Acceptable movement of Sidewinder at hitch?

I thought I would add an important update. If you have a Sidewinder/Revolution circa 2004-2008 that has 3 bolts on the turret (as opposed to 4 bolts on newer versions) they should be torqued to 90 ft-lbs according to Reese(Cequent Performance). I just found this out while asking for information about replacement parts. (I made my first trip with them torqued to 45 ft-lbs and they were much looser than that when I checked them before the trip). Oh boy...

One important point: the turret bolts should be torqued to 45 ft/lbs and checked every few thousand miles or every season. They take a 15/16" socket.
I did a cross country trip a couple years ago and leaned on the Sidewinder one day and was surprised that it moved. My turret bolts were loose.

Thank you for the info.

Torque Values........Husky/Valley 16K 4-way Articulating Hitch

1/2"---------------65-85 #/ft
9/16"-------------100-120 #/ft
5/8"--------------125-160 #/ft
3/4"--------------240-280 #/ft

No slop at all in mine but need to keep an eye on the four bolts and use loctite on them

As I said in an earlier post I found out I have a 16k Husky Hitch with a Husky Roller mounted on rails in the bed. The trailer has a Reese Sidewinder. As soon as I can get to the trailer tomorrow I will check the wedge mounted on the Sidewinder to determine if it is the proper one for a Husky Hitch and if not replace it. However I just discovered that the Husky Roller installation instructions indicates that the Husky Roller is not compatible with the use of a Sidewinder Even though the previous owner has been running this set-up for quite a while I plan on removing the Husky Roller in favor of some fixed mounts since the roller capability is not needed. A new issue I noticed is that the very large bolts on the ends of the Husky Hitch that provide the front-to-back tilt pivot point are very loose. To the point that I can manually lift the hitch and the bolts basically flop around in the holes. I have searched and searched but I can't locate any information about the torque or set-up requirements for these large bolts. Does anyone have access to this information for a Husky 16k (also marked Valley 7054 in small print). The hitch is about circa 2007 or so.
Thanks

Very useful info. I just found out I have a Husky hitch so I will need to verify which wedge is the proper one to use and then verify that is what is installed on the Sidewinder.

FWIW I will relate our experience with our Sidewinder. It was on our 5'er when we bought it used. We were surprised to discover that after every haul we had to tighten and retorque the bolts holding the wedge. We finally realized that one of the internal nuts was stripped inside the body of the Sidewinder. We found a welding shop in Texas that agreed to cut into the top of the hitch body over where the nuts were(after I signed a waiver.) They made a small hole, about 2x3" and found rust on both nuts and one completely adrift. They replaced and welded in place both nuts and then very carefully closed and reinforced the access hole and replaced the bolts as well. We've crossed the country since then with no problems and never had to torque the bolts again.

I have the Reese 16K hitch and just started with a fifth wheel. I'm using the universal wedge that came with the Revolution pin box. I think that wedge SWW-003 from Reese is made just for the Reese 16K hitch, but the universal may work well also. Make sure to perform the maintenance on the pin box, mine sheared the cotter pin on the second trip due to debris in the pivot area.

Garyl53 wrote:
Can the wedge be made too tight to the hitch causing hitching difficulty? Or is this not a concern by just tapping as far forward as possible?
Thx

I had the same problem with the Sidewinder I had. It would move as you described in the hitch funnel. The movement is really noticed on slow winding roads. I adjusted it several times, never could get the slack to fully stop and still be able to hitch with ease. If you back up as far in the hitch as you can then set the trucks brake, you can tap the wedge up tight. When you pull back forward your hitch will have some slack from the front of the funnel to the jaw around the pin, no way out of it. I used a Reese Signature Series Hitch, and a custom wedge for it, still had a little slack. The Sidewinder works as it is intended to, but I never got comfortable with that little movement at the hitch area.