Comfort Ride Hitch

[piper guy]

Had a few questions about the hitch and what it looks like and does. Those who were at the Rally probably saw it as Comfort Ride had a vendor display there and Michelle and i and another owner got hitches installed.

I've attached a couple of pictures of the hitch in my truck. The black plates on the side are adapter plates to mount the hitch in Ford, Ram or GM factory puck mounts. Same plate works on all three, just change where the pucks are mounted.

This is the 24,000lb hitch,also available is an 18k or a 30k. The 24 and 30 hitches are hinged forward, the 18 is a vertical up and down. The key to the hitch is the cushions that are used. Made by Airlift and are the same ones they use for the overload systems they sell. Polyurethane with thousands of little air cells in them, you vary how many you want in depending on pin weight and the ride you want. My RL is pin heavy and I usually run 4 in the hitch but if the road is total crap, I'll stop and put another in. Takes all of about 2 minutes to change a cushion out.

The only way to describe the ride difference, at least in my rig, is OMG and ours wasn't really "bad" before. We previously had a Tri Glide Pinbox with a Reese 25k hitch and Airlift bags on the truck. Pulled the coach about 24,000 miles with that setup and really about the only "lookout, here it comes," was with some of the bigger bridges. I had been talking to Rick Olson, owner of Comfort Ride, for almost a year and finally just said bring me a 245 hitch when you come to the Rally.

Michelle can add her thoughts, but for us, the difference was nothing short of astounding. At the Rally we chang d the Tri Glide to a MorRyde Pinbox and put the 245 Hitch in. We needed to go to MorRyde after the Rally for some service work in Elkhart. As soon as we pulled out of the campground Tracy looked at me and said "I can't believe the difference. The entire rig feels like on solid vehicle. No clunks, bangs, noise, nothing". I said the same as the handling difference was marked. We then went south and turned onto US 20 and headed to Elkhart US 20 isn't a bad road but it does have its share of frost heaves and concrete joints. Ride was greatly improved, more tire noise thumps over the joints than anything else and no jarring hits.

The the real test - came up to a bridge that we have crossed over many times before when out in Indiana. With the old setup, it would throw us quite a bit with chucking. I slowed a bit to about 50-55 and watched Tracy's hand go for the grab rail in anticipation. Hit the bridge and, virtually nothing. No violent up, down, sideways with our heads, no feeling of the rig doing a bit of what it wanted to. Just a larger version of the road joints. A fairly substantial thump, thump, but both of us looked at each other and said, "that's it, that's all ?"

I am now retired officially from the Graphics business. Sold it to my stepson and occasionally help him but I'm always looking for another project. I thought so much of Rick and the hitch he builds that I'm now working with him as a sales person to help him. Small manufacture that definitely developed the better mousetrap and now people are finding out about it and he's swamped with work.

If anyone would like more info, PM me. We will also be at the Tampa Show in January.

Oh - and for those of you who have looked at a Hensley Trailersaver and notice that the Comfort Ride Hitch looks similar - they were both designed and engineer d by the same man. Jerry Clark designed the Trailersaver first and this is the second generation. He decided airbags were not the way to go.

[Dave&Ginny]

A hitch is unfortunately the least most researched item when a person buys a rig. Yet it's one of the most important for both safety and comfort reasons. Many times a dealership will sell the least expensive hitch to make the deal work for them. Very similar to the batteries and tires on most RVs.

This hitch looks pretty robust, I hope it rides as good as it looks.