of their length. I mounted the Schrader valve behind the lip of the bumper. Can't see it, but still easy to access.

Mounting stuff under the bumper goes against my off road instincts, but I don't think I'll be crawling in the Silverado.

 

[410Fortune]

Perfect!

 

[Fix4Dirt]

Now the wife thinks she is a master mechanic. I killed her dream by asking her to hand me a 10 mm box end wrench. "What's that?"

have taught others how to detail, and then they think theyre a master tech! its impressive to them, yes, but ya know its only the very very tip of the iceberg... been there, done that! now im too deep in!

 

[Josh P]

have taught others how to detail, and then they think theyre a master tech! its impressive to them, yes, but ya know its only the very very tip of the iceberg... been there, done that! now im too deep in!

It's that 20 years of experience I keep mentioning...

 

[BKennedy]

Towed the horses down to the beach today, about 5,000 pounds total weight. I did my usual towing setup by putting 38 PSI instead of the usual 32 in the rear tires and then put 40 PSI in the bags.

Towed great. No more rear end bounce and no more wander while towing. Very solid and smooth. On the way home I dropped the bag PSI to 30 and got a little bounce, so 40 PSI it is.

With any air at all in the bags you feel every little bump in the road when the truck is unloaded. It's always rode stiff in the back when unloaded, that's part of owning a truck, but the bags exaggerated it. When I got back to the ranch and before I dropped the trailer, I pulled the valve stem out of the air bag lines, let it drain and reinstalled it. It drove much smoother on the way home. I think I'm getting the new configuration figured out.

 

[Rick]

With any air at all in the bags you feel every little bump in the road when the truck is unloaded. It's always rode stiff in the back when unloaded, that's part of owning a truck, but the bags exaggerated it.

I replaced the air bags on the Ram last Spring. This time I went with the onboard compressor and gauges so I can adjust on the fly.

Loop 303 is a brand new highway near us and the back of the truck was bouncing like crazy on it. I let air out of the bags thinking it would soften up the ride, but it made the bumps worse. I found that adding air beyond the normal at rest pressure softened things up pretty well. I just wish I could adjust the Rancho 9000s from inside the cab.

 

[Josh P]

I replaced the air bags on the Ram last Spring. This time I went with the onboard compressor and gauges so I can adjust on the fly.

Loop 303 is a brand new highway near us and the back of the truck was bouncing like crazy on it. I let air out of the bags thinking it would soften up the ride, but it made the bumps worse. I found that adding air beyond the normal at rest pressure softened things up pretty well. I just wish I could adjust the Rancho 9000s from inside the cab.

I wish AZ maintained the roads, driving through a dried up riverbed is smoother.

 

[BKennedy]

I replaced the air bags on the Ram last Spring. This time I went with the onboard compressor and gauges so I can adjust on the fly.

Loop 303 is a brand new highway near us and the back of the truck was bouncing like crazy on it. I let air out of the bags thinking it would soften up the ride, but it made the bumps worse. I found that adding air beyond the normal at rest pressure softened things up pretty well. I just wish I could adjust the Rancho 9000s from inside the cab.

I figured out that every vehicle has a sweet spot. Had to mess with the RV bag's pressure for several trips. This last trip home from AZ I finally got it right. 45 PSI in the front bag's, 100-125 in the rear. No sway, no bounce and still rides smooth. Big rigs don't push it around either.

I wish AZ maintained the roads, driving through a dried up riverbed is smoother.

Take a drive around San Diego and those Arizona roads will feel like the I-40 is smooth. I don't know what my outrageous property taxes are paying for. Most streets around here are pot hole, half assed patch messes. The smooth spots are the 40' long holes in the pavement where it's dirt.

This once beautiful city is decaying rapidly. When 90% of law enforcement retirees are leaving an area, that's a good sign it's gone to crap.

 

[Josh P]

I figured out that every vehicle has a sweet spot. Had to mess with the RV bag's pressure for several trips. This last trip home from AZ I finally got it right. 45 PSI in the front bag's, 100-125 in the rear. No sway, no bounce and still rides smooth. Big rigs don't push it around either.

Take a drive around San Diego and those Arizona roads will feel like the I-40 is smooth. I don't know what my outrageous property taxes are paying for. Most streets around here are pot hole, half assed patch messes. The smooth spots are the 40' long holes in the pavement where it's dirt.

This once beautiful city is decaying rapidly. When 90% of law enforcement retirees are leaving an area, that's a good sign it's gone to crap.

I've been to San Diego, most of the I15 and I5 are busted up chunks of concrete, they call a Freeway. Places like Texas replace 20 mile sections of Freeway every few years, the roads there feel like driving on a cloud in comparison.

 

[410Fortune]

Montana has the smoothest roads everytime we road trip it’s like a breath of fresh air to reach Montana… Colorado roads are a joke with all the snow plowing and traffic they are never smooth, Wyoming don’t even get me started but Montana oh baby they know how to build a highway.

I have lots of family in San Diego,
Laguna, holleyweird, all the way up to Susanville
My dad left so cal in 1984 for work and also to raise us kids further out in the sticks.. back to Colorado we went (I’m co native) I moved my family from Colorado in 2017 looking to do the same thing. Too
Many People destroy places it is very sad! California was already a big mess in 84 Colorado was just a cow town. Now 6 million people in the Denver metro area it’s starting to look like calirado.

Once the pawn shops and homeless camps hit your neck of the woods it maybe time to flee..
Never thought I would leave Colorado but it was the best move we ever made.
It fits us better, back to our roots,
No road rage here no gangbangers.. at least not yet