Air Ride Pin Box vs Air Ride 5th Wheel Hitch

Knew I wanted air cushion. My truck is 2006, my 5'ver is 2013. Common sense said I will probally replace the truck first. So the TS-3 will move to the next truck.

I was always opposed to the Trailair pin box because they are so ugly on the front, but this rig came with a low cost option to go with the Trailair Tri-glide.

Coming from a 5th Airborne for the last 6 years, this Tri-glide is extremely impressive. The best ride yet. I feel absolutely no need to go out and get an air ride hitch, and given the air ride hitch is so heavy to get out of the truck, I'm glad I don't have to deal with it.

I have used the 5th Airborne hitch on our 07' Raptor and was lucky that it bolted right up to our new Momentum. Love it. Really smooths the ride out and absorbs the bumps well. I have always used the B&W Companion hitch with no problems at all. I recently updated the Companion to the new design that eliminates the U bolts. Even better as the U bolts were the only thing I didn't care for.

Our trailer came standard with a Glide Ride pinbox. We purchased a Hensley BD3 hitch. They seem to work well together; the pinbox absorbing the fore and aft motion and the hitch absorbing the up & down motion.

Mike

Can't say what combo would be best. Started out with the standard lippert pin box with a reese pro 15k 5th wheel hitch in the bed. The ride was rough at times and did allot of research on hitches and the pin box. I spent the big bucks and bought the Hensley BD3. Since I installed the BD3 we are very happy with the ride and never looked back, money well spent. We would say at least a 90% better ride with the BD3.

I started with a fixed hitch, then the trailair hitch, then added the triglide under the trailair.
With the fixed hitch every time I hit the brakes, the rear of the truck would dive, you could feel it in the driver seat, the opposite of the normal nosedive when you hit the brakes empty. The trailer tended to rock front to rear as the road had its ups and downs. This rocking motion made the rear of the truck move up and down up to about 6 inches at the tailgate.
The trailair hitch reduced the taildive on braking, as you can see the shock compress when you hit the brakes and not feel the headrest and seatback dropping out behind you. The rocking of the trailer was also reduced by the shock / airbag movement, the bad areas are now closer to 2-3 inches. The front to rear chucking is more noticeable now, as the other motions from the trailer are far less.
Adding the triglide to the trailair there is a new chucking on only on stopping. The last few mph on a hard stop makes the triglide hit the stops, and most times when taking off from a stop it also clunks the rest stop before settling down. Almost all bumps no matter which way are now mostly absorbed by the hitch. Only the worst bumps are still transmitted to the truck - hard enough to complain about.
Between the air suspension on the truck (r4tech), the trailair/triglide hitch, and the centerpoint on the trailer - grade crossings you literally don't feel the trailer cross the tracks.

Thanks everyone! Appreciate all the input on this and other questions I've asked on the forum lately!

I ordered the MorRyde hitch pin on my new BigHorn and then got the Hensley BD3 for my truck. This combo seems excellent. The MorRyde seems to do a great job of removing the chucking and the Hensley insulates the truck from the 5th wheel up and down motion and vice versa. This is my first 5th wheel, but I really, really, like this combination.

Sometimes I'll glance at the rear view mirror and I can see the pinbox kind of jiggling around but can feel nothing in the truck. I believe that rubber donut in the MorRyde is cancelling out the motion before it gets transmitted to the hitch in the truck.

Also - I added Bilsteins to my truck.

Tim

I put a trail air on my 5er last year and I have been less than impressed. Doesn't seem to make much of a difference IMO.

Our last fiver had an air pin and we liked it. It takes a little bit of time to learn how to use it but after you have it mastered works great. Our present rig came with a Mor/Ryde pin. They do a nice job of reducing chucking, but not so much for the pin pounding on the hitch. We kept the Mor/Ryde but bought an air hitch, the combination along with Mor/Ryde’s Independent Suspension gives a great ride.

The air pin is cheaper and takes some getting use to but works great. I’ve heard some say that the air bags are exposed to the sun and create problems, but we had our five years with no difficulties.

We do love our Trailer Saver.