I'm going to start out by saying, that no one can tell you exactly what you need other than yourself. Everyone does things differently.

First you have to decide what type of air setup you want to install. If you want a 2, 3 or 4 path system (Beginner's Corner). By this I mean, do you want to have only front and rear control, independent front control and dependent rear control, or independent control over each corner, respectively. Most people choose the 4 path system, due to the inexpensiveness of valves these days.

So you have your chosen your type of system. Great! Now you have to determine how many valves you will need. For each 'path', you will need two valves (Beginner's Corner). So for a 2 path system, you will require 4 valves; 3 path system = 6 valves, and 4 path system = 8 valves. If you plan on doing more than 8 valves, I assume at this point you have some sort of knowledge that is beyond this. If not, I guess you can keep reading and you can apply what I have said to add more valves for faster performance.

Ok, I'm going with a 4 path system, therefore I will need 8 valves. I chose the SMC brand valves, mainly because I know they are industry trusted, and I don't have to worry about them failing anytime soon, and they can take a small beating Now I have to decide how many tanks I want to run. I chose to run two 5 gallon, 8 1/2" ported air tanks from Air Lift. Beautiful little suckers. After I've chosen the air tanks, I'll have to decide if I want electric compressors, or an engine driven compressor. I've chosen to power my system with two Viair 450c compressors. Great little compressors that get the job done as long as used correctly and according to manufacturer specs. I will also be using one pressure switch for the compressors. (Specifications)

After all that is out of the way, I have to decide what airbags I want to use. I've chosen the Firestone 224c airbags up front, and some Airlift 2B7 Extreme airbags in the rear. Both brands are excellent in my opinion, and I'd be happy to run either on any truck I ever build. The Firestone bags come in three different port sizes; 1/4", 3/8", and 1/2" NPT. Woah!! What is NPT?? NPT stands for National Pipe Thread (the American standard). That is the type of threading that will be on everything you purchase for your air system. Airbags, valves, tanks, compressors, and fittings. The Airlift 2B7 Extreme bags only come in 1/2" NPT ports. The dual ported bags have two 1/2" NPT ports on them. (Specifications)

For my valves, I have two valves with 1/2" NPT threads (my front fill valves), and the other 6 valves have 3/8" NPT threads (rear fill valves, and front and rear dump valves). I'm not interested in hopping, just to have a decently fast system. And this will do it for me. (Specifications)

The Viair compressors I have came with a leader hose with a 1/4" NPT threading on the end of it. I'm told that the newer models have a 3/8" NPT end. You'll have to verify yours for yourself. The pressure switch has a 1/8" NPT threading.

Now its time to see how many fittings I'm going to need. I used to take a piece of paper and just start drawing on it to see what I'd need, that was until I decided to do myself a favor and make these nifty little sheets (click the images for mid size versions and click here to download a zip file with full size, printable versions)

With these two sheets, I have a 'drawn' out diagram for four bags, 8 valves, and a tank. Now I can decide how I want to connect everything together.

1) We'll start with the air springs and the valves first. These two sheets have a place for four air spring / valve combinations. I'll make the first two my front bags, and the second two my rear bags. My firestone airbags have 3/8" NPT ports, and the airlifts have a 1/2" NPT port. So I've gone ahead and filled in 3/8" and 1/2" in their respective spots on the sheet in spot 7 under the air springs (see the diagrams at the end of this section for a labeled diagram with my filled in numbers).

2) Lets move onto our tee or cross at number 3. I've chosen to use 3/8" NPT tees. You may ask why, since I have some 1/2" NPT valves. I'll tell you, it doesn't matter. The flow diameter (the diameter in which the air has to flow) is far greater on the tee, than it is inside the valve. You don't have to worry about a loss of speed by running 3/8" Tees with 1/2" valves, and it is actually much cheaper to do so as well.

3) We have our tee size picked out, so now we can decide what size nipples we are going to run to connect the valves to the tee. Remember what I said earlier about what size the threading was on my valves? If not, go back up a few paragraphs and refresh your memory. For example, since all of my dump valves are 3/8" NPT, all I need is a 3/8" x 3/8" nipple to connect the valve to the tee at number 1 and 5. For the 1/2" fill valves i have up front, I will need a 3/8" x 1/2" nipple at number 5 (yes they do make different sized nipples).

