"I am sure that I could write pages about how well this hitch smoothed the
harsh ride, but will keep it down to this… it worked and worked great! Now my
Dodge is a real nice riding truck empty, but with the unloaded car hauler and
the Travel-Lite hitch inflated properly, the ride was actually smoother. It
really was hard to believe! My wife said ‘tell them that this works great’. We
made the 1400 miles hauling empty and the ride was so smooth all the way, I
would even forget that the trailer was back there."
Read More
Mike Winkleman, Seasoned Mechanical Engineer in Automotive Industry
Mesa, Arizona
This is Tim Molhem from Florence Kentucky. I just recently purchased an air
shocker trailer hitch and I just wanted to share with you how well this product
works. From hauling a 2,500 lb car to a 4,500 lb car it cushions the tongue
weight on the truck with ease.
I use from five to fifteen pounds of air in the air bag. This works GREAT!!!
I thank you for putting out such a great product. You have a well satisfied
customer and I definitely would recommend your air shocker system to anyone who
pulls a trailer.
Please send me brochures to share the word!!!!
Thanks!!
Tim Molhem
I had a problem towing our three horse trailer and my sixteen foot flatbed.
The ride was really rough and bouncy, so bad that it cracked the frame on my
truck
where the hitch is attached. I reinforced the hitch to the bumper to keep from
breaking the frame, but that gave me an even worse ride. Then I
found an ad in the Farm Show news of the airshocker hitch and ordered one.
When I first towed with it, I was amazed. It took all the bounce out of our
outfit. The difference in ride quality between the two was like night and day.
Thanks Bob, for the great invention of Shockerhitch!
Jim Yeager
Eden, UT
In September of this year you visited me at my home in Hampton MN and set me
up with a hitch. Just wanted to let you know how pleased we are with the unit.
My wife and I recently made a quick round trip to Oklahoma to haul a horse. The
ride of the truck and trailer (both loaded and unloaded) was improved
dramatically by the Shocker Hitch. The jerk and grab we had previously
experienced over a variety of road surfaces was smoothed enough to noticeably
reduce driver/passenger fatigue. I can't imagine how much the horse must have
enjoyed it. Great product, I'm telling all my bumper pull friends about it.
Jim K.
Hampton, Minnesota
"I pull commercially, all different types of trailers. Shocker Hitch is the
only way to go for bumper hitch towing. I've pulled up to 32 ft trailers with
this hitch, and it is a much smoother, less punishing pull. I believe the
Shocker is the only way to go when pulling anything from a boat to a travel
trailer. I have approximately 15,000 miles pulling with this hitch."
Bob W.
Fargo, ND
"I just wanted you to know: I bought the Shocker back in March. I have since
used the Shocker with my 23' camper and my small 5 x 7 cargo trailer. I am still
in awe, on how well the Shocker works. What a difference in ride and no more
noise when you stop and start again. You have a great product and I am telling
people I meet at the campgrounds and friends that pull trailers about this Great
Air Hitch!"
Tim B.
Indiana
"The Shocker Hitch will make your wife happier than diamonds ever could. This
trailer has been pulled behind half a dozen pickups and trucks and has nearly
torn the bumper off one of them. Now with the Shocker Hitch installed it has
never ridden so smooth. I am completely satisfied with this product. This
product is well built, reasonably priced, and will substantially reduce wear on
the pickup. Be careful that you don't forget the trailer is behind you!!"
Delmar H.
Hauff Machine Products
"I'm completely satisfied with my new Shocker Hitch! If you haul a two horse
or four horse bumper mount trailer, there is nothing better than a Shocker
Hitch. It not only improves the ride in the truck dramatically, it improves the
ride in the trailer. That means when you get to the show ring, your horse will
not be as tired, and will be able to perform better for you. That's a great deal
no matter how you look at it. Thanks for a great product!!"
Marty F.
Upstate, NY
"In May we towed our Jayco Baja Camper down to L.A. for a weekend. Down and
back it was a push and pull contest between the F250SD and the trailer. When we
got back I started looking for solutions to the problem and came across the
Shocker.
With the Standard Shocker installed at the end of July we headed down into
Mexico. Within the first twenty miles I new I had made the right choice. But
what really proved the fact was at the end of 4,437 miles (Oakland, Ca -
Guadalajara, Mx) I wasn't all tense and tired from towing the camper. And most
of all the wife was happy and asking about a bigger trailer (oh ya). You folks
figured out how to mount one of these to a gooseneck?
Very fine product folks."
Don M.
Oakland, CA
Many
others have fallen in love with this hitch, its time for you to.
Read more below.
Testimonial of
the AIR SHOCKER Air Suspension Hitch
June 10, 2005
Tow vehicle:
1990 Dodge
¾ ton 4wd pickup
diesel engine
5 speed manual transmission
Trailer:
16 foot car hauler
tandem axle
electric brakes both axles.
approximate weight 2,000 pounds
Loads:
old tractors
Approximate weights 4,500 to 5000 pounds
This trailer was purchase new a couple years ago and used twice to travel about
3 hours from home, going out empty and returning with loads of about 5000
pounds.
These first two trips with the new trailer turned out to be quite a surprise.
The route consisted mostly of freeways, some brand new and some well worn.
