Well, first I opened it all up and sorted/assembled all the hardware, so I was ready to go for that. Then we tried to find a place to mount the compressor, my first thought was the spare battery tray, it isn't very flat, so we took it off and found the compressor spanned the gap over top of the washer fluid tank perfect, so I drilled 2 holes in the bracket, and then on the other side, the compressor has an angled "brace" molded into the plastic, so I took my dremel tool and sanded that off smooth. And we decided to use the threaded holes from the battery tray, and we needed some sort of strap/bracket to go over the base of the compressor and reach the holes, so we had a small piece of aluminum channel that was perfect, so we drilled 2 holes in it, and tried the factory bolts, but they weren't long enough, so we had to find some longer ones, and we actually had them, so no need to buy them. Then we had to find a place to mount the low pressure switch, we decided to zip tie it to a large bundle of wires near the compressor, and the harness that consisted of an air line and a wire which need to be ran to the compressor was way to long, so we shortened the wire and cut the air line. Then we had to decide where to mount the gauge faceplate, since it will be used once a moth tops, we didn't want it in the cab, so we chose to mount it facing rearward mounted on the top radiator support mount, since there was enough room behind it for the air lines and wires. The bracket was bent at a 90 degree angle which we couldn't use, so we had to remove the switch, pressure release valve, and the gauge, so we could flatten the bracket, we also repainted it since it got a little scuffed up in the process. For it to fit where we wanted it we had to cut off one of the mounting tabs and drill a new hole also. Then it was time to run a tee from the compressor, to the gauge, and back to the bags, I also mounted that near the low pressure switch.
Mounting the bags seemed simple enough, remove wheels, mount bracket and bag, but it turned in to quite the pain. Took the tires off and the rear brakes had been squealing, so adjusted those quick, then you have to relocate the abs sensor wires, they are mounted to a hole in the frame with a push in plastic cable clamp. with the wire out of the way, you need to put the bracket in place, but before you put the bolt through the frame you need to put a bolt through a slot on the inside of the frame and drop in down out the bottom to mount the new cable clamp with and you have to hold the head of the bolt of course, but a ratchet head wouldn't fit in the hole, so a wrench was the only option, it was incredibly tight and you had to hold the wrench at a very akward angle. Eventually we got the passenger side, but the driver side had a metal shield for the gas tank, and a bundle of wires, but we finally got it. Then you put a bolt through the frame, then mounted the bottom bracket to the air bag, then that assembly to the upper bracket. The bottom bracket had a u shape valley which fat over the leaf spring u bolts, and then you use another u bolt to attach the bracket to the spring pack, and the bolts are about 5 miles long and take for ever to get tight, so we tightened them down and then cut the bolts off. Once the bags were mounted we went back up front and ran the air line back along the brake line down to the frame, and along it with a bundle of wires, and got about to the fuel tank with that piece of line, and I found a nice place to mount the tee which was up on top of the brake lines on top of the frame out of the elements somewhat. Then we ran a line from the passenger side bag to the tee through the channel under the bed and out through a hole in the channel on the other side, and along the frame using wire loom for added protection where rubbing may occur, and the drivers side was about a straight shot with the other line. Next we were ready to test, and sure enough we had a leak (2 actually), and had to break out the soapy water. One was at the pressure release valve, which was our fault, because we didn't adjust it right when we installed the faceplate, readjusted that and it was fine, then the next leak was at the low pressure switch, one of the factory cuts was slightly crooked and wasn't pushed into the fitting all the way, so I removed it and cut it off square and reconnected, and all was good.
Filled them up to about 10 or 15 psi and the bags were slightly crooked, so we adjusted them to straighten them up. Then we aired them up to 40 psi and it measured up to 2" of lift, and that was only 40 psi, and max is 100 psi. So overall install wasn't to bad, and I was happy to see the gauge said made in USA, and the low pressure switch was honeywell, so I think it is a pretty quality kit overall.
Now for the pictures:
Compressor mounted:
Low pressure switch:
Air line ran along from to the rear:
Drivers side mounted, with no air:
Passenger side mounted with no air:
U-bolts that are super long:
Line from passenger side to drivers side:
Air lines ran through small opening in loom to prevent rubbing:
Tee mounted on top of brake lines/frame:
Gauge mounted to radiator support on drivers side, with the tab on the right cut off and a new hole drilled:
I don't have any pics with air in them, but will try to get some. At 40 psi. they provided 2 inches of lift, and max pressure is 100 psi.
