Pin Box Question

[Ryanjb01]

Hello everyone,

I am thinking about adding an air ride pin box to my trailer. Wondering if anyone has any knowledge or experience with either of the following units.

Trailair Flex Air 5th Wheel Pin Box - Lippert 1621 - 18,000 lbs - LC328492 etrailer.com cost is $1,099.99 free shipping


Ultra-Fab Trailair Tri-Glide Air Ride 5th Wheel Pin Box - Lippert 1621 - 18,000 lbs - UF35-946229 etrailer.com cost is $1,311.99 free shipping

I just dont know if the tri-glide is worth the extra money.


I appreciate your input,


Ryan

[Cummins12V98]

Rusty you really should consider the Bilstein 4600's. My Dad was impressed adding them to his 2WD 12 RAM Dually. He has the PacBrake bags. When we changed his shocks he was "shocked" at how easy you could push and pull the factory shocks by hand.

When I changed my shocks at 10K or so one of the front shocks were leaking.

[RustyJC]

larry barnhart wrote:
Nice rv and truck Rusty.

chevman

Thanks, Larry.

Rusty

[larry_barnhart]

I helped a friend install his trailair pin on his MS during our winter one time and on their trip North he and wife were disappointed of the chucking that was a new thing. both were not happy. As she was shopping and no trailer on the truck he saw the bar that goes across was sloppy so he adjusted it and that was the fix. We figured going down the road and the fifth was floating over the bumps it would slide back and then letting up it would go the the front to make the chucking. Only thing we could figure as it was fixed. I have never experienced a chucking issue. Nice rv and truck Rusty.

chevman

[RustyJC]

Cummins12V98 wrote:
Leave the TrailAire with TriGlide then add Bilstein 4600 shocks and air bags set at 30psi "loaded".

Then you will have best ride! I had the exact same combination of parts on my 11 RAM Dually and the ride was GREAT!!! The shocks and bags are what made all the difference.

Be sure to keep the TriGlide greased or it will not do the job.

I haven't switched shocks yet, but I did add the Firestone RideRite air bags to level everything out and stiffen up the rear suspension a bit - 37.5 PSIG in the air bags does it for me with 85 PSIG in the TrailAir. I don't have any real complaints about the ride or towing behavior of our combo with the TrailAir air bag hitch with TriGlide. I'm sure better shocks on the truck would improve it even more, but the way it is now is not anything we can't live with.

Getting things leveled out will help with surging and bucking - been there and done that with a previous "nose-high" combination. Here's how ours looks all hitched up.



Rusty

[Cummins12V98]

bama5er wrote:
After reading all the posts on this topic, thought I'd post my experience in trying to get a "smooth" ride (this is my first 5er). I started with a 2006 Silverado 2500HD Duramax standard bed. The hitch was a Curt R16 with a slider. The fifth wheel is a 38ft with a Trailair RotoFlex. the first trip was horrendous! I cringed at every overpass. I didn't feel the horizontal chucking as much as the vertical chucking. The rig when attached is not the best with the trailer not being level (about 4-5" difference with the front being higher). I checked with my dealer for the possibility of raising the trailer and they could only find a 2" lift which would not be enough.

So I replaced the pin box with the Trailair Air Ride. The vertical issue was much better but now I'm feeling the chucking really bad. So I added the "Tri-Glide" part to the Air Ride pin box. Now the ride is much better but the "Big" bumps are still horrendous.

After all this I decided to look closer at the hitch. This model hitch has a "square" hole for a round pin(?). Also, the hole was 1/4" larger than the pin and the "bar" that locks the pin in the hitch is only 3/4" thick and the pin is about 1 1/5". This was causing too much movement in every direction.

About this time my wife asked me if I thought a Dually would be more stable. So now I have a 2013 Silverado Diesel 3500HD Dually 🙂 and had it lowered by 2". But still have the same problem but a little better. I have a friend who has a B&W Companion and how much he likes it. So I bought a new hitch which was noticeable better but still not smooth enough. So with the new hitch I took off the "Glider" and put the stationary pin back. The test drive was on familiar roads.

Here's what I noticed. I felt more bumps but they were slight. However the "Big" bumps didn't seem as bad as with the "Glider". The "Glider" smoothed out the little bumps but seemed to "amplify" the bigger bumps.

