Personally I would never trust a tag axle for supporting a loaded truck to remove a tire. I am not sure what type of axle it is and how it operates, but all the ones I have used on the big rigs were air bags, and meant to supplement the main axles(s) not replace them. I have seen several of these axles blow an air bag when they had too much pressure in them and the truck went over a rise such as a railroad crossing. Makes for a hell of a bang, and would not want to be anywhere near it when it went. If you do go that way make sure you place a jack stand or something under the frame before working on or under the rig. Have not seen too many air suspensions that will maintain air pressure for too long with the engine off. With your truck being only partially loaded to capacity you probably would not have an sudden collapse issue, but I would not be putting my head down there to take a tire off. Bottle jacks are pretty cheap (I use a couple of them on my current moterhome for a poor man's leveling system) Running air lines is a great idea, never hurts to have a source of air for inflating tires, beach toys, and running air tools.
I would defiantly leave the tag axle under the rig at least until you have reached the point where you have most of the weight installed, then you can run down to a scale and see what ea axle weighs. If it is forward of the rear axle and you end up with a bit much weight on the front axle, it may help lighten the front end. Its almost always the front axle that gets overloaded on the conversions.
Good luck with your project.
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