Air Bags or Air Pin Box

[fritzwell]

I would really like to take as much of the chucking out as I can, I've read many of the posts here along with the poles. When hitched, our Sundance is pretty stinking level, but with the squat in the truck is that not compounding the rough ride and chucking ? Decent roads and highways aren't really that bad, but, how often do we actually see them ? Will air bags do the job or a new pin box ? I've pretty much settled on the Air Lift bags, but I don't know much about the pin boxes. Or do I need both, what's the consensus on the many pin boxes available?

Fritz

 

[cookie]

I can only relate my personal experience.
My last truck had air bags and the trailer had the Trail-Air pin box.
There is a stretch of highway not to far from home where the chucking was terrible with that set up.
I added the Tri-Glide lower jaw to the pin box and the chucking was gone.
My current truck does not have airbags but still the same pin box on the trailer and still no chucking.
So I would say that in my case the airbags didn't take care of the chucking but the Tri-Glide did.
Others have had different experiences.

Peace
Dave

 

[jmgratz]

IMHO Air bags do not add to the carrying capacity of the truck but will help level out the truck/trailer combo. If you look at those who tow, many are sagging (some severely) in the rear. Inflation of the air bags will level out the truck and help prevent too much weight on the rear suspension/tires. As far as the chucking on the truck from the trailer we got the Mor/Ryde pinbox to prevent that. We also have a Hensley TS3 hitch (pricey but worth it) that has air bags and shock absorbers built into the hitch. The combination of the truck air bags, TS3 hitch and Mor/Ryde pinbox prevent the chucking and also the bouncing along the crummy roads we have to travel down.

 

[Tundra2084]

We have a Sundance also and had a lot of chucking as well. We now have what we think is the best setup for us. First off we changed our pinbox to the MORRYDE and that did help with a good part of the chucking. Next we had installed the Airlift 5000 with the on board air compressor. Love the ability to increase or decrease the air pressure on the fly. Then we traded that truck but had the upgraded Airlift 5000 with the internal jounce installed on the new truck. Again with the same setup with on board compressor. Nothing will take ALL of the movement out of the vehicles but for us this a great combination.

Also you may not have enough weight on the pinbox. We take bottled water with us and carry it in the closet to add more pin weight. Found that not enough weight on the pin also causes chucking. I believe it's because there isn't enough weight to keep the pin solidly in contact with the hitch head allowing more movement between the two. Aka chucking

 

[Shortest Straw]

Just having airbags for us made a world of difference. I also put 9 position adjustable rancho shocks on the front. The difference in movement between position 3, which is where I run them normally, and position 8 which is where I run them when towing, made a huge improvement. Between the two we ride very comfy. Now when the misses says that is not a true statement anymore, I will then look at a new pin box.

 

[Bob&Patty]

A Mor/Ryde pinbox and air bags makes a BIG difference in chucking.

 

[Crumgater]

Our chucking was coming from the connection of the hitch to the truck bed rails (nothing to do with the trailer king pin)... we added some spongey shelf liner between the hitch and the rails, and WhaLa! Chucking went away (cost: $1.00). Of course, that's about when our "wiring fault on trailer" warning started coming in... so insulating the hitch from the rails also insulated the ground connection between the two. We've added a separate ground wire connection from the hitch to the rails to accommodate that, which helped immensely. Apparently Ford trailer electric plugs have undersized ground wires in them...

 

[weekender01]

Our chucking was coming from the connection of the hitch to the truck bed rails (nothing to do with the trailer king pin)... we added some spongey shelf liner between the hitch and the rails, and WhaLa! Chucking went away (cost: $1.00). Of course, that's about when our "wiring fault on trailer" warning started coming in... so insulating the hitch from the rails also insulated the ground connection between the two. We've added a separate ground wire connection from the hitch to the rails to accommodate that, which helped immensely. Apparently Ford trailer electric plugs have undersized ground wires in them...

Was your hitch loose when attached to the rails in the truck bed? Is that normal?

 

['Lil Guy']

I would look at the 5th Airborne hitch pin on you tube. We have it and the rig justs floats back there. you can see it working in the rear view mirror. Huge difference.

 

[Dean-Pam]

A Mor/Ryde pinbox and air bags makes a BIG difference in chucking.

ditto, at least it made a big difference with our rig.

 

[fritzwell]

Thanks to all for your input, experience speaking saves us all a lot of headaches and pesos. Now, to decided on exactly what I want.

Fritz