If you look close at how the "Glider" works, the horizontal motion is a slight "upside down" pendulum/arch. So when a large bump is encountered the force forward must overcome the pin weight before the trailer will "slide" forward. However when it moves far enough forward it will go over the "hump" and now you have a downward force with the hitch weight of the pin. This must be what causes the "amplified" big bumps.

OK, now I have 2015 Silverado 3500HD Diesel Dually. What a difference in the ride with and without towing. But still would like to eliminate the big bump issue.

Here's what I'm going to try next. Go back to the stationary pin, then try the RotoFlex pin box (which I have not tried with the B&W hitch). I still have the issue with the trailer not being level so I'm going to try a lift kit and possibly lowering the truck.

Since the ride with the stationary was better on the big bumps I think the new Flex-Air might smooth out the smaller bumps and possibly help with the bigger bumps.

Sorry for the LONG post but it's frustrating trying to fix a problem when everything you try is "yours to keep". No "trying" anything. So obviously I've got quite a bit of money invested in this issue and still haven't resolved it completely.

Mike

Leave the TrailAire with TriGlide then add Bilstein 4600 shocks and air bags set at 30psi "loaded".

Then you will have best ride! I had the exact same combination of parts on my 11 RAM Dually and the ride was GREAT!!! The shocks and bags are what made all the difference.

Be sure to keep the TriGlide greased or it will not do the job.

[alboy]

I had a somewhat similar problem,levelled the fiver 5 1/2 inches,was nose high, really not a big difference in ride.Went back to keeping 40 GAL of water in my fresh water tank that sits right over the axels, settled it down over the rough stuff, incredible diff,like day and night towing smooth.

[bama5er]

After reading all the posts on this topic, thought I'd post my experience in trying to get a "smooth" ride (this is my first 5er). I started with a 2006 Silverado 2500HD Duramax standard bed. The hitch was a Curt R16 with a slider. The fifth wheel is a 38ft with a Trailair RotoFlex. the first trip was horrendous! I cringed at every overpass. I didn't feel the horizontal chucking as much as the vertical chucking. The rig when attached is not the best with the trailer not being level (about 4-5" difference with the front being higher). I checked with my dealer for the possibility of raising the trailer and they could only find a 2" lift which would not be enough.

So I replaced the pin box with the Trailair Air Ride. The vertical issue was much better but now I'm feeling the chucking really bad. So I added the "Tri-Glide" part to the Air Ride pin box. Now the ride is much better but the "Big" bumps are still horrendous.

After all this I decided to look closer at the hitch. This model hitch has a "square" hole for a round pin(?). Also, the hole was 1/4" larger than the pin and the "bar" that locks the pin in the hitch is only 3/4" thick and the pin is about 1 1/5". This was causing too much movement in every direction.

About this time my wife asked me if I thought a Dually would be more stable. So now I have a 2013 Silverado Diesel 3500HD Dually 🙂 and had it lowered by 2". But still have the same problem but a little better. I have a friend who has a B&W Companion and how much he likes it. So I bought a new hitch which was noticeable better but still not smooth enough. So with the new hitch I took off the "Glider" and put the stationary pin back. The test drive was on familiar roads.

Here's what I noticed. I felt more bumps but they were slight. However the "Big" bumps didn't seem as bad as with the "Glider". The "Glider" smoothed out the little bumps but seemed to "amplify" the bigger bumps.

If you look close at how the "Glider" works, the horizontal motion is a slight "upside down" pendulum/arch. So when a large bump is encountered the force forward must overcome the pin weight before the trailer will "slide" forward. However when it moves far enough forward it will go over the "hump" and now you have a downward force with the hitch weight of the pin. This must be what causes the "amplified" big bumps.

OK, now I have 2015 Silverado 3500HD Diesel Dually. What a difference in the ride with and without towing. But still would like to eliminate the big bump issue.

Here's what I'm going to try next. Go back to the stationary pin, then try the RotoFlex pin box (which I have not tried with the B&W hitch). I still have the issue with the trailer not being level so I'm going to try a lift kit and possibly lowering the truck.

Since the ride with the stationary was better on the big bumps I think the new Flex-Air might smooth out the smaller bumps and possibly help with the bigger bumps.

Sorry for the LONG post but it's frustrating trying to fix a problem when everything you try is "yours to keep". No "trying" anything. So obviously I've got quite a bit of money invested in this issue and still haven't resolved it completely.

Mike

[Winged_One]

I have had a 16k Reese from the beginning. It is noisy (groaning) at times. However, it has never been bad enough, and with the Tri-glide, the ride has improved so much, I haven't wanted to pay the money to replace (not yet anyway).

