@Rock Crawler can you do me a huge favor? No rush...next time you happen to be around your truck can you snap a quick pic of your bags at ride height? Just a simple through the wheel pic would be great...I'm really curious how much they are compressed compared to mine.
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2025 Ram 1500 Limited w/factory air suspension 2/4 or 3/5 drop in process
- Thread starter ram h.o.
- Start date
This is what I could get today. I have wheel well liners, so the bags are partially covered by them. Pics are from under the truck.
Thank you! 
This is very helpful. I still have my liners out so didn’t realize youd have to go underneath, very much appreciated.
Judging by the pics I believe youre running more pressure than me, which is crazy cause if I put more pressure in theyre so stiff it rides like an old dually. I’m starting to question these QA1 shocks at this point. It seems there are several running these timber grove bags with good results based on my research. Curious, I see it says youre in Texas, any chance you have your old bilsteins and happen to want to sell them and happen to live in North Texas? Haha I’ve driven all over picking up jeep parts in the past and I could use a nice drive in the 392 anyway.
This is very helpful. I still have my liners out so didn’t realize youd have to go underneath, very much appreciated.
Judging by the pics I believe youre running more pressure than me, which is crazy cause if I put more pressure in theyre so stiff it rides like an old dually. I’m starting to question these QA1 shocks at this point. It seems there are several running these timber grove bags with good results based on my research. Curious, I see it says youre in Texas, any chance you have your old bilsteins and happen to want to sell them and happen to live in North Texas? Haha I’ve driven all over picking up jeep parts in the past and I could use a nice drive in the 392 anyway.
Do you have to have the spacer? It seems if you removed it, your bags would have more room to expand a little providing a smoother ride. It appears yours are almost completely deflated. I believe there is an internal bump stop in the bag, and with them that deflated, you’re probably riding on it constantly.
Thank you!
This is very helpful. I still have my liners out so didn’t realize youd have to go underneath, very much appreciated.
Judging by the pics I believe youre running more pressure than me, which is crazy cause if I put more pressure in theyre so stiff it rides like an old dually. I’m starting to question these QA1 shocks at this point. It seems there are several running these timber grove bags with good results based on my research. Curious, I see it says youre in Texas, any chance you have your old bilsteins and happen to want to sell them and happen to live in North Texas? Haha I’ve driven all over picking up jeep parts in the past and I could use a nice drive in the 392 anyway.
I still have the Bilsteins, but they were for a level (2” drop), so I’m not sure they would work well in a 4” drop situation. Have you spoke with the techs at Q to get more info from them? Something seems wrong.
I think your rubbing issue may be because the bags are so deflated They are larger in diameter than they would be if they were aired up more. Just a thought. I’ll try to get some measurements of my bag heights Monday or Tuesday and post them here.
They rubbed in the original setup even when inflated. And rode extremely rough which is what led me down the path of lowering the pressure and then adding spacers but the ride quality is still not good. That’s why I’m leaning towards the shocks. I’m also dealing with the front factory air struts at the same time so that complicated it. My coilovers should be here today, I’ll get those put on and then at least I’ll have a static setting in front and can focus on rear. Sadly the front air struts just wouldnt go low enough.
@Rock Crawler I think I just made a huge step in the right direction. Step back to day 1...installed 4" kit from timber grove in the rear and at the same time I lowered the front by simply adjusting the sensors for the factory front air struts which are sleeve type bags...fast forward to yesterday/today...I borrowed my neighbors nitrogen tank and ORI strut setup that he uses on his rock crawler buggy lol to raise the height in the front which took front psi from 100 to about 125 psi and I raised the psi in my rear timber grove bags to match the look of yours which was about a 20 psi raise from what I was running. Just went for a test drive and it is a very noticeable change in ride quality. At this point, I believe in my non-expert opinion what was happening is the front was too soft and basically fighting the rear suspension causing what I would relate to riding a bucking bull effect if that makes sense. This has been frustrating, but I also feel like I have learned a LOT from this experience.
I really wanted to use the factory air controls and front struts but at best the lowest I could go was 35" for a decent ride quality and 34" is the goal all the way around.
Personal notes... 35" front 125 psi 34.75" rear QA1's set to 3 45psi driver 33psi passenger (I think maybe a 4 or 5 would be better but will wait until coilovers are on) Overall ride was much better, just a slight bounce in rear.
Ridetech coilovers showed up. Came with a 1810B0850 hyperco hyperoils.com 10" x 2.5" x 850 lb spring rate
I really wanted to use the factory air controls and front struts but at best the lowest I could go was 35" for a decent ride quality and 34" is the goal all the way around.
Personal notes... 35" front 125 psi 34.75" rear QA1's set to 3 45psi driver 33psi passenger (I think maybe a 4 or 5 would be better but will wait until coilovers are on) Overall ride was much better, just a slight bounce in rear.
Ridetech coilovers showed up. Came with a 1810B0850 hyperco hyperoils.com 10" x 2.5" x 850 lb spring rate
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First test drive ride height 34.5" all 4 corners...should be at 34" but the coilovers would have negative preload if I go any more. I'll give ridetech a call on monday and see what they suggest.
Ride quality of the ridetech coilovers is very similar feel to my factory air ride. Only put a couple miles on it so will go for a longer test drive shortly. The back still just doesnt seem "right" but at least its better.
Ride quality of the ridetech coilovers is very similar feel to my factory air ride. Only put a couple miles on it so will go for a longer test drive shortly. The back still just doesnt seem "right" but at least its better.
