Alright folks, it's been a while since I installed the kit. First I'll answer a couple questions then I'll give my impressions then I'll tell you about some changes I made.
You must keep the lower bracket when installing the Daystar cradles. The bags need a place to sit and that's where you attach the cradle.
After installing the bags, there may have been a slight increase in rear height but it wasn't noticeable and I never measured
Here are my thoughts on this system. For towing, dang what an improvement! I've pulled a 21' enclosed landscaping trailer with a Walker mower, a 48" walk-behind mower, a 60" Cub Cadet 900 series ride on mower (huge!) 3 backpack blowers, 3 string trimmers, 3 pruners, spare tires, fuel jugs etc. It squatted the truck. With the bags pressured, they leveled the truck right up. I would estimate it was at max towing capacity. This test proved the bags were worth it, to me anyway.
With no trailer and during normal driving, the suspension felt unbalanced. The rear was stiffer than the front. When crossing bridges on the highway at the transition point there is sometimes a dip. When I would hit those, the front would compress pretty far but the back not so much. Passengers didn't notice but I did and I didn't like it. Bags used in the original install were part #58496 and have internal jounce bumpers. More on this in a minute.
When jumping, sort of, the bags would limit the amount of rear-end drop because they were bolted to the bottom bag brackets. I've ridden on this setup all this time until yesterday, 4/23/22. This is where the Daystar cradles come in.
I ordered a pair of Daystar cradles - part #M20869 and a pair of Airlift bags part #58437 with NO internal jounce bumper.
I raised the rear of the truck and removed the original air bags that came in the kit. Those bags are part #58496. With the bags out, I drilled a hole in the bottom bracket. I started with a 1/8" bit, then a 1/4" then finally a 3/8". This is where the cradles attach. All in, this took me about an 1 1/2 hours.
Here's the pics
