Durb wrote:
I hope you optioned your trailer with the Trailair pin box. Otherwise, I would have recommended an air hitch to protect your new truck and trailer from fifth wheel forces which can be considerable. Plus, with a soft joint at the pin, the comfort of your tow would be greatly improved. The Patriot is a good hitch and I hope you are happy with the quality of your tow. The good news is, if not happy, you can upgrade later and the air hitch will attached directly to your rails. The Patriot will be easy to sell. This is the path I took.
I did not opt for that option. Looks like it was $1500. Quite a bit on an already light trailer and maxed out budget.
So I ordered the "in stock" B&W 16k hitch from etrailer and got my shipping date for Monday 7/20 and set up the trailer pick up for Wednesday. We have a small shake-down trip scheduled for the following week. Not sure what's up with Etrailer's in stock counts but now my order has been updated to "awaiting on stock " and thus back ordered. Call times in to Etrailer are almost 30 minutes but I am trying to get them to commit to something in stock to meet my dates. There is a 18k B&W for an extra hundred that shows in stock but been on hold trying to get through to someone who can verify it will make it here on time. I totally understand the impacts COVID has had to supply chains, but it's a bit of a problem when your site says in stock and provides a ship date, only to find 2 days later that it's not actually in stock and a TBD ship date. It snowballs into a lot of problems. I've dealt with them in the past and very pleased, hope they make this right somehow.