Within a half-hour from home I was ready to turn around and return home, the
freeway I was traveling on was new concrete construction with subtle dips that
are not noticeable when travel without the trailer. The regular repeating dips
caused serious vertical vibrations impacting the rear of the truck, more like
poundings, that were hard for my back and neck to take. Fortunately the wife was
not along or we would have had to abort the trip and not pick up my new (1956)
John Deere 420C. Due to the end goal, I continued on my way and found the
beating varied depending on the road condition. Only the smoothest road sections
could be called comfortable, all the rough worn sections caused the vertical
vibrations that varied from noticeable to nearly intolerable.
The return trip had the 5,000 pound weight of the tractor to dampen out the
harsh ride. The bumps in the road were noticeable but not as sharp.
The next trip was taken last week. Again, to pick up an old tractor, a 1944 Case
S. I had several months to prepare for the trip and dreaded the prospect of the
unloaded half of the trip. This trip was quite a bit further, 1400 miles each
way (got a real deal on the tractor). I was contemplating hauling a 1000 pounds
of sand bags or something of the like just to dampen the ride that I knew was
going to be brutal.
Fortunately I had seen and saved a small info blurb from a tractor magazine (and
found were I put it) about a hitch that was designed to take out the vertical
vibrations I had grown to fear and also a certain amount of horizontal
vibrations. I called Travel-Lite and talked to the inventor of this hitch, Bob
Sagen. Just like most things, I waited until the last minute to pursue this. Bob
told me that he had even improved on his original design. I made the purchase
and Bob got the hitch right out, even called me to make sure that I had received
it in time.
Now here is the good part, my wife decided at the last minute to go with me, and
her back is way more sensitive than mine. I knew at that time that the Travel-Lite
hitch had better be good.
I installed the new hitch and connected the empty trailer. Following the
instructions, I inflated the air spring to ‘float’ the hitch. We packed up the
truck and off we went.
I am sure that I could write pages about how well this hitch smoothed the harsh
ride, but will keep it down to this… it worked and worked great! Now my Dodge is
a real nice riding truck empty, but with the unloaded car hauler and the Travel-Lite
hitch inflated properly, the ride was actually smoother. It really was hard to
believe! My wife said ‘tell them that this works great’. We made the 1400 miles
hauling empty and the ride was so smooth all the way, I would even forget that
the trailer was back there.
Next was to haul the Case home. After loading the tractor and positioning it for
500 pounds of tongue weight, the hitch’s air spring was inflated per the
instructions to ‘float’ the hitch.
What I found on the return trip was that the hitch would ease the great shock
that you get when hitting surprise bumps at freeway speeds. Such as crossing
some of the short concrete bridges on the freeway where the surface dips what
feels like a foot with no time to slow down. I would cringe at what was going to
happen next after hitting one of these only to look in the rear view mirror and
see everything was still there.
Our round trip of 2,800 miles was just like I like ‘em, uneventful and no bad
back or neck.
Thanks Bob!
Travel-Lite AIR SHOCKER Technical Evaluation
I am a mechanical engineer with 29 years under my belt mostly in automotive and
plenty of gray hair to show for it. I always appreciate clever mechanical ideas
and when I saw the write-up in Farm Show magazine (about 3 years ago) on your
Travel-Lite hitch. I was impressed and saved the article.
As you know horizontal shock loads from towing a trailer, that is for and aft,
really don’t occur when traveling down the road. You get some when braking and
not much when accelerating. These are not the loads that cause a harsh ride.
The trouble-makers are the vertical shock loads due to the reaction between the
rear of the tow vehicle and the trailer tongue when crossing bumps in the road.
Your hitch was able to dampen the vertical shocks very well, better than I had
anticipated. The leverage of the linkage looks like it gives maybe an inch of
vertical ball travel, which doesn’t sound like much but is enough to take out
the shock loads effectively. As the ball travels down the compression of the air
cushion causes the air pressure to increase and increase fast keeping the system
from bottoming out the travel. I never felt any clunk from bottoming out the
travel.
The harsh ride reduction was greatest when the trailer was empty. Once loaded
with 500 pounds of tongue weight the harshness is dampened by that weight.
However, I believe the reduction of shock loading the hitch system when fully
loaded is very important for safety reasons. Here is why:
My trip was to pick up an old Case tractor from a friend in Washington. While
loading the tractor my friend’s son came over, he has a weld shop and does farm
repair, and said that he has had to repair a number of pickups and hitches that
came apart or loose while towing.
I thought about that and told him that I could see that many people know enough
to position the load to give positive tongue weight but probably don’t know how
much. I have asked some experienced tractor hauler’s how they get the tongue
weight right. You typically hear things like, oh just get the rear wheels over
the trailer wheels, etc. It is real easy to over load the capacity of a hitch
and not know it especially with a rigid setup. This is due to 1) not knowing the
tongue weight due to load positioning, and 2) the impact loading while zipping
down the freeway with too much tongue weight.
I believe your hitch can save people from this kind of serious trouble by using
your hitch and the inflation method that you instruct. In the case of loading a
heavy tractor of unknown weight on a flat bed trailer, the air cushion could be
inflated to the maximum of 100psi. The tractor would be moved for and aft until
the bump stop just touches and there you go, 1,000 pound tongue weight. With
this method I would move the tractor back 4 to 6 inches for the typical tractors
I haul, and bled a little air to get the hitch set right.
Mike Winkleman
7754 E. Mawson Road
Mesa, Arizona 85207
480/722-4885
mike.winkleman@trw.com
