5th Airborne Sidewinder replaces your fifth-wheel trailer's king pin and alters the pivot point of your rig, enabling you to make up to 90-degree turns. Enclosed air spring in pin box absorbs shock and adjusts for a smooth ride.
Features:
Specs:
Use the formula below to ensure that there will be enough space between your truck cab and trailer when you are executing a 90-degree turn with the 5th Airborne Sidewinder installed.
(A + B) - C = Clearance
A = Distance from center of 5th-wheel hitch jaw to truck cab in inches
B = Length of Sidewinder arm in inches (22")
C = Width of trailer in inches divided by 2
For example:
If you are using the 16,000-lb 5th Airborne Sidewinder, then B = 22"
If the distance from the center of your hitch to your truck's cab is 36", then A = 36"
And if your fifth-wheel trailer is 102" wide, then C = 51"
102/2 = 51
Therefore,
(36 + 22) - 51 = 7" of clearance
It is now possible to turn your short-bed truck 90 degrees without having to worry that your trailer will collide with the cab of your truck. The universal king pin locking wedge included with this Sidewinder prevents your trailer from turning or pivoting at the fifth-wheel hitch. Instead, the rotating turret at the end of the Sidewinder allows turning and pivoting to take place an additional 22 inches away from the cab.
1. Draw-Tite, Hidden Hitch and Reese (15K, 16K and 20K Select Series); Husky; Owens; Valley; and similar units
2. Reese Signature Series, Elite Series and similar units
3. Holland and similar units
A. Bolt locations
B. King pin
Custom King Pin Locking Wedges: The included universal wedge prevents the king pin from rotating in most fifth-wheel trailer hitches. Certain hitches, however, require a custom wedge (sold separately).
Note: Do not use the 5th Airborne Sidewinder with any of the following:
Note: It is recommended that if sitting idle for more than a week, the air springs be drained to relieve pressure on the system.
Average Customer Rating: 4.7 out of 5 stars (81 Customer Reviews)
5th Airborne Sidewinder replaces your fifth-wheel trailer's king pin and alters the pivot point of your rig, enabling you to make up to 90-degree turns. Enclosed air spring in pin box absorbs shock and adjusts for a smooth ride.This king pin has been one of the best purchases for hauling my fifth wheel with a short bed ram with ramboxes.
This kingpin is awesome! Short bed fifth wheel towing solved. I tow with a Crewmax Tundra and I never worry about hitting the cab. This pin solves the need to have a slider hitch (which are heavy, cumbersome and expensive. I needed to watch my weights as well since I tow with a 1/2 ton. No additional weight with replacing the pin. The ride is great too having the shock absorber and air bag in the pin box. Can't say enough good things about it. Once the wedge is set and aligned properly, you are set. Only negative is you need to drop and hook up straight on. It doesn't work well when dropping/hooking at an angle. I keep a torque wrench and a 5/8" socket with me in case I need to adjust the turret back to the "straight" position.
I have received the Reese airborne, installed the turret, have not put it on the trailer yet. Will do next week (29th). Right now I am very happy after looking it over. Thankyou.
After having used the 5th Airborne Premium 5th Wheel Air Ride King Pin w/ Sidewinder and Turret for about 7,500 miles (one year of towing for me), I would not recommend this pinbox setup unless it was absolutely necessary for your application. PROs: It does provide a nice ride quality (albeit with the occasional odd popping noise) and provides additional clearance for shortbed trucks (and the ability to pull a fifth wheel with a RamBox equipped Ram Pickup). CONs: Poor quality. The turret is not completely square, it requires consistent maintenance for it to operate smoothly and the directions I received with the packaging was not clear (and did not match the posted online instructions which were more up to date). Also, as with all the recent Reese products I have purchased, the powder coat/paint was damaged on delivery and easily flakes off over time.
I am very happy with this Sidewinder. No more having to slide my hitch in order to get my trailer out of storage. The only trick is making sure you are lined up with the pin box so the wedge engages correctly. You can hook up at any angle by just pushing the pin box so it lines up with your approach angle. It takes a little more time, but it is far easier than using an auto-slider. Once you are hooked up, you no longer have to worry about tight turns or backing into spaces.
This item works as described. Diana in sales was awesome to work with and made sure they had the right parts I needed for my rig after Reese told me what parts I needed for my rig. I can't compare it to other kingpins as I haven't had a 5th wheel in 20 years. I will say that for my rig, this is perfect. I'm pulling with a 2012 Dodge Ram 2500 short bed with the Ram boxes. I called Reese and they told me exactly what parts I needed to order from Diana to set this up correctly for my truck. I can turn tight angles and have no worries at all.
This pin box installed quite easily. Set in on a HD lift on the tailgate of my pickup. Lifted it up in place nicely. Completely solves my short bed turning radius. Highly recommended.
