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When hauling heavy gear or towing, rear-end sag throws off braking and steering. The LoadLifter 5000 Ultimate air springs give you up to 5,000 lbs of load-leveling capacity to keep your vehicle level front to back. They reduce strain on your suspension, maintain safe headlight aim, and distribute weight evenly to all four wheels for better control and stability when loaded down.
Bumps and dips can beat up a suspension, especially under weight. Each LoadLifter 5000 Ultimate air spring has a closed-cell urethane jounce spring inside that engages progressively—the more the load, the stiffer it gets. The jounce smooths out rough roads, reduces sway, and helps prevent bottoming out. Even if air pressure drops, the jounce acts as a fail-safe to temporarily support the load so you can keep moving safely.
Every haul is different. Adjust your air pressure from 5 psi to 100 psi to match the weight you’re carrying. Pump them up for towing or hauling heavy cargo, then drop back down for daily driving comfort. Manual inflation valves and air lines are included for simple adjustments, and each spring can be tuned independently for side-to-side leveling when loads aren’t perfectly balanced.
Reliable suspension support depends on strong construction. These air bags use 2-ply, fabric-reinforced rubber and high-strength Zytel nylon endcaps that are lighter and more corrosion resistant than steel. Roll plates protect the springs from moving parts under the vehicle while adding surface area for a better ride at lower pressures. With durable hardware and brackets included, these components are built for long-term use in heavy-duty conditions.
Installing load support shouldn’t require a shop visit. The LoadLifter 5000 Ultimate system comes with mounting brackets, hardware, manual inflation valves, and air lines—everything needed to mount the springs and air them up. Just bolt them in place and route the lines where you want easy access, typically at the bumper. Once installed, you can add an optional compressor system later for in-cab control if you want automatic adjustments on the road.
Customer Satisfaction Score:
96% were satisfied with this product
4% of customers were not satisfied
Ratings & Reviews
works very well. i installed them on a 2012 Ford F-150 towing a Grand Design 2600 RB. the airbags substantially helped cut down the bouncing when going over big bumps, bridge decks, etc. also helps with the side winds. very happy with set up.
etrailer delivered these in four days which was a pleasant surprise. The Load Lifter 5000 were easy to install and all of the parts fit perfectly. The installation instructions were spot on as well. I tried to save a little time by leaving the wheels mounted, that turned out to be a mistake, so I removed the wheels mounted on the second side and saved about 45 minutes. The loadlifters perform exactly how I want. They took all of the sway out of my tundra while hauling my truck camper.
Deliver was awesome, installation was a little more complicated than expected but had installed big wig sway bar and torklift lower wedges added some unexpected fitment modifications but I can say has delivered results I wanted.
The truck rides much better now, though I haven’t yet towed with the air bags yet. The bags took out that annoying side to side movement.
Just great!
Easy to install.
The AirLift 5000 work great. The installation brackets didn't work for my Toyota RV & I had to fabricate the ones that'd mount to the frame. Otherwise, awesome improvement to the stability & ride.
Great instructions and easy installation! Fit perfectly! Loaded my tractor to test them out and they completely leveled my sagging truck with 42psi.
Good system seems to made very well. I also got the Airlift Compressor as well Would have done 5 stars but the quick mount doesn't fit a 2025 F250 frame. About an inch to small. DIRECTIONS are terrible, pictures are blurry. Had to you tube the install. for that much money a couple of more pages explaining better with clear pictures.
Excellent product. I had the old version on an old truck and had issues- especially not having the jounce bumper. This new one has been excellent. Only thing I'd change is... spend a little extra and get the pump and wireless control... that my next upgrade. It's easy enough to adjust these with my cordless inflator...but that extra little bit will really make it a 5 start setup. 2020 Tundra TRD sport, tracrac, 4' tool boxes, access tonneau and bedside 1500. truck sagged without the airbags.
Works amazing. The install was a little more difficult than it appears… It actually took me and a couple other guys five hours to get it completely installed.
There was a lot of cutting/grinding metal to make pieces fit properly, and had to drop the axel completely… I think that’s only for my gen 2 raptor.
At the end of the day, though I’m very happy with the result
Just had them installed, I’ll be hauling a 9800lb travel trailer soon. That will be the real test!
Added 40lbs of air, they sit the rear of truck up nicely.
I was easy to install just a few hours. Everything in the kit fit well. It would be nice if an extension brackets were provided for the brake line/abs wire mounting bars would be included like the brake line adapters that’s provided in the kit is my only recommendation to make it top notch.
Arrive fast
Installation was pretty easy and when one side isn’t leaking they work great
Really made a big difference in the ride of my van. Install was simple and took less than 4 hours. Great service by etrailer once again.
Does exactly what I needed
The major problem I have with the system is the capacity is so small, adjusting pressure is a PIA.
It does level the load and smooths the ride.
Unfortunately there is no kit available from Firestone for my application.
This was installed on a 2021 Chevy Express 2500 van conversion by Explorer Conversion Vans. Explorer installed an Eaton rear suspension and it was not up to the task of a heavy conversion van. I think the air bags help but I will need to upgrade the shock absorbers to eliminate some of the bounce from the air bags. There were three primary issues with the installation:
1) The parking brake cable bracket is in the way and has to be cut off the axle. I attached the parking brake cable clamp to one of the Air Lift bolts using a nut. This is not something every at-home installer can do.
