Firestone Coil-to-Air-Spring Conversion Kit - Rear Axle

Video Transcript for Firestone Coil-to-Air-Spring Conversion Kit Installation - 2012 Ram 1500

Speaker 1: Today on our 2012 RAM 1500 we're going to be taking a look at and showing you how to install the Firestone coil to air spring conversion kit for the rear axle, part number F2595.To begin your installation, what you're going to want to do is you're going to want to get measurements on the back and the front for normal ride heights. Now we've gone ahead and done that and you can see here we've added approximately 1,000 pounds. And what it's done to the back end of the vehicle is its dropped it three inches. It's also raised the front end about a quarter of an inch. What that's going to do is it's going to add unnecessary wear and tear on the tires and pressure on the suspension.In front of the vehicle, it's going to affect your steering and handling and overall affect your braking. So now with our load back in our truck, our airbags installed, we're able to get not quite the normal ride height or the factory ride height but we are within a half inch to level with the front end.

These airbags are going to take a lot of stress off of your factory suspension. These airbags are going to be a full replacement of your factory springs.First thing you want to do is remove the tires, which we have gone ahead and done. Next thing you want to do is you want to get some jackstands. You want to make sure that the jackstands can withstand the weight of the axle. Go ahead and put them in place.Next thing we need to do, we're going to take out this lower bolt on our shock.

We're going to be using two 13/16 wrenches. Now if you bolt is a little bit hard to get out, if you just raise the axle just enough to take the pressure off that, that bolt will slide right out. And then you're going to repeat that same thing on the other side.Next thing you want to do, is we want to slowly lower our axle to loosen our spring so we can get it out. We're going to do this evenly on both sides. Then we're just going to push our spring out.

And you're going to also remove this rubber cup here.Next thing we need to do is we're going to need to remove our wheel well liner. We're going to have 11 bolts. You're going to have nine that run across the inside of the fender here. And you're going to have two more that are inside. You'll just slowly go around and start pulling it out.

Then you're going to repeat that same thing on the other side.Next you're going to have four double sided bolts. You're going to take two of them and they're going to thread into one side of the bag. When you tighten these down, you just want to tighten them down til they stop. You don't have to put any extra on them.Next we're going to have our valve. It's going to go into one side of our bag here. Thread it in like that. Then we're going to take a 12 millimeter wrench. You want to tighten it up, just like that til it seats. Next we'll take our plate and you'll see one side is indented, other side is flat. You're going to take the flat side and put it down on top of the bag like that.Next thing we're going to do is we're going to take our bag. You see there's going to be a threaded spot in the bottom of the bag, this aluminum casing here. There's a hole right on top of this cup and it's just sitting on top of the axle. You want to line these two up. One thing I do suggest doing is taking your bolt and feeding it through this hole down here on the bottom just to make sure it goes in and out. We're going to line those two up.So next in your kit you're going to get a plate like this. And this top mount where your spring was, this plate is going to slide in on top of it. And it's going to go right inside this hole or just above the hole. So now our two double sided bolts here are actually going to go up inside of this hole through the two holes in that plate. How we're going to do that is you're just going to grab your bag and raise it up like this. Line up our two holes and you're going to have two flange nuts. And we just want to hand tighten those for now. But you want to make sure before you tighten those all the way down that this bag is not twisted in any way. Once you get to where you need it, you know it's not twisted, we'll take a 14 millimeter wrench and we'll tighten down our nuts on the top of our bracket.Next thing we're going to do is reinstall our shock. And we can adjust the height with our stand. So that we can just take our bolt and slide it into place. Once you have that back in place, you'll repeat the same process on the other side.Next we're going to take an air line tube cutter. You want to make sure you don't use any type of pliers to do this because it'll pinch the line or flatten it out. So we're going to be using part number F9009. And we're just going to make sure we have a good flat end on it. I'm going to take that end and I'm going to push it right up into that valve. I'm going to take my other end and there's a hole right on the top of this plate. I'm going to feed it up through the hole.So what I did is I just ran my air line tube across the outside of the frame here, staying away from anything moving or hot. Zip tie it along the way and I'm not zip tying so tight that it pinches the line. I just want it held in place. I went right across the front of the bumper beam here and I did the same thing on the passenger side. Met them both right here toward the back of the vehicle on the passenger's side. I just rolled up my extra line and zip tied it up out of the way.Next thing we're going to do is we're going to install our inflator valves on this little plastic bracket here. We're going to remove this white cap. Then we're going to remove this nut. The kit's going to come with washers. You're going to put one flat washer on. You're going to put the valve through. Follow it with another washer. Then you're going to reinstall the nut. We'll take a 13 millimeter wrench, tighten it up along with a pair of channel locks or another wrench, vice grips, whatever. We're not going to tighten it, we don't want to tighten it too tight because you don't want to crack this.Next we're going to find a place to mount this. Normally it's on the hitch. If you don't have a hitch, you can mount the valves up here on the bumper. Your kit's going to come with two large zip ties. They come in a pack with this. That's what you'll use to install it. Again you can use your channel locks or a pair of pliers even. See if we can't them just a little bit tighter.Next thing you want to do is you want to make sure you have the right tube going to the right bag. So you know which side goes to what. I'm just going to line them up like this. You want to make sure you're not pulling on it tight because it will pinch. Leave myself a little extra. Take my air line tube cutter. We'll feed that right into our valve just like that. We're going to do the same thing with the other side.Once you have all that done, you can remove your stands. Next thing we're going to do is we're going to put air in our bags. We're going to check all of our connection points where our air line tube goes in to make sure we don't have any air leaks. Next we're going to take some soapy water and spray. What you're looking for is you're looking for big bubbles. If you have big bubbles, then you have a leak. Once you've determined you don't have any leaks, you can reinstall your wheel well liners and your tires.Now with our truck empty and our air bags installed, we're going to go ahead and add enough air to get this bag up to normal ride height. That'll do it for the look at and installation on the Firestone coil to air spring conversion kit for the rear axles, part number F2595 on our 2012 RAM 1500.