I just put them on my '09 yesterday. Are you sure about the spacer? Looking carefully at my setup, the 4x4 has an additional 1" block UNDER the spring compared to the 4x2, which doesn't affect where the air spring is mounted; I am not sure why a spacer would be needed. If it belongs there and is missing, the air spring will stretch too much. If it is added when it doesn't belong, the air spring will be stiffer and may bottom out. I emailed Firestone about this after reading your post - I will post what they say.

 

Ride Rites on my 07 screw had real good luck with them so far.

 

WELL put them on today and they went on with no major issues. Seem to work great. Mounted the airlines in the cab instead of out the back. Just put it next to the rear seat and works great. Loaded some weight and put about 70 psi in them. Should be good to go. Down to about 30 for the overnight test to see if they leak at all. I currently don't have a level kit but even at 30 they seem to lift the rear a bit. If I deflated all the way I think I should get stock height. ? ?

 

As promised in my previous post, I checked with Firestone tech support on this issue and confirmed that the spacer should not be installed on a 4x4. I recommend that you remove the spacer and use the shorter bolt that came with the kit. This will avoid increasing the rate of the air spring and avoid bottoming it out. Here is my exchange with Firestone tech support:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Year of vehicle: 2009
Make of vehicle: Ford
Model of vehicle: F150

Question: I installed ride rite air springs on my truck yesterday. The instructions said to use the included spacer on the 4x2 but not on the 4x4. Since I have a 4x4 I didn't install the spacer. This seems backwards to me. Please confirm that the spacer is for the 4x2 and not the 4x4.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Answer from Firestone: "The spacer is suppose to go on the 4x2 not the 4x4. The manual is correct and you installed it correctly."

 

Jerry, I believe that you should never run them completely deflated - you need about 10# in them at all times.

 

ya the min pressure is 10 psi in the bags going down the road. with mine on my 01 at min pressure seems to only raise the truck 1/4 to maybe 1/2 an inch (haven't actually gone and measured)

 

I actually mis worded that. U are correct that there is a minimum psi. Have to lower and see or just get a level kit. Thanks for the info.

 

It seems we are BOTH correct. Having been a mechanic for over 30 years I know what isn't correct and on an XL the bags are too compressed with the spacer. So it seems there are several variables to the installation. I also wrote Firestone tech support and I received an installed measurement. My XL with-out the spacer falls within the acceptable height.

Here's the response:

THE QUESTION-
Year of vehicle: 2010
Make of vehicle: FORD
region: Florida_USA
Model of vehicle: F150 XL 2WD

Question: The instructions for the Ride-Rite kit call for the addition of a spacer on the 2010 F150 XL 2WD. This seems to compress the air bags quite a bit. It squeezes the bags to half their uninflated out-of-the-box size. Is this correct? Without the spacer the bags will compress about 1 inch when installed.


THE RESPONSE FROM FIRESTONE-

Ford might have changed something on the XL without us knowing about it. Please mount the air springs at a height from 5.5" to 6.5" without any load in the truck (with or without spacer).

 

BTW, the manual for my airbags calls for a minimum on 5psi.

NOTE:
Too much air pressure in the air helper springs will result in a firmer ride, while too little air pressure will allow
the air helper spring to bottom out over rough conditions. Too little air pressure will also not provide the improvement
in handling that is possible. TO PREVENT POSSIBLE DAMAGE MAINTAIN A MINIMUM OF 5 psi IN THE AIR HELPER SPRINGS AT ALL TIMES.
NOTE:
MIN PRESSURE 5 PSI
MAX PRESSURE (LOADED) 100 PSI