2) The air hose is barely long enough. I specifically asked how long the hose is because I wanted to route it where the future compressor will go and was told there is enough to go around the entire vehicle. That is incorrect. I will have to replace the hoses at my cost when I upgrade to the onboard compressor system.
3) The etrailer video says to drill the mounting holes to 5/16" diameter. The 3/8"-16 bolts immediately stripped out. I should have drilled the holes to 9/32" diameter.
I have bought a lot from etrailer and I will purchase from them again. Most of my issues stem from the poor design and instructions of the Air Lift product. For example, it doesn’t say anywhere on the box or product literature how much air hose is provided.
This 88205 kit was installed into a 2010 Roadtrek 210P (Chevy express 3500 chassis). If you own one, you know these vans run overloaded even on a good day. This kit was installed to increase stability and to reduce the "crash" as the van goes over bumps. These vans ride on the overload spring and there is no real progression to the rear suspension. The airbags will help absorb some of the impact from bumps in a progressive manner. I will also be installing new front coil springs to bring the ride height back to factory spec. The rear height has come up about an inch (25 psi in the bags) - as you can see in the van picture, there's a rake to the van. This will be resolved when the new coil springs are installed to raise the front height by a couple of inches. I will leave the front Sumo Springs jounce bumpers (black=medium) in place with the new coils. I mention all this in particular for 210 owners - you need to address both front and rear suspension issues.
First, the results. I was anticipating an improvement in driveability but I was very surprised at the huge improvement. Test drive was with 25 psi in the bags - I'll test other pressures to see what they result in. There is much less lean on turns and the rear suspension feels resistant to making every bump a big event. The bags absorb the initial shock and improve ride quality significantly, a lot of the cringe factor is now gone. Much more pleasurable to drive.
The internal jounce bumpers are worth the extra cost - not only do they help reduce the shock of bumps, but they supplement the response of the rear suspension. By this I mean that the airbag will initially take the impact, then for larger bumps, the internal jounce bumpers will progressively absorb more impact. At the same time the rear springs are able to work better since they are not completely dependent on the thick overload spring. Additionally, if an airbag loses air completely, the vehicle can still ride on the internal jounce bumper until repairs can be made.
I installed the fill valves below the rear bumper lip (they point downwards). A bit clunky to get to, but I plan a later install of an on-board compressor. The amount of air line was just enough to run to the back bumper, you need to plan carefully on routing to ensure you have enough line. I did not combine the lines, each bag is filled individually. In my case, due to location of spare tire, water/sewer tanks, fuel tank and coach storage I wanted to be able to tweak each side to get to level ground to fender lip measurement on each side. Gives me a level vehicle even with varied load locations.
I think this is a better kit for our application than the Firestone air bag kit as this kit places the airbag right between the frame and the axle, the best place for load bearing. The Firestone kit places the top bag mount on a bracket mounted to the side of the frame. This can weaken over time with the bracket always trying to resist being pushed off the frame. The Air Lift kit doesn't need any connection to the leaf spring u-bolts and I like that too.
The kit included everything I needed. One of the few times I've not had to change something in order to do a complete thorough installation. Instructions were fine and I liked the torque numbers given - sure you can get the bolts "tight enough" but it's good when a mfg provides complete data. I used the heat sleeve and shield too, the shield is a good idea.
Before final install of the airbag assembly, check the angle of the horizontal bar that extends to the rear from the top bag mount bracket. It's a bit off from the bend in the frame, just needs a check and possible tweaking of the bar. Easy to do, and this will let the top bag mount bracket bear directly on the frame as it's designed to do. The lower bag mount bracket installs easily, and I used the relocating bolt/spacer for the passenger side hand brake cable. Nice to have that detail covered.
On 210's you may have a 1.5 in spacer under the leaf spring - installed by Roadtrek. It will probably have a ledge extension for the frame bumper. You'll be removing the frame bumper anyway, and the ledge extension needs to be cut off to provide space for the airbag. I removed the spacer, cut off the extension and re-installed the spacer. I replaced the original crusty u-bolts at the same time - you should not re-use u-bolts, especially these high torque bolts. U-bolts stretch and also distort at the threads. Get new u-bolts and check them for a few hundred miles after they are installed as they may stretch a bit more. U-bolts are square bend, 2 9/16in. inside dimension to get over 2 1/2in. spring width. Originals were about 11 3/4in long but you can knock an inch off the length. I used oem length and you can see they are a bit long.
I like cost-effective results - this kit provided those results in our case. You always hope for the best and I think that it's of particular benefit to our tubby 210s with that substantial rear weight and overhang. Took me a couple of days to get everything done, but it's well worth the time and cost. Highly recommended.
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Jenny N.
11/3/2021
Thank you for your feedback. I reached out to Airlift and found that the kit will come with 16 feet of airline hose. If an additional compressor system is purchased then an additional 20 feet will come with it depending on the kit. In the manual there are instructions on how to route the brake lines for non disc and disc brake systems.
Helpful Links
instructions.aspx?pn=AL88205