Airbags vs. RoadActive

[sanny651]

So after installing the RAS and using the 1mm spacer, it lifted the rear quite a bit more than I was expecting. Front is 38.5" ground to fender well compared to 41" in the rear. Before the rake was there, but not super noticeable. Now it's more akin to my 2018 Silverado was from the factory. I don't like that look much one bit.

I hooked up my Ice Castle and it hauled like a dream. Super stable compared to the OEM setup I tried initially, so the functional value of the RAS kit is definitely proven. However, I tow my trailer maybe 10-12 times a season.

So if I put a leveling kit on the front, it'll look how I want normally, but then when I apply a load the back end will squat and become unleveled.

Is my only recourse to get airbags instead of the RAS, or am I missing something? I love the simplicity of the RAS, as well as the "set it and forget it". And again, my hauling is really just my one trailer, so it doesn't vary much at all.

 

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[Amateurhour]

How is the squat with the ice castle? Is it fairly level?
Also not all leveling kits are the same, and that may help you to get the right amount of rake unloaded that will be level when loaded.

I appreciate the details about the RAS, it’s always a choice but you don’t get too many direct comparisons from someone who has run both.

 

[Teegunn]

Sammy - interesting to hear your experience so far with the RAS system.

BTW, what part of Minnesota are you located? My grandparents had a summer home on fish hook lake up at Park Rapids. Growing up my parents took my brother and I up there at least twice a summer, so we spent at least 3 weeks a summer up in the Park Rapids area. Loved it up there. Heard the winters were cold/rough, which I am sure is true. I live at high elevation in Montana so I know all about long, cold, winters. I grew up in Nebraska BTW.

My father almost bought an ice fishing rental company in Minnesota BTW - like it was almost a done deal, don't remember why it fell through. I always wondered if he had bought that, if we were going to move to Minnesota.

 

[sanny651]

How is the squat with the ice castle? Is it fairly level?
Also not all leveling kits are the same, and that may help you to get the right amount of rake unloaded that will be level when loaded.

I appreciate the details about the RAS, it’s always a choice but you don’t get too many direct comparisons from someone who has run both.

It’s dead level with the Ice Castle hooked up. Perfect! So it’ll only have the look I want when towing, which is only in the winter.

Glad I could provide both perspectives.

 

[sanny651]

Sammy - interesting to hear your experience so far with the RAS system.

BTW, what part of Minnesota are you located? My grandparents had a summer home on fish hook lake up at Park Rapids. Growing up my parents took my brother and I up there at least twice a summer, so we spent at least 3 weeks a summer up in the Park Rapids area. Loved it up there. Heard the winters were cold/rough, which I am sure is true. I live at high elevation in Montana so I know all about long, cold, winters. I grew up in Nebraska BTW.

My father almost bought an ice fishing rental company in Minnesota BTW - like it was almost a done deal, don't remember why it fell through. I always wondered if he had bought that, if we were going to move to Minnesota.

I love me some Park Rapids! Beautiful up there. I live in Buffalo, so about 45 minutes from Minneapolis.

Winters can be brutal but the last two have been pretty easy ones. Law of averages…I’ve seen this play before and know how it ends. Haha

Ironically I worked in Big Sky, MT for summer back in the early 90s. Absolutely love Montana. Simpler life, a good life.

The ice fishing resort business is feast or famine. Two years ago we had too much snow making it very hard to get out on the lakes. Last year we didn’t have good ice die to warmer temps so it was a very short season for many. But then you’ll have a long, cold winter that balances things.

 

[pinebaron]

Just the thought of ice fishing sounds so exciting.

 

[Whaler27]

I remember my local GMC dealer suggested airbags when I complained about multimatics rough ride however I felt they would be useless for me since I never carry a load and very rarely pull a trailer with 4-5000 load. Was I correct in my assumption?

Yes.

Airbags do nothing to improve the ride of an unladen truck.

I know you drive in the snow and ice quite a bit. Pickup trucks are notoriously light in the rear, which isn’t ideal for slick conditions. That’s especially true for diesels. I solve that problem by making sure I have weight in the back of the truck. Home Depot and/or Les Schwab usually have 40 pound sandbags for sale this time of year for that purpose. They’re cheap. I drape two or three over each rear wheel well. That’s enough to improve traction and take some chatter out of the rear end on the winter washboards. You’ll also have some sand handy if you run out of salt to treat the icy steps and walkways at your house.

Between the added weight and dropping the tire pressure you can achieve a significant improvement in ride. My third idea is progressive springs (from a company like Deaver or Icon) and sulastics, but I don’t know if these things are available for GM trucks. If you really never carry or tow significant weight there are many options for improving the ride, but not all of them are easily reversible.

 

[sanny651]

Just the thought of ice fishing sounds so exciting.

I absolutely cannot WAIT to get out there on the hard water again. It’s my favorite hobby.

 

[pinebaron]

Yes.

Airbags do nothing to improve the ride of an unladen truck.

I know you drive in the snow and ice quite a bit. Pickup trucks are notoriously light in the rear, which isn’t ideal for slick conditions. That’s especially true for diesels. I solve that problem by making sure I have weight in the back of the truck. Home Depot and/or Les Schwab usually have 40 pound sandbags for sale this time of year for that purpose. They’re cheap. I drape two or three over each rear wheel well. That’s enough to improve traction and take some chatter out of the rear end on the winter washboards. You’ll also have some sand handy if you run out of salt to treat the icy steps and walkways at your house.