Your report is food for thought. Thanks Ryan.

[magic43]

I have been interested and reading along. Thank you for taking the time to report back with your update.

[Cummins12V98]

Thanks for the report!

If YOU are happy that's all that matters!

[Ryanjb01]

Well, since I first posted this topic a few weeks ago, I figured I would report back.

As you remember, I was originally asking about air bag pinbox, like the trail air/flex air.

As I was ordering the pin box, the salesman said that I was wasting my money. I asked him to explain. He asked what hitch I was using(Reese 18K Signature). He expected the response and suggested that I replace my hitch instead with a PullRite 20.5k. He stated that there is too much play in the Reese, allowing for greater movement and contributing to the "banging" I was feeling while going over bridges or rough roads. The way that he explained it to me made sense. And the hitch was less than 1/2 of the pinbox I was looking at.

I then asked about the moreryde pinbox. He said that the pinbox was a great adition, but not really necessary.

I decided to pull the trigger and order the PullRite hitch and the Moreryde pinbox. I installed both(in about 1.5 hours) and left the next morning for Virginia Beach, from home(Syracuse, NY). Well over 1,000 miles round trip.

Here is what I found.

The hitch is much quieter. I am not sure why my Reese squeaked so much, but this one is absolutely silent. But more importantly, it is significantly a much tighter fit. The Reese was noisy since I purchased it new. I used to have a Reese 16k slider that was noisy too. But never thought that a tighter fit would make a better ride, but when thinking about it, it does make sense.

Overall, I would say that 75-80% of the rough ride was eliminated. Only extreme rough bridge overpasses can be felt. I do not know if I could do anything to totally eliminate that. But of the past 5 5th wheels I have owned, I am most happy with this setup.

I tow at speeds between 68-72 mph. The truck seems to like that RPM range. And slower or faster and it seems to shift into 5th gear frequently. Must be the right powerband or something.

[taken]

Yes, there are still plenty of leftover discontinued units of both available from many retailers. I also noted this on page two. They are now done. Over. Not in production. My rig also came with a Trail Air labeled 21k box this spring. Sold it on craigslist... Doesn't mean it's still in production. Just means both manufacturers and retailers buy their products well in advance of their sale date. Again, call Lippert. They are DONE. The fact that you have one dated this year just means you got one of the last to roll off the line. There may even be ones with a later production date than yours. However, it certainly doesn't mean they are still being made. Find the Tri Glide on Lippert's website... Find a Trail Air box not re-named as Air Ride on Lippert's website... Since you don't seem to have the motivation to use the little box in the upper right hand corner of your screen that says "Google", I'll handle the heavy lifting for you... I'm too proud too look

[Cummins12V98]

taken wrote:

RustyJC wrote:
The TriGlide on my 5th wheel is rated for 21K. It's used on the 38RSSA Elite Suites which has a 21K GVWR - it's on a sticker right on the TriGlide. My 19K rated 38RSSA Mobile Suites uses the same frame and pin box - DRV admits the only difference between the two is the GVWR sticker.

Rusty

They must have dropped that one before discontinuing the whole line. When I looked this past spring, only the 18k version was on their website. They had the 21k Trail Air but not the Tri-Glide. Irregardless, I decided to go 5th Airborne to retain my factory fiberglass pinbox cover that was painted to match my full body paint. And, I wasn't crazy about how mine clunked during starts and stops. Glad to hear yours was quiet though.

I guess I got one of them leftovers from the wood shed!

"When I looked this past spring, only the 18k version was on their website. They had the 21k Trail Air but not the Tri-Glide"

Rusty's MS is a 14.5 and mine is a 16.

[taken]

Cummins12V98 wrote:

taken wrote:
The Trail Air and the Tri-Glide are discontinued. Period. The Trail Air is now called the Air Ride. Exact same pinbox with a new name and different sticker. The Tri-Glide is not made at all under any name. I don't know how much more clear I can make this for you.

So what you are saying is the TrailAire is still made but with a different "sticker".

So is this "TRAIL AIR" available with the anti chucking option?

OMG. OK. As I said back on page two of this thread... Yes, the Trail Air is made under a new name. All air ride hitches help eliminate chucking. The Tri-Glide eliminated more that the Trail Air but is no longer produced under any name. Lippert's answer to discontinuing the Tri Glide is the Flex Air.