5th whel hitch

[RJOL]

Originally posted by Dkevdog

... I also like the idea of painting the jaws on the hitch. How long does the paint last before it is scraped off???

My 15K Reese Trail Boss hitch has a bar that slides in front of the kingpin. It is not the "jaw" type. I painted the trailer side of the bar white just in front of where the king pin would be when closed. When I check, if I see white, it's locked. Any other color, and it's not...

 

[CPH]

Hitch

I have an old RBW. I just cock it open, back up to the king pin and let it lock itself in place No mistaking the connection. When I jack the legs up I just look and make sure the bar is across the pin. Works every time.







cph

 

[SWC]

My Scary Experience

I finally checked into this thread and figured I would add my story. I have been running with a deck on the back of my trucks for many years and have a fifth wheel plate similar to a big rig, but it is a bit smaller. (It is good for 30,000 lbs but have never been close to that. ) I have had this hitch for over 10 years and know the odd time the jaws have not closed properly when I pull away and the pin has dropped onto the deck and left its usual embarassing evidence. This would happen on my farm yard. My livestock trailer and grain trailer have sturdy jacks and as some of you do, my routine is to pull ahead while the jack is down. If jaws did not latch I would know. This particular time I had purchased a 3 ton load of feed from a dealer in a near by city, unhooked the trailer to do some other business and came back to hook up and go home. I did my usual pull ahead and visual check of the handle when I lifted the jack, plugged in the lights/brakes and hooked the brakeaway. I drove 1/2 block made a right turn, another block and left turn when I heard this awful sound of the pin sliding on the steel deck and off. I was in the middle of an intersection and was trying to crank up the the jack while some traffic was driving by. A commercial trailer business was at the corner and some kind soul came out with a forklift and helped me out.



I have thought about this incident on many occassions, and still don't know what I missed. I am just so thankful that this happened at less then 5 mph and not at a higher speed. After this accident I had a welding shop put a heavy bar on the ramp part of the fifth wheel that I can slide in and latch. THIS WILL NOT HAPPEN AGAIN!!!



This happened when I had a 91 Chev 3500, 454, 4 speed trans, with 3. 73 rear end. I would like to blame it on the truck but alas I have to blame myself.



Stan

 

[Paul Somers]

I have talked to at least five campers that have had their 5er drop off hitch onto bed of truck. In every case it was a Reese hitch. Not saying the Reese isn't a good hitch, it just has to have the locking lever down and locked on the pull rod. With the Reese you can leave the handle in and backing into 5er will cam jaws open then latch. If you don't put locking lever down onto rod it can cam open on hard forward pull.

 

[Turbo Thom]

Paul:

I am pulling with a 15K lb Reese and it locks with a bar that slides across the rear of the king pin, to latch. The bar is welded to the exterior handle and when the handle is rotated down the locking plate goes up into the area the king pin slid into on the fifth wheel plate. With the that lock in place I just don't see how the thing can come unlocked. After these post I'm going to be studying if it is possible.



Thanks all for the input.



. . Preston. .

 

[RJOL]

Preston... I think the type of hitch you have may be the same as mine. It is a Reese Trail Boss 15K. The kind hitch that some of these threads describe is different then ours. Ours has a bar that goes in front of the king pin. When you rotate the handle down, and lock it, it puts a tab up into the hitch that prevents the hitch head from rocking side to side. The only way this type of hitch can come open (not including a total failure of the hitch mechanism) is for the bar to work its way open, which is unlikely, but can be totally prevented by locking the hitch...

 

[RBales]

5th Wheel Hitch

Hey Turbo,



I'd have to call it operator error. I've pulled a 5th wheel camper for many years and have never had this problem. However, some new hitches have the mechanism hardware come loose and allow enough slop for the hitch to open. The fix is to install self locking nuts on the hardware bolts, or drill & cotter key, or safety wire. ou do have to feel sorry for anybody that has had this problem, since it causes a great deal of damage. Just be careful when hooking up & unhooking and the problem goes away. Also check your hitch after stopping for food or fuel if your rig was out of your sight for any lenght of time. Some people have a warped sense of humor at the expense of others.



DriveBy Bob