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Old 05-23-2017, 09:35 PM   #1
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5th wheel bounce question..

I live in the middle of Oklahoma, so I'm sure most of you know where I'm going. The fine state I live in has seen to it that I have some of the roughest roads in the country to start every adventure with.

My question is, I would like to stop some of the bucking I get from our roads. Would I be better off with a air-ride pin box or a air cushioned receiver hitch?

I currently have a 16k Reese slider pulling a 38' that is probably around 12k loaded.
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Old 05-24-2017, 08:18 AM   #2
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Since you all ready have the hitch, I would go for the air-ride pin box less of a cost increase. This is what I had done on my second 5er and I ordered my Cedar Creek with the Trail Air ride hitch.

I towed through OK last year (2016) traveling from NM to Texas and I found the ride not to be any different than any other state in the union. MY DW would be the first to complain if the ride was bad since she had back surgery early in the year last winter (2016).
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Old 05-25-2017, 03:22 PM   #3
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What might be causing the "Bounce" is you probably over your payload with a it having a 1924 dry pin weight and probably between 2500 and 3000 pound ready to camp pin weight and 16 year old F250 truck.

I will say that I have had back surgery like Jim's wife and the bounce with 5er was very uncomfortable ride. I tried air bags and replace the OEM shocks both helped some but not enough to make it comfortable enough for the longer trips. I looked into a air bag hitch and pin box. A gentleman at RV park offered me a ride along with his high dollar air hitch and I will say it was smoother but I just couldn't justify the cost for the amount of improvement I thought it would produce. I purchased a Class A with air ride suspension and it's very smooth and takes 99% of the shock of going across bridges and bad roads. Now I know why a lot of the Class A people are older with handicap plates.

What I'm try to say is shocks will help and little and air bags will help you just have to find and what point you are comfortable enough for your personnel ride comfort.
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Old 05-25-2017, 03:41 PM   #4
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Air pin box. Shocks if the fiver does not have them. There are also air bag equalizers that help a lot smoothing out the trailers ride
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Old 05-25-2017, 05:30 PM   #5
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Maybe I should have worded it different. Not really a bounce more of a hop and then bang when it settles, there are a few bridges and other "transitional areas" where there is new concrete highway that changes to old concrete or asphalt that has been tore up by heavy haulers.

I think the trailer is rising up and maybe lifting off the hitch a bit then slamming down, all occurs rapidly. I have air bags on the axle of the truck and currently was aired to 60 psi. Rear tires are at 80psi and fronts at 72.

Rides fine most of the time but when you come off a bridge or hit a screwed up section of the highway it gets UN-nerving. Some of my knock or racket may be the Reese 16k hitch as it does have some slop in it.

I'm just concerned that overtime I may cause damage to the frame of the trailer.
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Old 05-25-2017, 06:06 PM   #6
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I had the same problem. I took my air bags off, problem solved.
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Old 05-25-2017, 06:13 PM   #7
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I would put shocks on the 5er.
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Old 05-25-2017, 06:42 PM   #8
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My problem had nothing to do with the trailer suspension. It was rebound caused by the air bags on the truck. It would rebound so hard that it lifted the trailer off the hitch, then slammed back down. Increasing pressure made it worse and rode really rough. I could remove air, but by the time the ride became acceptable, the air bags were useless. I took the bags off and sold them. Bottom line is my trailer (similar to size and weight of yours) wasn't heavy enough to warrant bags. Been running without for a year now. Not one instance of it slamming.
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Old 05-25-2017, 07:01 PM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by M109Rrider View Post
My problem had nothing to do with the trailer suspension. It was rebound caused by the air bags on the truck. It would rebound so hard that it lifted the trailer off the hitch, then slammed back down. Increasing pressure made it worse and rode really rough. I could remove air, but by the time the ride became acceptable, the air bags were useless. I took the bags off and sold them. Bottom line is my trailer (similar to size and weight of yours) wasn't heavy enough to warrant bags. Been running without for a year now. Not one instance of it slamming.
Makes sense. This would be the easiest fix, I'll give it a try next time out by letting the air out.
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Old 05-26-2017, 07:36 AM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Slyhuntr View Post
Maybe I should have worded it different. Not really a bounce more of a hop and then bang when it settles, there are a few bridges and other "transitional areas" where there is new concrete highway that changes to old concrete or asphalt that has been tore up by heavy haulers.

I think the trailer is rising up and maybe lifting off the hitch a bit then slamming down, all occurs rapidly. I have air bags on the axle of the truck and currently was aired to 60 psi. Rear tires are at 80psi and fronts at 72.

Rides fine most of the time but when you come off a bridge or hit a screwed up section of the highway it gets UN-nerving. Some of my knock or racket may be the Reese 16k hitch as it does have some slop in it.

I'm just concerned that overtime I may cause damage to the frame of the trailer.
The problem starts from the geometry of the TV and trailer with the road surface. As the truck is in one plane of motion and the trailer is in another plane of motion pulling against each other on uneven road surfaces. As in your case, the truck has all ready pass the bridge surface but the trailer is still on the bridge. The truck is traveling on the lower road surface and the trailer is still at a higher level on the bridge surface. So the two components are at odds and pulling against each other.

This is were the Air Ride hitch or Air Ride pin box works to uncouple this motion that you are sensing. You might get some motion but not the server chucking that you are experiencing.

When we traveled through West Virgin with our second 5er with a solid pin box. The chucking do to the uneven road surface was so server that both my wife and I had headaches and backaches from this trip. After installing a TrailAir ride pin box, I could not believe the improve ride of the truck/trailer.
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Old 05-26-2017, 07:39 AM   #11
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Have you actually scaled your truck and trailer to be sure your not overloaded? Air bags are really only a band aid, an attempt to mask other more potientially dangerous situations.
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Old 05-26-2017, 08:32 AM   #12
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Stop the source of the bounce. Therefore if you stop the bounce on the trailer there will be no bounce in the truck.
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Old 05-26-2017, 02:13 PM   #13
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Trail Air the way to go

Before we installed the Trail Air, all our items were thrown around. After the installation, problem solved. The Trail Air will also lessen the jolts on the fiver frame. Without the extra cusion, your frame at the back of the bedroom over the front basment wall may start cracking. The rxpense was well worth the benefit.
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Old 05-26-2017, 03:10 PM   #14
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Mor Ryde pin box and Bilstein 4600 shocks made a big difference for me.
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Old 05-27-2017, 07:06 AM   #15
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Going from a static Curt hitch to an AirSafe Omni-Directional hitch was night and day difference. The AirSafe separated the RV movement from Truck movement, really smoothing out the ride.
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Old 05-27-2017, 02:18 PM   #16
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Decided to run over the scales today. Stopped and filled bed tank, 90 gal.

Oh, I let 30 psi out of air bags, running 30 psi now and did feel better.

This was done with trailer partially loaded. Wife, dog, clothes and food not present.

Steer axle. 4240
Drive axle. 5480
Trailer axle. 10720

Combined 20440

Truck alone. 7700

Trailer weight 12740

Pin weight 2060
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Old 05-29-2017, 10:04 AM   #17
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5th wheel bounce question..

I have had the same problem for the past couple of years. This year I have adjusted both sections of my offset goose neck coupler and took the truck into a suspension specialist and had my OEM rear shocks replaced because they were weak, but not bad or leaking. They also suggested airbags, but could not get the parts in prior to departing on summer trip next week. The new shocks are bigger than the OEM's so, I will see how it rides this year from DFW area to Iowa, South Dakota and back. If the bounce is still there, will look at the bags.
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