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Old 05-30-2020, 04:37 PM   #1
twvette
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Join Date: Dec 2016
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Anyone with Fuzion 420 or similar switch to Air Ride pin box?

I am installing one now and it just sits so much lower than the factory Mor Ryde Rubber Pin Box did.

It is the M19 medium length jaw model with same distance from bolts to the king pin. It essentially installs one set of holes lower than the Mor Ryde which is 2.5in, seems like another couple inches in the hitch design itself, and then another inch or so due to the air bag (but of coarse it will compress once get it loaded). This is a ton of extra height to lift the front especially when running an Andersen hitch that already requires an extra couple inches in general. Even with Andersen buckets under the front feet there is not much extra travel in the hydraulic jacks on level ground with my RAM (leveling kit and +1in springs in rear). Would require grinding some of the chassis mount plate to move up a set of holes as it butts up against the pivoting plate/arm when attempting. The nose of the Fuzion 420 is so flat and long at the bottom the shock would grind the front cap and no room to access the air chuck to fill the bag. This must be the longest nosed rig out there LOL as every other install I see the shock is no where close to the front cap. WOW, did not realize how much different this was gonna be in the end. Was thinking maybe should have got the long jaw M07 version but not sure it is long enough to solve the complications and if so might cause other complications.

It seems like will be very close to level in the end for my setup but was a few variables I was not considering LOL and still need to test it. I did have to drop the Andersen hitch down to lowest hole.

Curious as to how others (if there are any) set it up, model, experiences, etc. Also curious what air pressure others bag actually lifts up to the top of the fill arrow at and how much change they see when loaded vs. not loaded.
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Old 06-01-2020, 11:10 AM   #2
twvette
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Not sure anyone else with heavy toy hauler has/will try this Andersen/Air Ride setup but have some more info to share as been an interesting install.

The basic summary is there are lots of offsets and hitch plate angles with this setup combination so even at 120 PSI max in the bag it was completely crushed (shock is on bottom stop) and would not rise to the arrow on the shock for proper use (about 3.5in of travel up). I still took it for a test drive and it still actually did help cushion the ride a good amount as it still provides resistance as comes back down when on a bumpy road but was getting only a small part of its benefits. Here is what it looked like:
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After thinking about all this for a while I figured it had to be a leverage thing as the trailer was sitting level, etc. Rotated the Andersen box so that the attachment point is at the normal 5th wheel hitch location, which is about a 10in difference from the increased cab clearance position. Now I actually had to deflate the bag to 45 PSI to get it to come down to the proper air bag height arrow on the shock!
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In speaking with a friend who has a standard 5th wheel hitch with this Air Ride pin box and also '43 foot hauler he needs about 90 PSI when the hauler is not loaded with a vehicle, etc. behind its axles and about 70 PSI or so unloaded. So, the 45 PSI I found with this change is actually really low pressure.

Did another test drive and it did work really well. There is some angle on the hitch plate so in this direction I think noticed the "chucking" a little more than the other direction but not 100% sure. Cab clearance was still ok on my truck but gets me back into a situation where I do need to watch it so not really what I want.

It all does seem to make sense as the 10in offset was apparently putting a lot of leverage on the bag in front of the connection point. In rotating the Andersen box assembly the connection point leverage is now behind the air bag so has the opposite effect needing less pressure than "normal". The plate on the Air Ride also sits at a bit of an angle so this changes the leverage too as the angle is negative if the Andersen box is rotated one way and positive if rotated the other. In both the pics above the trailer was very level so there was no changes from the trailer itself to cause increased hitch weight.

With the Andersen rotated it did not require having to lift the front as high as the other direction due to the angle on the plate but still needed about an inch more to avoid using the Andersen buckets even on level ground to get it off my truck. This is one of the biggest issues with this setup as mentioned earlier as both add more height to load/unload.

I did considered using a 4in offset goose ball with this setup to get back some cab clearance which should work with the way the Andersen adjusts to the ball height change.

My basic conclusion is this seems to still be a great hitch but if you are heavy in the front and/or have an alternative setup it is very sensitive to that. There is a YouTube video of a smaller 5'er with this setup in the increased cab clearance positioned and it seemed like a silky smooth setup so if I had lighter trailer would still certainly still consider this pin box. I am going to return mine as just not ideal for my setup and try the Reese Goose Box as it a bit more straight forward and still has an air bag. Will try the 4in offset ball with it for increased cab clearance so should be a bit of a compromise between what the Andersen provides.
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Old 06-01-2020, 12:07 PM   #3
travelin texans
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My last 5er had the Trail Air hitch, very similar setup to this one only with a standard hitch, that I pumped to 70 psi loaded for full-time. I also found that if I aired up to the arrow it was at max psi which was too firm, so never worried about the arrow after that.
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