Here’s the deal. I am looking to get the whole package. I want an onboard air system, shocker XL horns, and Airlift 5000 Ultimate airbags. Here’s the delimas. I am undecided as to whether I should get the Conductors Special 540 or the Conductors Special 248 XL. Could someone please tell me the pros and cons of each.
Also, I need help deciding on the best place, location, pointing which way, etc. They will be going on a 2014 Ram 3500 SRW Laramie 6.7L. Should they go under the bed, compressor in the bed, pointing forward, pointing rear, mounted up front, etc. Any help you all could provide me would be greatly appreciated. Thank you
In my opinion, if you’re bagging the truck, you should either get an engine driven compressor or an Oasis compressor. I just don’t think you’ll be happy with an electric compressor for your bags+horns.
As for where to put the horns – on that rig you should have plenty of room to mount them behind the grille and in front of your radiator in doward-firing fashion. You’ll have to fabricate a bracket for that, but it should be simple enough with a drill and materials you can buy at Lowe’s. That position will help maximize volume where you’d normally want it … while also keeping water/debris out of the bells.
Do you think the electric compressor just won’t be strong enough or what. Not disagreeing with you, but a lot of people use them with great success, so could you please help me understand more? Thank you
The EDC would be like 10x faster, but it does require maintenance including oil top-ups and an oil separator/coalescing filter. It depends what you want to do - are you getting air assist bags that just add load carrying capacity to your existing suspension, or are you replacing your springs with bags? If you’re replacing your springs, you of course want something with some real good reliability.
An EDC is quite reliable, but the newer trucks might have a harder time cramming one in since the manufacturers are intent on using every last cubic inch of space on the block nowadays. If you go electric, you might want to consider a pair of compressors in case one blows. And honking horns drains your tanks FAST! So keep that in mind if you share a tank with your suspension system.
It would just be for assist bags/load leveling bags. I still have the rear leafs. Do you think dual 2 gallon tanks or one 5 gallon tank would be enough. I can’t imagine e using either the bags or horns THAT much
I perhaps incorrectly presumed that someone with a 1 ton 2014 RAM Laramie sporting a 6.7L Cummins under the hood would not have monetary inhibitions when it came to building a highly capable air system since, you know, that’s a brand new, $70,000 MSRP vehicle you’re talking about modding. My original recommendation was based on heavy use of air – because I figured if you’re building an air system for a $70k, highly capable truck, you’d want the air system to be just as capable and with air bags you’d want to use it regularly/heavily just as you probably do your truck.
Also along the high air usage theme, if you have visited any bagging sites, there’s a common theme worth noting – baggers running 2-4 electric compressors at 1.8-2.5CFM each almost always express buyer’s remorse and wish they’d gone with an EDC because a single EDC can produce more air with fewer electrical needs than quad electric compressors in most cases … at far less expense and wasted space on the vehicle in terms of equipment. If you don’t see yourself using much air, then a solo electric compressor might be fine for you, (and someone else will have to help advise you, as I’m a high airflow kinda guy) but I know that I’d be unhappy with a 1-2.5 CFM electric compressor refilling a 5gal tank feeding just my horns (A 5gal refill would take AGES!), let alone feeding air bags, too. I suspected that another person in a large truck would probably want good refill speeds…
As for tank size, I don’t recommend anything less than a total of 5gal for Shocker XL’s. I am an infrequent user of my horns, but when I use them, I always wish I had more air (and I run twin 2.5 gal tanks at 200psi). I’m in a lifted rig, and I just can’t imagine being happy with less air unless I were in a Prius or Fiesta or somesuch – and even then it’d be questionable. (In fact, the only thing that makes 5gal of air volume tolerable for me is the fast refill time my EDC gives me.) As was previously noted by rjk, honking burns air FAST… so you either need a big reserve or fast refills if you want long honks. (Having both is the holy grail.)
Welcome to the forum. surrealone is right, you will want a 5 gallon tank for the Shockers.
If you can wait 2 or 3 minutes for a little electric air compressor to top off that tank then go ahead, they’re cheap and can be replaced every few years.
If you only want to wait about 30 seconds to top off the tank then get an EDC or Oasis compressor that will last 4 to 5 times konger.
Sure, you might just have to re-do a little piping or hoses.
I’ve been considering air suspension on my car, and to deal with the tank being run dry by my horns, I’m planning on using 2 tanks separated by a check valve. That way, I always have some air for my suspension, even if I honk the horn.
Even if you had only a single tank, the outlet leading from it to the manifold to which the bags are connected should ABSOLUTELY have a checkvalve! I’ve read about newbie baggers who didn’t use one … wondering why their suspension was constantly in need of air despite no leaks in the plumbing or bags – and the answer was: tank leaks and no checkvalve between tank and bag plumbing!