Light air-ride

Trailer air-ride suspensions are designed to level out the ups and downs of a trip down the highway. Some also try to eliminate the to-and-fro: the annoying and even dangerous tendency of a detached trailer to move forward slightly when a loaded forklift bangs aboard. This is called “dock walk,” and it happens on some suspensions because with no air supply, air bags drain and the suspension squats under the sudden weight. Even though the brakes are applied, the axles and tires will rotate slightly and pull the trailer away from the dock, so much so that the result is a dangerous gap.

Some suspensions now have anti-dock-walk devices to keep the bags from collapsing as they deflate.

One of the leaders of the anti-dock-walk movement is Tuthill Transport Technologies, which recently introduced its latest air-ride suspension and van slider, the ReycoGranning 20AR/RS3162.

The company says the 20,000-pound-capacity-per-axle suspension eliminates dock walk and also cuts weight by using narrow beams and hangers, only one main crossmember, and by eliminating U-bolts in the axle attachment, weight has been removed without reducing strength.

Indeed, strength has been added by a new unitized hanger design that attaches the hangers to the sides of the rails not just at the bottom of the rails. Fillet welds to reduce stress risers join hangers and rails. The 20AR/RS3162 also includes ReyAlign, ReycoGranning’s axle alignment feature that requires ordinary tools and no cutting to true the axles.

For more information, visit www.reycogranning.com or call
905/945-2234.