May 2001 DRAG RACING USA

HITCH a RIDE

RACERS

Before After

By John DiBartolomeo

Every once in awhile, a new product comes along that changes the way we’ve been doing things, and in effect, succeeds in reinventing the wheel. In the case of the Advanced Air Hitch, the reinvention of how we tow our trailers is a definite improvement in towing technology.

It’s a given that our cars take the most abuse when riding in the trailer. Dragster frames always crack, shock brackets break, and other assorted nuisances take place as we traverse our nation’s highway system. If you don’t believe us, ask horse owners. Horse people (those who carry horses in their trailers) know full well the effect and dangers that their animals are subjected to during a trip. But it’s still a risk, and probably many a horse has suffered severe damage by a bumpy trailer ride.

In the same way, many race cars have suffered damage by a trip to the track. Craig Kaplenski, president of Advanced Air Hitch, Inc., has been towing trailers all his life and has seen first hand the damage done to horses by being transported in a trailer. “After an 8 to 10 hour ride, a horse is only 30 percent physically and mentally able when they arrive,” he said. “It takes roughly two days just for them to get back to normal.” This is the reason Kaplenski conducted research and came up with a better mousetrap, in the form of the Advanced Air Hitch.

The unit itself is available to fit standard tag-along hitches, as well as fifth wheel and gooseneck hitches. The hitch consists of a Firestone Heavy Duty Air Bag assembly, the same kind used on most tractor-trailers, along with a framework that separates the trailer and the tow vehicle, to allow the trailer the ability to move on its natural axis. The framework attached to the trailer ball rides up-and-down within a channel, on state of the art composites. This up-and-down motion puts less stress on the trailer (and towing vehicle frame) and reduces the amount of wear and tear on the trailer’s contents. After hooking up, air must be adjusted in the air bag through a convenient fill valve on top of the unit, to adjust the ride height, in order to allow ample up-and-down travel.

“We’ve sold over 1000 units,” Kaplenski said, “and we have units available to fit roughly 98 percent of all towing vehicles and trailers, from standard ball mounts to fifth-wheels and goosenecks. The standard receiver hitch is also totally interchangeable from ball mounts, to pintle hooks, to weight distribution bars.” According to the company, some of the reasons for owning one of these are safety, comfort, reduced wear and tear, and of course, the old standard-common sense. Owning an Advanced Air Hitch is almost a necessity.

To give you a better idea of just how much better the ride is, take this example from my own personal experience. Before leaving on my maiden voyage with this unit, I had been working on my car. Inadvertently, I had left a small 6-32 screw on the workbench in my trailer. Not thinking about it, I shut the doors and left for a 1,000-mile trip to Florida. Bear in mind that for me, it meant traveling through the heart of the City of Brotherly Love, Philadelphia.

Apparently though, all that brotherly love takes more precedence than road repair. Stopping somewhere in North Carolina to make sure the car was even in there, I was amazed to find that screw still sitting on the workbench; maybe not in the same place, but still there, nonetheless.

Now, with the ever-increasing use of motor homes as tow vehicles, we’ve created another source of problems. No big secret here, but they were never designed to haul what we haul with them. The constant pounding of a trailer to the coach section of the unit doesn’t exactly do wonders for the cabinetry, doors, floors, etc., not to mention what it does to the frame. The one thing I really noticed even on my short test trip around the block the first time was the lack of pulling or bouncing you feel, from the back of the motor home, through the seat. We’ve all felt it as we go over bumps, but doing away with that can’t do anything but increase the value and longevity of our towing equipment. Couple this together and you might find that the folks at Advanced Air Hitch, Inc., are on to something.

http://www.airridehitch.com/