Air Ride Trailer

My 2 cents.

I know there is air over leaf suspensions out there, heck my airliner suspension is air over leaf. But I don't think adding bags to a hotshot, even if you can would really help. The reason they are requesting air is because the product must be somewhat sensitive to vibration..

Either get the real Ridewell, or whomever is making good light duty hotshot style air ride, or skip it altogether. On spot market, you will see one a month or so, that has a pretty good rate attached to an "air ride only" load that will fit a hotshot. I like to BS brokers all the time, even know I didn't have an air ride wagon at the time, just too gain any insight I can..

Once broker hears you got air on the trailer, but a spring ride truck they "usually" don't want you on the load anyway. That, IMO makes air ride a virtual useless investment for a hotshot. Except the trailer will pull a bit smoother. Also if there is an insurance claim, it may become an issue too..?

I took this air ride only load, partially by accident. Paperwork said ~$675,000 gold immersion machine. Took it from St. Pete, to Miami, FL. Bound for Malaysia, expedited to DHL air freight. Magically no one mentioned the word air ride till it was strapped down, with ~5 hours till plane departure. Shipper: "Hey, that trailer air ride, right.?" Ahhhhhh, yep, you bet. My hesitation caused a funny look, but he never got down & crawled under to look..

My truck was air ride rear at this point, but still a leaf sprung hotshot. Luckily FL has about the best roads in the country. That's the only thing good about this pecker shaped state. I took a gamble. Sometimes the stars align & you win..

They put these little tattle tales on the crates too make sure it wasn't shook too bad. I got pickup & drop pics to cover my ace. Probably wouldn't do it again, but now I don't worry cause I'm air everywhere..

 

I have never seen one of those Tipp N Tell signs before. So simple but pretty slick.

 

Back in the 80's we got a lot of loads. Because all our trailers had air ride. But 75% of that was from NASA, and Military loads. Those Computers back then, did not like much shock.

 

Just a few days ago, I saw a F350 pulling a tridem dually trailer.

What caught my eye right away was the air ride suspension under the trailer.

Looks identical to what normally is under the big trailers.

 

Wow, really? Every piece of equipment I ever shipped had them. We also put them INSIDE When shipping overseas, because, they mysteriously disappear from the crates. If they were missing, we didn't sign off and release the transporter until they could be verified.

 

Right, I believe Ridewell makes a nice self contained air ride for hotshots wagons. Lift axle & all. By self contained I mean it has an electric compressor, 12v battery, a trickle charger through the 7way, some even have a solar charger as well..


For OP.
I should edit my post above. Maybe some shipper, brokers won't mind, but when I asked about a dozen times about the truck being spring ride, they didn't like the sound of that. Possibly get one of the EZ Floater mini 5th's, & air ride wagon you'd be more in play.?





When an air ride only came up I'd be upset for a few mins, but awhile later something else will come along & you'll forget all about it. Unless you got steady freight that needs air ride, I'd forget about trying to half arse it by adding bags to what you got. If the time comes & you really need it, retrofit a full air ride kit, of trade yours in for one with it..

Just remember, the air ride only loads are going to be high dollar freight. Be extra cautious when taking them. Big claims if something goes wrong. Make sure the rate reflects the risk..

 

Funny you mentioned inside the crate.!
I distinctly remember the boss scolding one of his lackeys about them being on the outside. They took the tops off all 3 to attach 2 inside of each box. Slowing the load down even more.

It's a bit over a 3hour drive to the Miami DHL terminal from St. Pete. The second I rolled in they had a fork lift & highboy trailer along side me. Transferred off mine onto their's, took pick to CMA, & off to the cargo plane it went. Luckily for them there must have been no low clearance on the 2 mile trip, cause the big box must have stood 15'5" tall on their highboy.. LoL

 

Air ride does it's thing, but then when the 747 lands it's all on them. I had a machine break through a crate on a hard landing at CDG airport in France. When the thing rolled in, I knew I'd be there a couple of extra weeks. That was fun to fix.

 

Used to get sensitive shipments in crates with ball and spring accelerometers for two axis's on them, if the ball did fall, you refused the shipment.