Pin Boxes with Air Bags

[Festus2]

For those of you who have either a 5th Airborne or TrailAir pin box and the built-in airbag that goes with those units......does the air bag.........

1) maintain its pressure fairly well other than the need to top it up once in a while?
2) need much adjusting of air pressure to "find the right ride" after the unit is installed? Much fiddling around with it to find the correct psi?
3) for the 5th Airborne...... have you needed to reposition the air bag in order to get a satisfactory ride after having tried unsuccessfully to find the correct bag air pressure?
4) require an air compressor/or air hose at a gas station or can you use a good bicycle pump capable of 120 psi?

Also---- did the addition of your pin box alter the level of TV and RV which required you to adjust your TV hitch in any way?

[geo]

Festus2 -

Hmmmm, I haven't noticed anywhere to put air in/out on my TrailAir hitch. Obviously now you have my curiosity up, and I will look. If there is a place, it's not real obvious.

Because the truck and hitch were new when we picked up the Alpine, we did have to lower the hitch as the installer put it up on the highest setting. So, again, I'm not much help on that part.

Gee, why did I even post this???

Ron

[Jim W]

Hi, Festus2, I will answer your questions below as they are asked.

Originally Posted by Festus2

For those of you who have either a 5th Airborne or TrailAir pin box and the built-in airbag that goes with those units......does the air bag.........

1) maintain its pressure fairly well other than the need to top it up once in a while?
Yes, the unit will maintain the air pressure adequately. I need to adjust the pin box air pressure when I took the camper out of storage this April for the first time since, I installed the unit in Aug of last year.

2) need much adjusting of air pressure to "find the right ride" after the unit is installed? Much fiddling around with it to find the correct psi?
No. You need to adjust this shock tower with the alignment line on the barrel of the shock. This air pressure will vary by these requirements.
An I quote" Some adjustment to the level may be needed after a short period of use in the beginning. Also, certain circumstances such as a dramatic change in weight (500 lbs or more), temperature (50 to 70 degrees F or more) or altitude (5000 feet or more) may change the ride height and require some adjustment"

3) for the 5th Airborne...... have you needed to reposition the air bag in order to get a satisfactory ride after having tried unsuccessfully to find the correct bag air pressure?
Do not know.

4) require an air compressor/or air hose at a gas station or can you use a good bicycle pump capable of 120 psi?
I have a small Sears electric air compressor that will inflate the air bag on the pin box to the proper ride height. I use this to inflate bike tires and the trailer tires when I take it out of storage.

Also---- did the addition of your pin box alter the level of TV and RV which required you to adjust your TV hitch in any way?
No the instructions that Trailair require you to level the trailer first and then measure the pin box height from the ground line to the bottom of the original pin box. The reason is to keep the ride height equal to the original pin box and the new TrailAir pin Box.

Here is a link to the Trailair pin box install instructions that are on line.

http://www.trailair.com/products/air...install_lm.pdf
Jim W.

[linebiker]

Here Here to above post, I did though have to adjust my hitch on truck to get the level right. Up all the way on pin box, needed just a little more so lowered 5th wheel hitch to level camper.

[Firecapt]

I've been using a Trailair kingpin for about 5 years now. It only requires about 30 psi for the airbag, you could easily inflate it with a manual pump or compressor. It didn't change the height of the 5er (at the hitch). I did try adjusting the amount of air pressure to see if it changed the ride and found that the factory recommended pressure worked best. It maintains it's pressure very well but I always check it before we leave and about every 6-10 days thereafter. Rarely do I find a need to refill.

In essence, I can't say enough about the difference in towing with this kingpin. Make sure that you don't try to combine this kingpin with a hitch that has "bounce" canceling features or they will end up fighting themselves and negating all of the positive towing advantages and causing all kinds of troubles (per posts on other forums).

Overall, I'd have to say: "Trailair, what an incredible difference this kingpin makes!!"