Between the added weight and dropping the tire pressure you can achieve a significant improvement in ride. My third idea is progressive springs (from a company like Deaver or Icon) and sulastics, but I don’t know if these things are available for GM trucks. If you really never carry or tow significant weight there are many options for improving the ride, but not all of them are easily reversible.

Soon after I got the truck I purchased ten bags of sand from HD and it was a total waste of time and I returned them; the ride improved so much with MT tires, lower psi and rear spring packs replacement(which was for a noise issue). Despite my crazy driving this unladen truck, the truck has been rock solid in snow and twisty roads to Whistler BC.
I had to drive rally style to manage a downhill drift in very loose gravel.

 

[Teegunn]

I love me some Park Rapids! Beautiful up there. I live in Buffalo, so about 45 minutes from Minneapolis.

Winters can be brutal but the last two have been pretty easy ones. Law of averages…I’ve seen this play before and know how it ends. Haha

Ironically I worked in Big Sky, MT for summer back in the early 90s. Absolutely love Montana. Simpler life, a good life.

The ice fishing resort business is feast or famine. Two years ago we had too much snow making it very hard to get out on the lakes. Last year we didn’t have good ice die to warmer temps so it was a very short season for many. But then you’ll have a long, cold winter that balances things.

Yep, love the Park Rapids area! So many good memories from all the years we spent up there in the summers! My best friend in grade and high school went with us a few times, and now he, his wife, son and sometimes other friends go up to Park Rapids area for a week in the summers. He fell in love with it too!

I hear you on the seasonal inconsistency of ice fishing business - I think that may have been a big part of the reason my father didn't end up buying the business.

Big Sky, Bozeman, Missoula, etc have all changed a lot since the 90's. Money, money, money - most from out of state. And I am not curmudgeon who thinks "keep everyone out!" is necessarily a good thing (if your area/town isn't progressing, it's regressing), but it has gotten to be haven's for the quite rich in those areas. I snow ski a lot, and have never even skiied Big Sky - 3 hours away from me, expensive, and very, very busy. I ski Discovery Ski Basin - great runs, usually excellent snow, and almost never a lift line in sight.

And to be honest, the Yellowstone series, and it's offshoots, (which are all of course very, very unrealistic to what life is like in MT), have just increased the rate of people moving to MT (even though most of the first several seasons of Yellowstone was primarily filmed in other states mountains/towns).

Good to hear from another Minnesota lover - I have such fond memories of my time up there from my youth (through high school).

 

[Whaler27]

Soon after I got the truck I purchased ten bags of sand from HD and it was a total waste of time and I returned them; the ride improved so much with MT tires, lower psi and rear spring packs replacement(which was for a noise issue). Despite my crazy driving this unladen truck, the truck has been rock solid in snow and twisty roads to Whistler BC.
I had to drive rally style to manage a downhill drift in very loose gravel.

Lower tire pressure makes an enormous difference. If you’re not carrying weight, and you aren’t obsessed with optimizing fuel economy, there’s no reason to have the tires inflated near max pressure.

I’m surprised to hear the ride improved with MT tires (unless the move to MTs coincided with the drop in tire pressure). (Of course, the easiest way to achieve a more comfortable ride is to buy a half-ton truck. The best driving vehicle I’ve ever had, bar none, was a Ford Raptor. Incredible handling, extremely comfortable seats, and truly amazing suspension. We picked it up in Maine and drove it across the country in February. It was a delight — but not worth a shit for carrying any weight or towing. All that suspension made driving a dream, and towing near the truck’s limits downright scary.)

I just swapped my summer tires for the winter tire set this morning. The tire swap is a chore I dread more with each passing year, but it’s always nice to have the winter shoes on when the worst weather hits!

 

[sanny651]

Big Sky, Bozeman, Missoula, etc have all changed a lot since the 90's. Money, money, money - most from out of state. And I am not curmudgeon who thinks "keep everyone out!" is necessarily a good thing (if your area/town isn't progressing, it's regressing), but it has gotten to be haven's for the quite rich in those areas. I snow ski a lot, and have never even skiied Big Sky - 3 hours away from me, expensive, and very, very busy. I ski Discovery Ski Basin - great runs, usually excellent snow, and almost never a lift line in sight.

Yeah we went there a few years back on a family vacation, and boy you weren't kidding.....it's not even the same place anymore. I'm like you...need to remain healthy financially and such but that is like Beverly Hills of the mountains. Crazy.

 

[sanny651]

So after contemplating things more than a human should, I think I have my solution but wanted to bounce it off the brain trust here first. My AT4 has the 2" lift. What if I removed that from the rear only, then installed airbags to maintain level for normal everyday driving, then air them up for towing?

I have been trying to figure out a solution for my situation, and this whole time I think I've been overlooking the 2" lift in the rear.

Thoughts? Again, I like the RAS but it just boosts it up too high in the rear without a load, but is spot on perfect with a load. But I don't want to drive around with a 2.5" rake...just not the look I want.

So anyways, y'all think that setup would work best for my situation?

 

[True Bee]

If I remember right your issue with the airbags was physical. If you get the airbags with an onboard compressor you can add switches in the cab and all you have to do is reach over and add or remove pressure. You could even have it fully automated self leveling if you choose.

 

[sanny651]

Yeah they worked well. But filling them with air gets harder for me with the amp’d leg. Doable shut it gets harder each year. I like the idea of the remote compressor. Has anyone ever removed the 2” lift hackles in the rear so that the bags maintain the level regardless of the loading situation?