grease or glide plate

When I bought this 5th wheel it had one already installed. My first 5th wheel did not. I noticed after a few months that I continually had problems hitching up. It was embarassing sometimes. I experienced absolutely no problems with the old 5th wheel. Why all of a sudden now do I have trouble getting the hitch to pivot to a corresponding angle of the king pin plate.

The front of the king pin plate on the 5th wheel is square. When you position this plate 1/2 inch below the surface of the hitch plate it will "cam" or move the rotating hitch to the correct positon. Now when there is a round teflon pad on the king pin, it makes the front of this area "round" and no camming or proper movement for alighnment will occur. This caused me great difficulty especially when trying to hitch up in areas that were not perfectly level.

The king pin must be greased anyway. Those getting grease on their clothing will do it anyway even with the pad. Why have a pad and cause yourself hitching problems?

After removing the teflon pad I once again have absolutely no problem with hitching up.

Then Teflon disc is better but when hooking up have the rig high enough or the friction can tear up the disc. Also for those that might try not using anything that could cause a wreck on a slippery road. Going into a turn with a heavy hitch weight and no lubrication on the plate might cause the tow vehicle to continue straight ahead.

teflon plate; I find enough other sources to get dirty
Jim

'Smug'.......that's just one finger glop

At least that was what Mom called it when she jammed a glop of Mentholatum up our noses when we got sick

I might try switching to the graphite - got a source?
I always used the teflon plate until I got a new hitch... clearances are really tight and it would catch the plate and break after a few hitch ups (the guy who sold it to me warned me about that).

I broke one plate then switched to spray grease, but it is messy.

Include me in the "teflon disk with a smug ;) of grease on the recessed portion of the pin" crowd.

Neither. Slip plate graphite spray. Spray it on, it dries.

Are we having fun yet?

Teflon plate.

A

Dunno about better, but the nylon disc is sure cleaner. :)

rhagfo wrote:

Old-Biscuit wrote:
Your choice.....

Teflon plate
..........

Teflon plate with just a smug of grease on king pin/hitch contact points.

Say Old Biscuit, just what unit of measurement is a "Smug"?

Same as a smidgin just one is metric