Problems with Trail air pin box

[rcflame]

I have no experience with the trailer-air pin box, but I do have the trailer saver air hitch. I run my tires at 110 psi, and have no chucking or bounce. You can watch the trailer kind of float. I can understand that if I had my air bags on the hitch too hard where there would be no give, it would defeat the purpose of having the air bag and act like a solid hookup.

[Dave&Ginny]

Originally Posted by atom ant

Dave,
Did you say you saw some torn rubber in there, or did that turn out to be OK?

No I said I falsely thought there was some sort of rubber system in there to dampen the shock. It turns out the hitch pin is fine I found my problem somewhere else.

[hoosierguy]

Originally Posted by Dave&Ginny

No I said I falsely thought there was some sort of rubber system in there to dampen the shock. It turns out the hitch pin is fine I found my problem somewhere else.

Dave,



What did you find the problem to actually be?



I had not previouslyobserved the movement of the pin as you have discribed, but, I just checked and sure enough, it does move forward and back with 5 to 10 lbs of force.



As to the pressure in the airbag, that pressure to achieve proper operation is bound to be a function of the pin weight. I typically run at 65 to 67 psi with approximately 2800 to 3000lbs. pin weight which places shock shroud at the bottom of the air. If I get the pressure over 70psi, I can tell that the ride is rougher.

[micwtx]

Contact Boonville RV Service Center in Boonville Missouri. The owner there invented and developed the Trailair Tri Glide so he can answer any questions. They are a great place and are more concerned with customer satisfaction than money. By the way, they sold the Trailair brand to LIPPERT so maybe you could ask Lippert if you don't get the answers you need.

[hoosierguy]

Originally Posted by hoosierguy

Dave,



What did you find the problem to actually be?



I had not previouslyobserved the movement of the pin as you have discribed, but, I just checked and sure enough, it does move forward and back with 5 to 10 lbs of force.



As to the pressure in the airbag, that pressure to achieve proper operation is bound to be a function of the pin weight. I typically run at 65 to 67 psi with approximately 2800 to 3000lbs. pin weight which places shock shroud at the bottom of the air. If I get the pressure over 70psi, I can tell that the ride is rougher.

Dave..........did you resolve what your issue was?

[Dave&Ginny]

Originally Posted by hoosierguy

Dave..........did you resolve what your issue was?

Yes...the problem was with the truck not the hitch

[Dan]

Originally Posted by Dave&Ginny

Yes...the problem was with the truck not the hitch

Dave what ended up being the problem with your truck?

[Dave&Ginny]

I put air-ride on my truck last January. I didn't realize that while going down the road my air-ride was bleeding off. This made the pin box slap back and fourth every time I hit a bump.

[RCAircraft]

Originally Posted by Dave&Ginny

I'm having problems with my Tri-Glide pin box and I'd like to hear if anybody else has had this problem. While disconnected from the truck, I can reach up and move the pin freely by hand without any resistance at all. It feels like it's just sitting there disconnected from the rollers.

I called e-trailer who I ordered it from and they refereed me back to Trail-Air. I called Trail-air and they said that although this has happened before....my 12 month warranty could be void since this is an after market item sold by e-trailer (even though it's an option from Redwood).

Has anybody else had any problem similar to this with their Tri-glides? If so how did you fix it?

Dave, my 2013Redwood 36RL has the TrailAir 18K air loaded pin installed by the Redwood dealer at my request. I selected the 18K rating as I was concerned about over stressing the pin box when hitting bridge and road expansion joints at 75 MPH (not an everyday speed!) here in the Midwest. The TrailAir was not air load. With that "hard" version supplied as standard it sounded like a bomb exploding when crossing expansion joints. That worried me as I was concerned about wear and tear on my RV and truck. Many TrailAir owners report failures similar to yours. High shock loads could be the cause. So far my 18K air loaded pin box has operated trouble free however, after seeing your post I double checked my pin box and swing plate. So far, so good.

Question: does your TrailAir pin box have multiple grease fittings on both sides for lubing the hinges on the "swing" plate? I grease those fittings as needed to observe grease at the hinge pins (approximately 8-grease fittings).

