Retrofit Gilde-Ride Hitch Pin Box on NUWA 5 th wheel RV's

[richardcoxid]

Attention!



All owners of NUWA 5th wheel RV’s that use the previous style (from those that are currently being used) hitch pin box.



These are easily identifiable as being made from a piece of 8”x8” square seamless steel tubing cut with a 45* angle at each end and with a piece of ¼” steel plate welded to the upper section of each side for the mounting bolts. (The total width at the top is 8 ½”)



I have contacted Demco



http://glide-ride.com/



the manufacture of the Glide-Ride hitch that is used on the current models of the NUWA RV’s. These hitches will not retrofit to the previous style of Young’s Welding Hitches.



They said that they are keeping a list of HH owners that are interested in purchasing a Glide-Ride Hitch that would fit the previous models of RV’s. If there is enough interest that they would “probably” make some.



If you are interested, contact Scott Johnson at 1-800-543-3626 or send them an email through their web site. It may not hurt to call HH II at 1-800-548-5342 (ask for Blair in engineering) and suggest that they start a list also. Sorry I don’t know the phone # of HH and Snowbird. Maybe NUWA could advertise them as a retrofit for older models. Have your serial and model #’s ready.



BTW- if they do decide to make them for us, you can probably get a better price if you purchase it through your NUWA dealer.



Thanks



Richard Cox

 

[Diesel&Donuts]

Thanks Richard for the info. I saw this hitch pin box at the a So Cal RV show and lost the brochure on it. They did take my name at the time in case they made some glide-rides for the older 5th wheels (mine is a 98). I'll contact them again.

Harold

 

[Sojourner]

Thanks Richard, that's good to know.



I had called Demco a couple of months ago and they advised me that they had no plans to manufacture the Glide Ride for the Young's Welding 8x8 45* pin box. Perhaps they have gotten more calls about it and are now seriously considering manufacturing it. I will give them another call on Monday and have a friend or two call them as well.



I had also inquired with Young's Welding as to whether there was anyway they could custom build a current style 12x12 pin box for this application (in order to use the Demco Glide Ride for the 12x12 pin box) - I was advised by the ever helpful Roger Payne at Young's Welding that they had attempted to do something like this before but because the plywood decking is right there above the skin in the nose at the pin box that a 5er had been lost to fire while welding it on in this location.



The phone # for Nuwa is 620-431-2088. I must say that the folks at Nuwa are exemplary in the way they approach customer service in all respects. I purchased a used HH Premier and they have been very helpful and gracious every single time I have dealt with them including using their service department to replace decking in the BR S/O. I would strongly suggest taking the factory tour if you get the opportunity and see for yourself how the oldest manufacturer of 5er coaches uses their 40+ years of experience to build the highest quality 5er available for the money. It's the details that make all the difference. (BTW, they no longer manufacture the Snowbird because the RV dealers were reluctant to carry two lines of high-end 5ers from the same manufacturer, as a result they now restrict their high-end line to the Champagne series. )

 

[richardcoxid]

Glide Ride Hitch

Hi there!



After reading my original post about the Glide Ride hitch I saw that I forgot to add some information.



As far as I know NUWA has an agreement with Demco to be the exclusive supplier for the Glide Ride Hitch that is being installed as original equipment on various NUWA models. On some models it is standard and on some it is optional equipment.



Sorry for the confusion.

Richard Cox

 

[Dieselnerd]

My new HitchHiker came with the Glide Ride. For those that are wondering if it's a worthwhile thing, the answer is YES! It's almost unbelieveable how it takes the back and forth movement you get on some roads and makes it go away. I haven't towed mine too much yet since I'm parked for the winter but I have towed it over a road that my previous 2 trailers jerked me back and forth on and you couldn't even tell the roughness was there. The Demco website has a video showing how it works for those that are interested in mechanical details.

 

[Diesel&Donuts]

Trail Air Pin Box

I called Demco today and talked to Scott Johnson. As of now it is not in Demcos plans to retrofit to our older HH II (8" plate). So does anyone know anything about the "TrailAir Pin Box"? That might be my 2nd choice. Sorry if anyone feels I have hi-jacked the thread but it is along the same lines.

Harold

 

[Sojourner]

I called Demco today and talked to Scott Johnson. As of now it is not in Demcos plans to retrofit to our older HH II (8" plate). So does anyone know anything about the "TrailAir Pin Box"? That might be my 2nd choice. Sorry if anyone feels I have hi-jacked the thread but it is along the same lines.

Harold

Some folks swear by those air bag pin boxes, but from what Roger at Young's was telling me, the only real solution to those older stock equalizer arm suspensions (other than a Glide Ride pin box) is to retro-fit either a TrailAir or a Morryde suspension to the coach. Kelderman also offers a retro-fit air bag suspension arrangement, but that runs ~$2,200 for a tandem axle coach from what they told me and Kelderman wants to do it at their shop. Those air bag pin boxes don't do anything to mitigate the fore/aft motion which is the biggest part of the problem. I'm going with the TrailAir Centerpoint suspension. If Demco ever decides to manufacture a Glide Ride pin box for our 8x8 Young's Welding pin box then I will probably do that as well, as their design actually works to eliminate the fore/aft motion.

 

[Diesel&Donuts]

www.fifthairborne.com

This hitch pin box looks like a combination of the glide-ride and trailair. Cost is $795 plus shipping.

Harold