I saw on their website that the single adjuster adjusts both compression and rebound at the same time, but I just can’t seem to wrap my head around how that even works or how that is even possible. One would certainly affect the other with one knob. Strange.
The deeper I dive into this and now that I have the ridetech’s up front the more I think some of my issue is with these shocks. That was $450 down the drain, plus gotta figure out next step. Probably will go with ridetechs to match the front.
If I remember correctly, there is someone on this forum that is using QA1’s without any issues. I would think that one of the 18 settings should work. They have a pretty good reputation.
Took out the spacers, got ride height set to 34" front and rear. Ended up with 45 psi on fuel side, 30 psi on passenger side. QA1 set at 7. Ridetech front set to 11. I believe this is the best I'm going to achieve. Seems ok on 90% of the roads I covered tonight on test drive.
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No, I think they would have to be custom made. They will have to be super short. Probably best to just cut them down and weld back together. Not sure what kind of material they are made of, so not sure if welding is an option. Probably some sort of cheap pot metal or something.
Think I finally achieved an acceptable ride quality.
QA1 = 6
Ridetech = 9
Full tank of fuel + my 250 lbs
50 psi driver side
30 psi passenger side
Rear ride height 34.25"
Front ride height 34"
No bottoming out front or rear. I believe this to be the lowest you can go on a 4x4 2025 model without having to shorten the axle side track bar mount for more up travel, it's currently about 1/8" from frame at full compression of bumpstops. Also, have to consider the front cv joints...I don't know their limits and don't care to find out.
The front ridetech coilovers ride amazing...excellent compression and rebound characteristics. Firm but smooth ride imo. I would highly recommend these. I can only imagine that their full kit is probably amazing as well, but I wanted the air ride for towing my boat.
The rear timber grove bracketry is high quality, however I'm not 100% satisfied with the ride quality. Upon further investigation I found the part # stamped in these bags are a cheap $59 generic bag from ebay. I'm not saying they won't work, but I was expecting a quality brand name bag.
The rear is acceptable but I'm not 100% satisfied, I believe it can be better. I've had several conversations with a couple of airbag manufacturers as well as some suspension/shock companies. What I've learned is that most of what you feel in the drivers seat comes from the rear suspension. If I set the QA1 single adjustable rear shocks which control compression and rebound with one knob to a setting of 5, the compression is good but since the double convoluted bags have a more aggressive rebound than a sleeve bag (learned this from two airbag manufacturers), when set to a 5 the compression feels good but the rebound is soft so it allows the axle to come back down so quickly you get this rythmic bouncy feel (almost like that sea sick motion). But if you turn the dial up to 7 to control rebound more then the compression is so stiff you get that harsh, feel every crack and pebble in the road feeling. So, I settled on a 6 setting to balance the comp and rebound best I could.
Based on my research, conversations with manufacturers and some people on facebook bagged groups I believe I will order the 7xl sleeve bag from universal air in hopes this will provide a linear spring rate compared to the convoluted bag and supposedly will have a lesser rebound attitude which should be more controllable with my QA1 shocks. Although a very frustrating experience I have learned a ton about suspension.
QA1 = 6
Ridetech = 9
Full tank of fuel + my 250 lbs
50 psi driver side
30 psi passenger side
Rear ride height 34.25"
Front ride height 34"
No bottoming out front or rear. I believe this to be the lowest you can go on a 4x4 2025 model without having to shorten the axle side track bar mount for more up travel, it's currently about 1/8" from frame at full compression of bumpstops. Also, have to consider the front cv joints...I don't know their limits and don't care to find out.
The front ridetech coilovers ride amazing...excellent compression and rebound characteristics. Firm but smooth ride imo. I would highly recommend these. I can only imagine that their full kit is probably amazing as well, but I wanted the air ride for towing my boat.
The rear timber grove bracketry is high quality, however I'm not 100% satisfied with the ride quality. Upon further investigation I found the part # stamped in these bags are a cheap $59 generic bag from ebay. I'm not saying they won't work, but I was expecting a quality brand name bag.
The rear is acceptable but I'm not 100% satisfied, I believe it can be better. I've had several conversations with a couple of airbag manufacturers as well as some suspension/shock companies. What I've learned is that most of what you feel in the drivers seat comes from the rear suspension. If I set the QA1 single adjustable rear shocks which control compression and rebound with one knob to a setting of 5, the compression is good but since the double convoluted bags have a more aggressive rebound than a sleeve bag (learned this from two airbag manufacturers), when set to a 5 the compression feels good but the rebound is soft so it allows the axle to come back down so quickly you get this rythmic bouncy feel (almost like that sea sick motion). But if you turn the dial up to 7 to control rebound more then the compression is so stiff you get that harsh, feel every crack and pebble in the road feeling. So, I settled on a 6 setting to balance the comp and rebound best I could.
Based on my research, conversations with manufacturers and some people on facebook bagged groups I believe I will order the 7xl sleeve bag from universal air in hopes this will provide a linear spring rate compared to the convoluted bag and supposedly will have a lesser rebound attitude which should be more controllable with my QA1 shocks. Although a very frustrating experience I have learned a ton about suspension.
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Glad to hear you are getting it all figured out. Sounds like the double adjustable QA1’s would work better for your application, but it would not really feasible to swap them out now. The sleeve bag design sounds interesting. Just ensure it will support any amount of load you ever plan on hauling and you should be good. I think I read somewhere that you can have them custom valved for your specific needs/application. Also, hopefully they won’t be as large in diameter so you don’t have to worry about the rubbing issues. Keep us updated.