4) I will be running all 1/2" airline on my truck except for gauges, which is 1/8", so I have gone ahead and filled in those values as well on my diagram

5) Now that we have all of that out of the way, lets move on to the fittings that will actually have airline connected to them. I have chosen to run my valves 'remote' from the air tank, so I'll be using right hand configuration for number 6 (they will be mounted on the frame somewhere, not on the tank). Lets start with the airbags. I know for a fact that I will have 90° elbows on my front bags and rear bags, so I can go ahead and circle "Elbow PTC" on all four airbags for number 7 (Note that all of the fittings say PTC, which stands for Push-To-Connect, but these could easily be compression fittings; compression is just too long of a word). You may not know, or may change your mind, so you might want to circle both, and order one of each, that way you at least have some extra fittings too (always a good thing).

6) Now the only things left to do on the springs is decide what type of fittings will connect the tees to the bags and configure the gauge port on the tees. For my front bags, I will be using all straight fittings at this point, so I've circled "Straight PTC" on the two front bags. For the rear airbags, I will be using all 90° fittings, mainly because it is easier to work with for me. So I've circled the "Elbow PTC" on the rear airbags.

For the gauges, I will be using a tee that is tapped with an extra 1/8" NPT hole in it for a gauge fitting. Some may opt to simply get a cross for their valve setup, and use a reducing bushing on one side. Both options are shown in the pictures below. If you go with the cross idea, you will have to utilize number 8 on the sheets. I will also be using 1/8" airline for my gauges, so I can fill that in as well.

Wonderful, we're just moving right along here. It aint so bad after all, is it

Lets move onto the tank now. These may be a little easier or harder, depending on how many ports your tanks have. By this point, at looking at all of the fittings via the link in the paragraph below #1, you should be a little familiar with what's available. If it turns out that you don't have enough ports, then you may have to introduce a tee onto some of your ports in order to make one port, into two. There are other ways of doing it as well, that is just one suggestion. I am actually using two tanks, but since the sheet only has one, I will pretend as if I was only using one.

Let me also introduce this tank diagram. Its pretty simple. There is a tank with 8 ports (most tanks these days don't have more than this) and a spot for 8 types of fittings below. You can simply write in the fitting you are getting, and the thread sizes.

7) As stated prior, the compressors have 1/4" NPT leads. But the air tank has 1/2" ports. What do we do? We use a bushing. It converts the 1/2" port into a 1/4" port. We will need one of these on each tank (one compressor per tank).

8) Because I live in AZ, and its really hot most of the time, I've chosen not to run drain cocks on the bottoms of my air tanks. If you live in colder climates, this is something you do not want to do. You should run them, unlike me. I will mark them on the sheet here just to illustrate what you should mark if you choose to run them. I will need one for each tank. Most drain cocks are 1/4", so we will need another bushing to convert the 1/2" port to a 1/4" port.

9) I only want to run one pressure switch. Its easier, more cost effective, and works just fine if wired properly (Wiring Info) The pressure switch has a 1/8" NPT threading on it, so I'll need a 1/2" x 1/8" bushing for it.

10)Now we need to decide how we're going to get the air from the tanks to the valves. Remember, I'm running 1/2" line, and will also be running 90° elbows on each of the 4 ports I'm using for the airbags.

Thats it! Thats all there is to it. Read on for a few notes.

Because I'm only running a single pressure switch, I will need to connect my two air tanks together so they share the same air supply, thus creating a 10 gallon air supply to power my truck. I'm only going to use one airline to connect them together. If possible, you want to connect it at least twice, but because of what I have chose to do, I deem it unnecessary. The way I have planned how to utilize my air tanks, as described in #10, each side will have its own air supply, but they will still share. That sounds retarded, but read on. When I hit sides, I normally hit 'em up front, and leave the back be, I don't know why, I just do. The way I have planned it, each front corner will effectively have 5 gallons of air to use. Maybe you think I'm crazy, but believe me, its better than what a lot of people do; giving one tank to the front, and one to the rear, considering the front uses a lot more air to lift and play with. Because of the tank rack I've built, I am running a 90° on each air tank to connect them together.

Now, I would still have 5 ports left, 3 on one tank, and 2 on the other. Easy, I just plug them. I prefer to use an Allen head plug. It looks a lot cleaner on the install. Some people choose to use extra ports or other purposes, like air tools, or have one ready as an emergency fill valve, or something of the sort.

While we're on the subject, let me clarify some stuff. Just because you have 1/4" ported bags, doesn't mean you have to run 1/4" line. It will be just as fast as 1/2" line (if you get DOT fittings. Hardware store fittings suck, and should not be used on your truck). Take a look at the flow diameters of all of the valves, airline and fittings I have on the facts page of ARTcom and see if you really think you'll be slowed down at all. (Specifications)

I hope this has helped. I know it is quite lengthy, but it is well worth it. I would also like to add that when you order your fittings, order a few extras, because I can guarantee that you will probably change your mind about something, or need a spare somewhere. For more information, see this thread on the forum. Below are the completed diagrams for your viewing pleasure.