I may have to get a 68RFE in my new truck.

[Cummins2014]

I tow very heavy with my truck pulling a 34RL Cedar Creek using a Trailair pin box. This is my second trailer with a Trailair pin box. I love them since they eliminate a lot of the bounc on the roads when you tow. I would estimate about 90 to 95% of the harshness of the rough roads as the trailer is towed.

I would Air your bag up in the Trailair pin box so, the shock is even with the top of the line on the bottom of the shock. Marked by arrow tip. This is the correct ride height for the Trailair pin box to eliminate the bouncing you will feel in the truck. The air pressure could be as high as 100 PSI I know my bag is close to 95 PSI air pressure in the bag.

Now the Trailair pin box will do nothing for chucking that can occur between the king pin and the slop around the hitch jaws. When I changed my hitch to a Demco Glide Autoslider hitch the slop between hitch jaws was eliminated. This is do to the design feature of having a tight fitting hitch jaws around the king pin to work with the sliding feature of the hitch. Thus no chucking occurs.

If you have any slop in the king pin joint you will get chucking which can be volient in some trucks.

I believe the Anderson hitch that you have has introduced slop in two places one at the device that attaches to your kin pin. Than this device again when connected to the ball on the Anderson hitch is also introducing some more slop. This is accentuated by the height of the Anderson hitch ball on the hitch.

The Morryde king pin box may work for chucking but will do nothing for the bouncing that can occur.

If you are determined to replace your current Trailair pin box I would look at the Trailair Flex Air pin box rated for the 18,000 lbs trailer.

I disagree .Not sure where you are getting your information on this slop thing, have you ever seen how the adapter connects to the kingpin ?? There can be NO slop between the kingpin ,and the adapter, NONE . The other connection adapter to the ball on the hitch, pretty much the same as a ball hitch on a bumper pull trailer, then its locked in place, there is no where for it to move. I guess there could be some movement up, and down, and that would be very easy to check , and I will do that. I will pull the ball out of my Andersen hitch, and lock it in the adapter ,and check for any movement.

 

[Cummins2014]

I tow very heavy with my truck pulling a 34RL Cedar Creek using a Trailair pin box. This is my second trailer with a Trailair pin box. I love them since they eliminate a lot of the bounc on the roads when you tow. I would estimate about 90 to 95% of the harshness of the rough roads as the trailer is towed.

I would Air your bag up in the Trailair pin box so, the shock is even with the top of the line on the bottom of the shock. Marked by arrow tip. This is the correct ride height for the Trailair pin box to eliminate the bouncing you will feel in the truck. The air pressure could be as high as 100 PSI I know my bag is close to 95 PSI air pressure in the bag.

Now the Trailair pin box will do nothing for chucking that can occur between the king pin and the slop around the hitch jaws. When I changed my hitch to a Demco Glide Autoslider hitch the slop between hitch jaws was eliminated. This is do to the design feature of having a tight fitting hitch jaws around the king pin to work with the sliding feature of the hitch. Thus no chucking occurs.

If you have any slop in the king pin joint you will get chucking which can be volient in some trucks.

I believe the Anderson hitch that you have has introduced slop in two places one at the device that attaches to your kin pin. Than this device again when connected to the ball on the Anderson hitch is also introducing some more slop. This is accentuated by the height of the Anderson hitch ball on the hitch.

The Morryde king pin box may work for chucking but will do nothing for the bouncing that can occur.

If you are determined to replace your current Trailair pin box I would look at the Trailair Flex Air pin box rated for the 18,000 lbs trailer.

After checking the ball in the adapter on the Andersen , there is some slight movement up ,and down in the socket, but absolutely none fore ,and aft. No movement fore ,and aft putting that ball in any position inside the adapter .

 

[Stuart Carter Brandt]

Ok I will check it out thanks.

 

[Stuart Carter Brandt]

The ball and socket are pretty tight I dont see or feel much play in the socket but I will put a bit more air in the TRAILAIR and see how it goes I think its around 55 psi at this time it just seems to get stuck at times not like in this video, I wish mine was a smooth and active as the one in this video in fact the video is why I purchased the TRAILAIR to a very large extent.

It seem mine needs to hit a NYC pothole to work.

 

[Jim W]

All it needs is a sight amount of play between the king pin joint adapter and the ball, I am not talking about a 1 inch. I am saying even if you have less than .05 of an inch, this amount of movement will be felt by the passengers in the truck.

