Pin box or airbags?

JKgrizzly wrote:
Which will give the smoother ride. I'm leaning towards the bags for the obvious cost reasons.

Have you considered a very good set of shocks, for both the TV and trailer?
I recently replaced my decent OE shocks on my 01 Ram with a set of Bilstien 5100's, improved ride towing 100%, now I just need to take the extra bounce out of the 5er. I will soon be putting shocks on both axles of the 5er and see how that settles the trailer.

I've always looked at air bags as a suspension aid; supports load and levels truck, doesn't do a whole lot for ride and can sometimes be detrimental (why I use Timbrens). You can use an air pin box for the up/down movement, or a MorRyde, Glide Ride for the fore/aft motion. I found that I could get rid of all the motion with the TrailAir Tri-Glide:



Air support to control the up/down motion and a glide plate to control the fore/aft motion.

You'll have to figure out exactly what "problem" you are trying to cure to have a better idea of what device you should look at adding first. If you are trying to eliminate squat and handling issues, the air bags may be the way to go, but, if it is "ride" issues, you should look into devices designed to work on those problems as the bags aren't designed as "ride improvement" fix, they are a more of a "support fix".

Both.
The airbags make the truck level and as a result seem to improve the truck's handling. I find improvement in ride comfort was more noticeable when I was hauling a heavy truck camper. I still would not be without them.
Had a stunning improvement in comfort with the installation of the Trailersaver BD3 hitch. Granted, the dually rides better with a few thousand pounds in the bed, but I have to remind myself frequently on longer trips that I have a trailer back there. No porpising or chucking.
I did add heavier-duty shocks when the truck was new and that helped, too. With 150k miles though, have to replace those and maybe springs too. It's always a work in progress.

Have the Airborne pinbox. Not especially impressed with it. Had Trailair on previous trailer, same model. Thought that one rode better.

Air pinboxes don't do anything for the chucking. The reduce the verticsl pounding on the truck.

Airbags, IMO, try to make a SRW do what a DRW does without any aftermarket stuff. Better to buy the DRW & be done with it.

jnphobe wrote:
I have airbags and a 5th airborn pin box, the airbags just keep the truck level

Same here and agree. The airborne pin box isolates trailer pourpousing from the truck.Combined with ezflex trailer suspension and balanced tires on the trailer our rig can float on smooth pavement.

Last truck we had Firestone air bags, same hitch that we use with the current truck and no air bags - Hensley TrailerSaver BD3 with airbags. No chucking, and I mean no chucking with a smooth ride.

No squatting issues. It just beats you to death on some of ruff the roads. I thought I had read that the air bags helped by keeping it off the overloads. That's why I was asking

Pressure in the bags needs to be reduced(5-10 lb when not towing. Not always convient unless you have on board compressor

I installed air bags just to halp level the truck. I use a Mor Ride pin box for the ride and no chucking. Bags made my truck rougher without a load.

Sorry to say, first I tried air bags, then pin box. Air bags didn't do much, but the stance of the truck improved. The pin box (Demco Glide Ride) made a much bigger difference.