Excellent and timely topic. We currently tow with an F350 4X4 SRW Short bed. Last year we logged just over 20K miles with our Valley 16K Slider. No air bags or pin box. In our case, the slider is a must for tight parking. I wish I opted for the autoslider, but maybe someday... On short run (less than 300 miles) the jerking motion is OK. On our longer multi-day runs, it gets very tiring. This year we expect a similar amount of traveling (VT to FL in the spring, VT to Montana summer, plus a number of runs between VT and PEI). So, the experiences others have with upgrades is great.
One thing I noticed; it seems the air hitch systems are more limited in the slider config. There is a nice box I can add to the Valley Slider, but it does not offer as much isolation as the non-sliding options. Price is the killer here now matter what I do. And I really think the big issues for us is the jerking back and forth, not the overall ride comfort which it seems an air hitch is the solution for??
So with that, the mor-ryde pin box seems like a good place to start. Around $700 and easy to install, so I am thinking of starting there. Hopefully that will do the trick... Cost is always a factor, but really not because I don't want to invest the money, just that I want to be sure before I do, it is worth it... Anyone had any luck getting a dealer to offer demo/loaner units. It seems the best solution needs to be fitted with the particilar TV, 5th and personal ride comfort. I would invest say $2K if I could be sure the ride would greatly improve our LD trips... but how to be sure with out demo program???
Comments and experiences on this thread are great thanks, and the next best thing to a demo program... also wanted to pass on a link a review of the mor-ryde pin box as it seems like a positive review...
http://www.morryde.com/pdfs/MorRydeT...railerlife.pdf
Best Regards,
Tim