If you want to check this out yourself take a rearward measurement from the front seat passengers SIP (seat index point) to the edge of the hitch ball on the Anderson hitch. Now take an upward dimension from the same SIP to the start of the radius of the Anderson hitch ball. Multiply these dimensions around the center of gravity of this one joint. (you have two, which you will need to do for both joints) This is your moment arm which will be accentuated by the constant motion of the trailer and hitch joint, which can cause sever oscillation to occur. Or otherwise a rough ride.

You are not the only one who has noticed the rough ride between the Anderson hitch and a 5er when towing on the US highways. Another gentleman who is a full time RVER on another forum that tows with a 2018, Ram 3500 Long Bed DRW truck. Bought a new 5er he then up graded his hitch to the Anderson hitch upon recommendations from users on that forum. After a couple of months of use he junk the Anderson and replaced the hitch with a TrailerSaver TS3 hitch Air ride Hitch. According to him his wife and he have no more back problems.

 

[Stuart Carter Brandt]

Ok I concur its very solid maybe that is a bad thing LOL.

 

[Stuart Carter Brandt]

The set screws that hold the adapter on the kingpin are torqued to 30 foot pounds I doubt they are moving very much or shifting in any way but Lippert used to make a pinbox called the Triglide that was a mix of the Airride with the back and forth of the MOR-RIDE it was a real good product from what people told me but it needed maintenance from time to time and they no longer make it.

 

[Cummins2014]

All it needs is a sight amount of play between the king pin joint adapter and the ball, I am not talking about a 1 inch. I am saying even if you have less than .05 of an inch, this amount of movement will be felt by the passengers in the truck.

If you want to check this out yourself take a rearward measurement from the front seat passengers SIP (seat index point) to the edge of the hitch ball on the Anderson hitch. Now take an upward dimension from the same SIP to the start of the radius of the Anderson hitch ball. Multiply these dimensions around the center of gravity of this one joint. (you have two, which you will need to do for both joints) This is your moment arm which will be accentuated by the constant motion of the trailer and hitch joint, which can cause sever oscillation to occur. Or otherwise a rough ride.

You are not the only one who has noticed the rough ride between the Anderson hitch and a 5er when towing on the US highways. Another gentleman who is a full time RVER on another forum that tows with a 2018, Ram 3500 Long Bed DRW truck. Bought a new 5er he then up graded his hitch to the Anderson hitch upon recommendations from users on that forum. After a couple of months of use he junk the Anderson and replaced the hitch with a TrailerSaver TS3 hitch Air ride Hitch. According to him his wife and he have no more back problems.

First off the Andersen will give no rougher ride then ANY OTHER fIXED Hitch . It can't, its no different then hooking to a Reese, B&W or any other fixed hitch . He fixed his problem, rough ride, with an air ride hitch. He could of put any fixed hitch in the truck ,and would have had the same problem.

Maybe we aren't talking the same problem here, chucking is one thing , rough ride is another ,you won't cure chucking with air ride ,you will help the rough ride.

I tow with two different hitches , one is the rail mount Andersen , the other is a Reese 18K round tube slider. Same head as the Reese Elite. There is no way that Reese hitch does not have some slight movement in the sliding mechanism, most likely there could be some slight movement in the jaws. IMO there is way less moving parts in the Andersen . Regardless I have both ,and tow with both. The Andersen when I go to Montana to fish, its easily removed , so I can haul around an inflatable pontoon boat. Rest of my trips the Reese. Both attached to the Reese picture frame adapter, attached to the OE Ram puck system .

Wouldn't you think with all the attachment points, jaws on the Reese ,slider etc. there would be movement, sure there is. My point is ,I have a VERY smooth ride, does not matter which hitch, you couldn't tell the difference. My fifth wheel is 38' it was weighted once partially loaded it was 12,740, pin weight was 2720. today fully loaded , 13,200-13,400, pin 3,100-3,300, its close .I have the MorRyde pin box, if there is chucking the MoRyde is masking it, none in the truck . The fifth wheel has the older MorRyde LRE suspension. The ride was getting pretty bouncy, I could take some of it out with the aftermarket airbags, the shear springs were shot on the LRE , my bad ,let them go too long. Since they have been replaced back to a very smooth comfortable ride.

 

[Cummins2014]

The set screws that hold the adapter on the kingpin are torqued to 30 foot pounds I doubt they are moving very much or shifting in any way but Lippert used to make a pinbox called the Triglide that was a mix of the Airride with the back and forth of the MOR-RIDE it was a real good product from what people told me but it needed maintenance from time to time and they no longer make it.

Between those 4 set screws tightened down, and putting pressure on the two 1/2" bolts going thru the adapter, plus ,I had to polish up my kingpin to even get the adapter to go on. NO, that adapter is not moving .