Installed easily and works great. The amount of maneuverability that this allows is almost unbelievable. Thanks for the videos as well. If you don't have one you don't know what you are missing.
A great purchase. The shock absorber removed virtually all of the chucking. What little that is left is very mild and generally only one bounce.
Excellent product! Nice ride, easy hook up! I almost bought the Pull Rite 12K model 3100. When I saw it weighed 350lbs, I looked for a better solution. The Sidewinder was the answer! No compromise!
We really like it makes a smoothie ride And make sharp turns
works perfect for my 2016 tundra crewmax
Excellent product, fast shipping, easy installation.
Review from a similar Airborne Premium King Pin in Fifth Wheel King Pin
Love this pin box. The air ride provides the smoothest towing ride for our 36ft 5th wheel as well as our Chevy 2500HD High County over this rough spots and rail road tracks. This is our 2nd one as we just sold our last 5th wheel and felt we just had to have this same smooth ride with our newest RV. I’ve got to add that the sales and support by Tara G. Was outstanding, very knowledgeable and super friendly service. Many thx
Review from a similar Airborne Premium King Pin in Fifth Wheel King Pin
I like my airborne fifth wheel air ride coupler. Every thing inside out of the sun clean and neat looking. the best part is when there (some boon docking ) all the draws and cabinets are closed. A bad dip and bump is nearly smoothed out about five miles from home. Not worried about damaging 5th wheel. More relaxed drive. Yes it leaks some no big deal just like checking the tires. glade I did it!
Review from a similar Airborne Premium King Pin in Fifth Wheel King Pin
This Airborne Kingpin box works great! Our hitch location in second-hand truck seems located in less than ideal position. This resulted in lots of "bucking & chucking" but Air-ride has changed it to gentle float at worse. Great product at fair price!
Review from a similar Airborne Premium King Pin in Fifth Wheel King Pin
We just recently were able to take the 5th wheel out for a trip after installing the air ride coupler. Our ride was soooo much better, no more jerking in the cab and things bouncing round in the trailer. So glad that we made the purchase.
Review from a similar Airborne Premium King Pin in Fifth Wheel King Pin
I had a Fabex 5th airborne hitch pin on my other 5th wheel and was very pleased. Bought new 5th wheel and put on Reese 5th airborne hitch pin expecting the same performance, but the Reese does not perform as well as the old one. I have tried different air pressure and different air bag positions but cannot not find the smoothness I had with the old one. Also, I have had to touch up paint because of rust causing the paint to chip and come loose in certain areas. Just wish I could give it a better review.
Review from a similar Airborne Premium King Pin in Fifth Wheel King Pin
What a difference the ride makes. Don't even know 5th wheel is behind us especially going over rough roads. No more chucking after hitting bumps. Well worth the investment. Easy to install. Highly recommend.
Review from a similar Airborne Premium King Pin in Fifth Wheel King Pin
I bought the Reese fifth wheel king pin for a upgrade to the factory one. It was easy to install. What a big difference it made. After some adjustments, as per the instructions, no more chugging or very little. Now enjoy traveling with the Fifth wheel.
Review from a similar Airborne Premium King Pin in Fifth Wheel King Pin
This pin box made a tremendous difference in my fifth wheel trailer. With the original pin box, the trailer controlled the truck and now it is the other way around. Now instead of huge jerks on rough roads, I get cushioned bumps. I can look in the rear view mirror and see the pin box absorbing the bumps.
Review from a similar Airborne Premium King Pin in Fifth Wheel King Pin
The air valve stem would not accept air. Replaced the valve core to correct the problem. Fiberglass fairing on LongHorn 5th wheel would not fit new king pin box as it is longer that the original one. Just finished about 3500 miles with this new King Pin box, finding the ride somewhat improved, especially on rough freeway often found going through big cities. Did installation myself by first pushing box onto hitch, then using truck positioning and trailer jacks, was able to get box into correct position. Later repeated the exercise to lower the box one row of bolt holes to better match original king pin height.
Review from a similar Airborne Premium King Pin in Fifth Wheel King Pin
Was easy to install on our 40' 5th wheel. Have towed over 4000 miles with no problems. Keep the proper amount of air in it and it makes towing a whole lot better
Review from a similar Airborne Premium King Pin in Fifth Wheel King Pin
Air fill valve was damaged in shipment ( as mentioned in many reviews). Etrailer had mfg send a new one overnight. I suggest that you ship with the fill valve not installed, having the customer install it when attaching to 5th wheel. Mfg sticker specifies that the attaching bolts be torqued to 200 ft. Lbs. Had to rent a torque wrench to install, thanks to my nephew, he was able to to apply enough pressure to achieve that setting. Hard for an old retired person to exert that much force. Now the good stuff. We traveled from California to New York. By the time we got there, my back was in bad shape due to the severe chucking. Ordered the pin box to be delivered to one of our Campground stops. We're now half way home, and my back is not hurting at all. Chucking is gone, great product!
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