Trail Air Pin Box

marlindy · 07-19-2013, 05:49 PM

I recently purchased a 2013 Redwood 36RL & at the dealer's recommendation had them put a Trail Air Pin Box on it.

However, I find an extreme amount of bouncing up & down on the interstates (I have heard it called "porpoiseing") & am concerned it may cause loss of control in rain or other bad weather.

Have any of you more experienced Rv'ers had the same problem & if "yes," what did you do to solve it?

The people who installed my hitch suggested I change to to the standard pin box . I called the factory & of course they told me that everyone loves the Trail Air Pin Box. (called a hitch in the brochure)

marlindy

mhs4771 · 07-19-2013, 06:03 PM

I guess the first question is what type of hitch do you have? My understanding is that an Air Ride Hitch and Air Ride Pin don't mix. Also are you running air bags? We have an 2011 Chevy Extcab Dually and a 2012 36RL and the only problem we have is on some of the bridge joints that we get some extra bounce, which I think some new Bilstein shocks may help there. Other than that the RW rides pretty smooth. Yes watching in the mirror you can see the RW riding up and down on the hitch air bag.

**Dave&Ginny** · 07-19-2013, 06:05 PM

You have the air pressure wrong in the pin box. Don't only go by the arrow on the label. I think I have mine set at about 85 lbs of air and you can take them up to 100. I started out with a standard pin box and switch mine over to the air box.

If you want a regular box I'll sell you mine cheep. In fact In leaving for Florida tomorrow morning and I could haul the thing down with me.

atom ant · 07-19-2013, 06:06 PM

Sounds like it is doing what it is designed to do - but it's hard to tell what you are experiencing from a keyboard.

To me, porpoising is when the trailer reacts to the rear spring movement of the truck and starts to teeter-totter back and forth uncontrollably, gaining momemtum with each movement with no real contribution from the road.

My trailair does let the trailer move up and down when there is a heave or rough bridge in the road, but then it settles right down. I wouldn't call that porpoising.

Have you tried adding more air to the bladder? You can pump it up to the point it doesn't move.Edited by: atom ant

marlindy · 07-19-2013, 06:14 PM

Thanks for the rapid responses. The hitch I have is a Curt 24K, which is not an air hitch.

marlindy

rcflame · 07-19-2013, 06:21 PM

When we bought our RW it had a Trail Air Pin Box on it which I switched out to a regular pin box only because I already had a Trailer Saver air hitch and I didn't want two air systems working against each other. I don't know just what setting works on the Trail Air Pin Box but you should play around with it until you find out what pressure it should be at. I'm assuming when it is set right it will handle a lot like the air hitch which is on rough roads you can look in your mirror and see you trailer just kind of floating up and down. I won't pull a heavy trailer like the RW without some type of air hookup. I have seen too many pulling without and they have to have the framework, that the pin box fastens to. reworked and welded because the heavy bouncing has broke it loose. I even say one carriage where the framework totally failed and the pin box went up through the bedroom floor and the trailer ended up laying on the bed of the truck.

marlindy · 07-19-2013, 06:32 PM

Thanks for the advice. I will fool around with the pressure & see what the changes are.

marlindy

Adamsvr · 07-19-2013, 06:52 PM

We don't have the Trail air pin box and our 36RL rides really smooth with our F450 and Firestone Airbags. We used to have that problem; however, when we loaded it up and pumped up our airbags to 65PSI, we haven't had that problem since. We've pulled our coach back and forth the US and we are about a third of the across again and it's still riding smoothly. As others have said, play around with the air pressure in your pin box and ensure it's loaded, especially in the front closet.

**Dave&Ginny** · 07-19-2013, 07:06 PM

This is where a small portable compressor comes in handy.

johnboytoo · 07-20-2013, 04:31 PM

Hi there, we just ordered a gk and specified the trail air pin box we liked it so much on our current 5er...

It's actually a good thing the 5ermoves around instead of moving your truck around !!!

That's what its designed to do

when I first got mine I had thought I should pump it up to 100 psi with the handy lil sears compressor in my basement and quickly found out it was too high - made the bags hard as a rock....

as others have stated - find your happy medium... good luck

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