[atom ant]

Originally Posted by RCAircraft

Dave, my 2013Redwood 36RL has the TrailAir 18K air loaded pin installed by the Redwood dealer at my request. I selected the 18K rating as I was concerned about over stressing the pin box when hitting bridge and road expansion joints at 75 MPH (not an everyday speed!) here in the Midwest. The TrailAir was not air load. With that "hard" version supplied as standard it sounded like a bomb exploding when crossing expansion joints. That worried me as I was concerned about wear and tear on my RV and truck. Many TrailAir owners report failures similar to yours. High shock loads could be the cause. So far my 18K air loaded pin box has operated trouble free however, after seeing your post I double checked my pin box and swing plate. So far, so good.

Question: does your TrailAir pin box have multiple grease fittings on both sides for lubing the hinges on the "swing" plate? I grease those fittings as needed to observe grease at the hinge pins (approximately 8-grease fittings).

Bob, I think all the Tri-glides are 18K. Wish they were more like the 5th airborne. That one was 23K. The 18K limits what you put on the back if you are close to the 16,500 GVWR on the trailer already.

[mhs4771]

The TrailAir Tri-Glide is available in a larger model. Saw on at the Atlanta Rally, think it was 22K or 23K on a 5er (don't recall the brand) with a lower Gross than our RWs. I have been wondering how much they would charge me to upgrade ours to give more headroom

[atom ant]

Originally Posted by mhs4771

The TrailAir Tri-Glide is available in a larger model. Saw on at the Atlanta Rally, think it was 22K or 23K on a 5er (don't recall the brand) with a lower Gross than our RWs. I have been wondering how much they would charge me to upgrade ours to give more headroom

Could you tell what was different? Was it heavier steel? More bulky?

[mhs4771]

Didn't really look at it that close. Just saw the rating label and was surprised that it was higher than ours and a rig with a lower gross.

[atom ant]

hmmmm - maybe worth a chat with Trailair.

The only reason I'm so curious is I have never got a straight answer on the pin box rating. On our Montana the ratings were all over the map on the pin box. I tried to chase it down because at one time we were towing a boat and the pin box was the weak link by rating. At one point I was told by Lippert it was rated just up to the GVWR of what it will be installed on. That theory was blown within a few minutes.

[mhs4771]

Well in my mind, a pin box only rated for 18K on a rig with a 16.5 gross is cutting it a little close. I apply the same reasoning to the hitch, we have a 20K hitch. Yet many have a 16.5K or even more and are fine with only an 18K hitch. Even the same goes for tires, that's why we're riding on 17.5 wheels and H rated tires.

[lwg]

Keep in mind that virtually everything is engineered for more capacity than it will officially support. I would bet there's at least a 20% safety margin built into anything hitch related to account for the many folks who pay no attention to this stuff. Also have you ever heard of a pin box or hitch failure on you run of the mill 5th Wheel?

[rcflame]

I would be willing to bet that statement would not hold up in court. The mfg. warranties that the product will stand up to that specification, if used correctly, and if it doesn't, it is responsible. You exceed their limits, and the responsibility is transferred from them to you.

[lwg]

Originally Posted by rcflame

I would be willing to bet that statement would not hold up in court. The mfg. warranties that the product will stand up to that specification, if used correctly, and if it doesn't, it is responsible. You exceed their limits, and the responsibility is transferred from them to you.

You're absolutely correct. But my point is we shouldn't need to build in an additional safety margin so long as we don't exceed the manufactures stated load rating.

[Oriana]

Originally Posted by lwg

You're absolutely correct. But my point is we shouldn't need to build in an additional safety margin so long as we don't exceed the manufactures stated load rating.

Provided the equipment is not corroded, etc you are correct in that you shouldn't need to add an additional safety margin, however it is personal preference on the amount of risk you are prepared to accept.

You also need to consider the condition and age of the equipment, and how often it has been used at or close to max load. Having conducted numerous static and dynamic load tests I have observed the impact on steel at max loads.

Therefore it is my preference not to operate at or close to max SWL.

[atom ant]

Originally Posted by lwg

Keep in mind that virtually everything is engineered for more capacity than it will officially support. I would bet there's at least a 20% safety margin built into anything hitch related to account for the many folks who pay no attention to this stuff. Also have you ever heard of a pin box or hitch failure on you run of the mill 5th Wheel?

I would not be comfortable with that assumption. I would agree that you don't need to build in your own safety factor, but I also would not assume everything is engineered with it's own safety factor. Testing requirements are typically double the required specs, but that is to overcome variables in the test itself, not to build in safety factors.