Is your fifth wheel chucking, jerking back, and forth or just a rough ride up ,and down ?? You keep referring back to the MorRyde if its chucking , the MorRyde will probably fix it . Rough ride , its not going to do a thing. I get the idea its a rough ride up ,and down.

 

[Cummins2014]

Ok I concur its very solid maybe that is a bad thing LOL.

All fixed hitches are solid, Andersen is no exception, we keep referring back to the Andersen as the problem, IMO ,no way .

 

[AH64ID]

When I look at how the Anderson sits in the bed it does apply forces different than any other hitch. All the for/aft forces are put to the frame thru the sheet-metal of the bed. All the acceleration/braking/drag forces can cause the bed to move. This is not something you can feel or duplicate with your hands.

 

[Cummins2014]

When I look at how the Anderson sits in the bed it does apply forces different than any other hitch. All the for/aft forces are put to the frame thru the sheet-metal of the bed. All the acceleration/braking/drag forces can cause the bed to move. This is not something you can feel or duplicate with your hands.

Do you have the same theory with the B&W that connects to a gooseneck ball, same forces .

 

[Cummins2014]

I will say my rail mount Andersen is different in that it is connected at four points like a conventional hitch, making it no different other that the adapter connecting to the ball on the hitch. As said I can't tell any difference in my two hitches I use. And I am sitting slightly rear of the axle on the Andersen ,and slightly forward on the Reese .

 

[AH64ID]

Do you have the same theory with the B&W that connects to a gooseneck ball, same forces .

They sit in the bed differently which will have different forces on the sheet-metal. The B&W also has a solid shaft into the hitch, vs being coupled to a ball, which will transfer more for/aft torsional loads to the hitch frame and not the bed. As well as the B&W head sits on polyurethane bushings, which will absorb a bit of the forces as well. The potential is there for the B&W, but not to nearly the extent of the Anderson.

While GM and Ram beds are different, Anderson does offer bed supports for the GM beds due to warping. It's due to how it transfers the forces, and GM getting weaker beds.

 

[AH64ID]

I will say my rail mount Andersen is different in that it is connected at four points like a conventional hitch, making it no different other that the adapter connecting to the ball on the hitch. As said I can't tell any difference in my two hitches I use. And I am sitting slightly rear of the axle on the Andersen ,and slightly forward on the Reese .

You have been comparing your rail mount this whole time? Very different hitch indeed, as it puts forces to the frame and not the sheet-metal.

 

[Cummins12V98]

When I look at how the Anderson sits in the bed it does apply forces different than any other hitch. All the for/aft forces are put to the frame thru the sheet-metal of the bed. All the acceleration/braking/drag forces can cause the bed to move. This is not something you can feel or duplicate with your hands.

BINGO!!!!!!!

 

[Cummins12V98]

B&W has spacers with the gooseneck 20k Companion base that DOES transfer directly to bed crossmembers then to frame so it’s solid fore and aft UNLIKE the Ultimate ANDERSEN that transfers fore and aft to the beds sheetmetal causing movement and bed deflection plain and simple.

The OLD 18k Companion did the same. I had one.

 

[Cummins2014]

B&W has spacers with the gooseneck 20k Companion base that DOES transfer directly to bed crossmembers then to frame so it’s solid fore and aft UNLIKE the Ultimate ANDERSEN that transfers fore and aft to the beds sheetmetal causing movement and bed deflection plain and simple.

The OLD 18k Companion did the same. I had one.

I know you have repeated this many times, thats plain ,and simple, but the fact those shims can be applied to the Andersen if indeed there is some issues in the ride or in bed deflection or damage. Why don't you instead of bad mouthing the Andersen, suggest if there is a problem either make shims , or buy some shims from B&W. I don't know how many times you have said is this forum not to help someone, okay help someone by suggesting shims might be the solution

 

[Cummins2014]

You have been comparing your rail mount this whole time? Very different hitch indeed, as it puts forces to the frame and not the sheet-metal.

Comparing the way they are connected ,adapter etc. No I realize things are different with the gooseneck attachment.

I understand all the forces on the bed etc. I have read where there has been some bed damage, but fact is, and unless there is something I am missing, as I said before its out there that there are shims that might help. Andersen has addressed the GM trucks. I am thinking there has not been that big of problem with others . B&W had to fix their issues. What I don't remember reading anyone having towing issues as far as ride. Its seems to me it came up here on this thread.

 

[Stuart Carter Brandt]

Hey guys took if for a ride after I put more air in the Trailair and it seems maybe to ride a bit better however it needs a good bump to work not like in the video from that version is smooth and almost too active a suspension in my opinion if I could get mine to work like that one I would be one happy CAMPER LOL.