Is the 5th Airborne a good purchase?

[Dave Nowlin]

I notice there are quite a few here who have purchased Fifth Airborne pin boxes. What do you really think of them? Are they a good purchase? The real problem in making this kind of purchase, at least from my standpoint is that there are manufacturers of air ride hitches and air ride couplers and all claim to be the best. The hitches seem to be far more expensive than the pin boxes. In fact one manufacturer of air hitches sells kits to convert the hitch you already have. They sell for over $1,400 and the Fifth Airborne can be bought for just over $700 on the internet. Do the air ride hitches really perform twice as good as the Fifth Airborne? In fact do they even perform better? Has anyone ever done a fair and unbiased test in which all of these products were compared?
Dave Nowlin

[Cat320]

The only thing I can tell you is the 5th Abn works as advertised...a great improvement in ride.

[boylanag]

We couldn't agree more with CAT320. Carol had surgery on a herniated disc in her upper back and the ride towing the Monty was very painful for her. We had the 5th Airborne installed and noticed the improvement immediately. No more pain for her neck. Others will say that theirs is the best and they may be but we have not tried others, air hitches or pin boxes, so we can not compare. We went with the 5th Airborne because others had expressed appreciation for it and we have been very pleased. It works great.

[stiles watson]

I am not an engineer, however, at one point, I was a mechanical designer. My observations, not experience, of the air ride hitches would indicate to me that they would do a better job of shock absorption than the air (5th AB) or rubber (MorRyde) pin boxes. That being said, I bought the 5th Airborne and am completely satisfied with its performance. It is sort of like the Montana itself - "most bang for the buck". With the help of the local tire and lube shop, I installed it. He charged me $20. I gave him $40.

[harleyrider]

I kind of killed 2 birds with one stone.In as i have the 5th AirBorne/sidewinder.This gives the ability of not having to use a sliding hitch for short bed truck owners.I too noticed a big improvement on the ride.

The air ride hithes are a lot more money.And the old saying goes "you get what you pay for"Even though I am completely satisfied with the 5th airborne,the air ride hitches probably would give you the best ride.I have NO regrats on my purchase.

John

[Cat320]

No doubt the air hitches would give you a better ride...but I doubt it would be three to four times as good, 'cause that's the price difference.

[Glenn and Lorraine]

Most every pin box on the market such as the 5th Airborne, MorRyde or the Air hitches and pin boxes will improve the ride. However I don't honestly feel one is much better than the other. They ALL improve the overall comfort by about 65% to 80%. NONE will improve the ride 100%
We went from the standard Keystone bin box to the MorRyde and we did notice a significant change and I would recommend the MorRyde but that is not to say the MorRyde is any better than the rest. This recommendation is based strictly on my experience and I offer no scientific data to support this recommendation.
For those of you that will be attending the MOC Fall Rally, Steve is working on having the MorRyde folks do another seminar as they did last year. Hopefully they will also be offering some special pricing this year as they did last year.

[jrgwdenner]

Dave, I think it will be hard to get anything more than personal experience opinions on this subject as most of us with the special hitches can only testify to the effect of the one we have. Our hitch is a TrailAir, installed a couple of years ago, it was under $1000.00. We got it installed right before we left for Alaska. We noticed an immediate improvement but it sure didn't take all the bumps out of our ride. The chucking also seemed to be greatly reduced. We wouldn't be without it.

[Tom Gina 06]

Excellent bang for the buck. Combined with the MorRyde it is amazing how everything in the Monty stays where it is left. To me that indicates that the Monty and personal belongings are in good hands for long haul.

[Delaine and Lindy]

We have owned two steel hitches, a Reese and a Valley/Huskey the latter being a slider which I never used. Then when we went to the Cambridge, we got the Trailer Saver air ride hitch. The price for the Trailer Saver was $1,800 and the installation was simple just remove the Valley/Huskey and it fits most bed rails. Our TS has been in 3 different TV. It just seems to me if your buying a $40,000 plus 5th wheel the cost of a Trailer Saver air ride hitch is a great investment that will take a lot of stress off the 5th wheel frame and in no doubt will make everything ride so much better. We never remove the Coffee pot or the can opener from teh counter tops... This is just my opinion, I have nothing to do with TS. The only negative is its a heavy unit. But I only remove it when we are at home base, and I have a John Deere tractor with a front end loader and it removes the TS with no problem. For the short bed trucks the Trailer Saver can be purchased with the slider option. Good Luck with your choice..... GBY....

[ols1932]

I agree with everything that's been posted, however it's all fairly subjective. From an objective viewpoint, the air ride hitch solves pretty much all the problems associated with a bad ride, both for the tow vehicle and the 5er. Having said that, since I have the Trailer Saver hitch, naturally I'm going to try to justify my purchase. Let me add, I researched pin boxes, air ride hitches, and all the paraphernalia that goes with the add-ons, and I settled on the Trailer Saver. Reason: Being on the road full time meant that I had to have the best ride I could get. I won't put my head in the sand and say I have the best because again, it's subjective. As we always say, "You get what you pay for."

Orv

[simonsrf]

Like said above, we have a 5th Airborne and are happy we spent the money for the quality ride.