5th wheel Pins Airborne & Trailair Pros & Cons

[Ghosterbear]

Looking for Pros & Cons on these hitches. Are they worth the money? What experiences have you had with them. We are taking off to Alaska and the western States and have heard that these type hitches are worth the money to cut down on the beating the truck and 5th will take on a trip like this one.

 

[DonTX]

I bought a "5th Airborne" for my trailer last year and only made one 6000 mile trip with it, but I certainly thought it was well worth the price. Not only was my ride more pleasant in the cab, the trailer contents were much happier as well.

 

[CUMMINZ]

Here is the best hitch on the market.



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Click here for info and installation.

 

[steved]

I bought a lightly used trail-aire from a TDR member... and even though my 5vr only weighs 5k (which translates into a measly 500 pounds of tongue weight), it made a world of difference in the truck's ride. Its amazing how much movement they allow!

I don't think you would be disappointed in any of the shock-absorbing hitches or receivers...

 

[richardcoxid]

I also have a Demco as shown in an above post. One of it's advantage is that it doesn't have an air bag, therefore you don't have to maintain air pressure or worry about replacing an air bag at some furure date.



If you analize the various air, Mor Ride etc. hitches, some of them dampen the up/down motion better and some of them dampen the "chucking" fore/aft motion better. None of them dampen in all 4 directions equally. So maybe you should figure which motion you object to most. Check out ALL of the websites.



Demco has a very good video that shows its damping action. I persanally think that it comes as close to dampimg all 4 directions as any of them.

 

[richardcoxid]

I guess that I should add that Demco is the manuf. of the Ride hitch hitch.



Mounting was a snap.



A friend and I made a wood farne/support that held my 4 way hitch level.



Backed the truck under the 5er and removed the hitch pin mounting bolts and raised the 5er to clear the hitch.



Then I drove the truck forward and removed the pin box from the hitch in the truck.



Next step was to put the Glide Ride on the truck hitch and LOCK it in place.



Backed the truck under the 5er, lowered the 5er and with a minum of prying ed align the mounting bolts etc.

 

[CUMMINZ]

While towing my 37 footer with my 3500 dually with the factory TrailAir I felt and noticed the up/down motion of the rig. I really never noticed any up/down motion of the springs on the rear of my truck. I'm sure it was there. The TrailAir and my rig gave me a lot of chucking. I called TrailAir and asked them if they were designing a new hitch that would incorporate the air bag with their new hitch that uses rubber like the Morryde. They said no and they had been bought out by someone else. I told them the problems I had with chucking and they sold me an additional shock to mount to give me 2 shocks. This helped a little but no beans. It still chucked more that my wife liked. Photo below shows how the bolts holding the shocks bent down due to rough handling while on 6k trip thru Rockies last June. Photo shows both top and bottom bolts bent.



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[Jack in Alaska]

I have a single shock, single airbag Trailair on my 16k lb. Mobile Suite. It works great and keeps the trailer from being beaten up on rough roads. I can watch it move in the rear view mirror. I would buy one again.

 

[Ghosterbear]

Jack: Thanks for the reply. Your rig is close to mine in weight so your info is helpfull to me. I have a 17K max. weight Holiday Rambler Presidential that so far I have been able to keep in the 15. 5K range for our trips. However we are heading up to Alaska this year and I will have to keep a close watch on the Wife or it will be weighing in at 18K! I have talked to many of the Holiday Rambler Club members that have added after market Hitch Pins and most of them have been very happy with the Mor Ryde pin boxes. Many of these people have made several cross country and Alaska trips with nothing but good things to say about the Mor Ryde's. So I guess I will have to take a hard look at them too. I was originally leaning towards the Trail Air hitch but now I am not so sure. I do not experience much "chucking" and have never emptied a cbinet in the last 3 years but the miles we will be putting on this year will be quite substantial so I thought the pin boxe upgrade would help cut down on the wear and tear on the rig. THANKS AGAIN! Tom

 

[Okie-Go]

I think the air ride hitch's are super. I have an easy-rider 5er hitch that uses the Reese rails that I would like to sell. Never used, all it needs is the head. I bought it when I had a little extra cash for my brother. He changed his mind so I don't need two. I believe in them so much I have a couple of air-ride hitchs for bumper pull trailers. If you pull with one you won't go back to the regular hitch.

Okie