I'm rebuilding an end dump trailer from 1978 that has a manual gate latch mechanism. I want to run it with an air chamber. What are the differences between these two styles? I would assume the spring force is the biggest difference. I have one of each on my other trailers and I have not had any problems with either one. The Tail-A-Gator is just $300 more
Hard to tell but the top picture looks like a standard service brake chamber. Air applied and a light return spring. The Tail-A-Gator has warning about a spring under high compression. My guess is it is spring applied and air released, which would probably be a safer option. Lose air or blow an air line with a regular service chamber and your gate will unlatch.
The top one is marketed as a “tail gate chamber” and is taller than a standard brake chamber. I’m assuming it has a larger return spring to give more clamping force.
I don't work on trucks/trailers much but all I have ever seen are pneumatic cylinders. I am assuming it is because of the stroke length. Going to take a lot more stroke to move latch than to rotate an S cam
If the linkage is setup correctly, either style is sufficient. What I mean by setup correctly is that the linkage needs to be over center when latched. At that point, no amount of force, or air loss, would cause it to unlatch.
Ours use ones like this , but stick with what you know, and always air to open, never to hold shut.