There's been some discussion recently about raising the rear a couple of inches using the Firestone Ride-rite air bag kit.
I just completed the installation on my 2008 PC 2350. (It's actually a 2007 E-350 chassis). The kit is Firestone W217602061. By the way, it's gone up $40 since last fall. It's now $324.46 on Amazon.
Bottom line -- it didn't raise the rear one little bit. My rear wheel wells are 33" off the ground with zero pressure in the air bags, and they are 33" off the ground with 80 lbs. I only have half an inch of overhead clearance on my garage door, and I was able to back out normally, with full pressure.
However, my test was with an unloaded coach. I think the rear sag that everybody complains about must be due to the 400 pounds of water weight sitting nearly on the bumper. In fact, now that I think about it, the only times I've had trouble with the rear dragging something was when I was loaded with a full water tank. So it's very possible that the air bags will keep the coach level when fully loaded. But my coach has the HWH auto-leveling system, which hangs very low, and I was hoping to improve that situation. No such luck.
The system is a LOT tougher to install than the manual would lead you to believe. The manual has you assemble the bags to the mounts before installation. There simply isn't enough room to do that. The shocks are too close to the axle. I had to remove the top mount from the bag and install it loosely. Then, while squeezing the air out of the bag, I just barely had room to get the rest of the unit in place, and it was still a real bear to fit the bag to the top mount. Once you finally get the studs through the holes on the top mount, be sure to torque the nuts down holding the bag to the top mount before you tighten down the top mount to the frame. There is not enough room to get the bag mounting nuts started if you do it the other way. But on the bright side, I did not have to drill any holes to install the top mounts, as some have mentioned.
The exhaust pipe loops over the axle less than 4" from the bag on the right side. They give you one heat shield, which is only enough to shield one side of the loop. I guess I'll have to fabricate another and attach it to the exhaust pipe itself. I haven't solved that problem yet.
You don't have to remove the wheels. It would probably be an easier job if you did, but from what I could tell, it didn't look like the assembly would fit in that way either, so I didn't remove mine. I never feel safe working under a vehicle when the wheels are off. But you still have to jack the frame up a couple of inches to make room to fit the bags in. I used my autoleveler to jack up the rear a little, with a couple of jack stands on the frame for safety.
There is not enough pressure line to run the lines all the way to the bumper. I brought mine out to the sides just in front of the wheel wells, at the top of the bottom skirt. You can avoid the 1/4" section where the body panels overlap on the left side, but not on the right side, because next to the battery compartment it's all 1/4" thick. The valve stems are just barely long enough to work with a 1/4" panel. I had to remove the inner washer to make it work on the right side because my air pump wouldn't depress the pin in the valve stem enough to open the valve.
Short version -- if someone had written this before me, I probably would have saved the $325 and just carried less water. I'm not sure it was worth the money or the aggravation. But we rarely boondock, so we don't really need to carry much water. If you like boondocking, maybe it would be worth it.
