5th Airborne

[wward208]

Installed 5th Airborne on my 2010 model 3150. Any recommendations as to airbag position and air pressure. On my first trip I called company and their recommendation was 80-90 lbs. pressure and airbag mounted in second hole from front. He told me to disregard "fill to line" and move airbag to different position but always stay with 80-90 lbs of air. This amount of air has the bottom part of hitch completely extended even with camper hooked to truck. I would appreciate recommendations from someone who uses this hitch. I don't believe I am getting much improvement in ride following their recommendations. Thanks in advance.

[tspoon]

I fill to line which is about 50 lbs

[TLightning]

That advice makes no sense to me...the purpose of the line is to show you how much air to put in...regardless of weight...fill to the line.

[boylanag]

I fill to line and the ride is great. You'll notice it right away.

[BB_TX]

That advice doesn't make sense to me either. By airing it up until it reaches the line puts it about mid travel. That way, it can move freely up and down as you travel along the road. If it is aired up so much it tops out, there is no room for upward travel. And when it does go down, it would peg the top when it went back up.
I have always filled mine to the line. Never checked the pressure. And it rides great. I can see it moving up and down as I travel down the road. Softened the ride and removed virtually all what little chucking I had before I installed it.

[wward208]

Thanks for the responses!! I hit the road again Friday and I will follow the recommendations from you folks. Two different people from company gave me same advice which never made much sense to me. Thanks again.

[DL N K]

When I added the 5th Airborne to our 3500RL 3 years ago, I spoke with Sonny who was the sales manager at Quest Technologies at that time. He suggested the following for setting air pressure.
"after installation, hook-up to truck, raise front jacks to put all weight on kingpin and inflate to the line on the shock. (some of the newer pinboxes have the fill level label on the side of the lower jaw of the pin box instead of the shock) Then unhook from truck and take an air pressure reading so you'll know what the 'target' pressure is when unhooked." Sonny also said it would take a couple of hundred pounds of change in pin weight to cause an appreciable change in pressure. For us, 40psi when unhooked puts it right on the line when hooked up. If I vary the pressure more than a few pounds, high or low, I can notice some difference in the ride.

[TLightning]

As with tires, air temperature will make a difference.

[danandbetty]

I installed a 5th Airborne pin box before leaving from Southern Oregon to return home in Alaska earlier this month. I filled it to the line after hitched up (weight on) and it worked perfectly on some mighty rough roads. I think any more air pressure would have not buffered the chucking as effectively.

[Art-n-Marge]

Not having any experience with an air suspension like this, what does everyone use for inflating? Does anyone use an onboard compressor, or a discrete compressor (I carry a pancake compressor for tires and onboard compressor for my air bags for examples), or something else?

After finding the air pressure that works best, is this one of those things you leave alone, but only check to ensure the air pressure is being maintained, like in a tire or with extreme weather changes? Or must you inflate/deflate when needed like an axle's air bags.

This seems a little off topic for the OP's issue, but is needed for resolving it, so I hope this intrusion can be forgiven and so I can understand how these work. I don't have any additional pin suspension right now and with all the chucking and the bucking I want to know as much as I can when selecting which way I want to go in the future.

Thanks bunches!!!

[BB_TX]

Art-I use my 12v air compressor for the 5th airborne. Airs it up to the line quickly. Unlike using it for the tires where it can take a long time to add a few pounds.

I have a pancake compressor I carry also in case I have 120 vac and need to add air to the tires.

[KTManiac]

I moved my air bag all the way forward to get my air pressure higher when at the the adjustment line, but it is no where near 80 psi. A lot depends on how much actual pin weight you have resting on it as to how much psi raises it to the line.

[wward208]

Thanks again for all the info. Hit the road yesterday with bag mounted in second hole from front and inflated to "fill to line". Air pressure was 48 psi. Ride was greatly improved but I may try going to first mounting position just to see if there is a difference. Thanks again.