I bought the plastic disc for my fifth wheel hitch and thought it would help on the mess of grease. It worked fine and when I tried to hookup the other day the jaws would not close completely. I took off the disc and it worked perfect. Just wanted to let anyone that has same problem of what it could be.

I've sold a lot of them and never heard any thing back on this problem

I have a B&W companion hitch and only thing we could see was that the jaws are thicker than on most other hitches. I hated to take it off because it really worked great when towing.

Yes, a secure hitch was a challenge at first. After moving to a long-bed truck and pinning/removing wedge from my Sidewinder pinbox, I was able to use a disc for the first time. Reese R16 hitch and the 16k Sidewinder, the jaws of the hitch wrapped very low on the "neck" of the king pin. Adding the thickness of the plastic disk caused the jaws ride a bit lower and would catch the lower "flange" of the king pin.Uncomfortable with this, I went back to grease for a few trips. Tired of the grease, I tried the disk again. Took two tries, but got jaws to settle in around neck. Don't know if disk has compressed or worn slightly, but since then, jaws are now grabbing okay. I still watch it really close though.Hope this helps.

I have a B&W and use a disk with no issues. I do believe there are thinner ones, however. Not sure but my feeble brain tells me I read that somewhere. Have used my plastic lube plate with two different pin boxes without problems (OEM Lippert and Mor Ryde).

maxmorrow wrote:I have a B&W companion hitch and only thing we could see was that the jaws are thicker than on most other hitches. I hated to take it off because it really worked great when towing.You don't have as much room to hitch to 5er's pin...I use a disc also with the hitch in my sig., B&W 3600 RVK Companion, and if you hitch too high or too low, you may have an issue....Wife watches as I back truck under 5er and she raises or lowers 5er as needed and I'm able to use my disc...no issues.There use to be two thickness disc sold, a thinner one may be an option for you.

Plastic disc on fifth wheel hitch | Good Sam Community

Goostoff
Explorer
Jan 09, 2016
I had this problem when I bought my B&W. My crappy Curt hitch had beat the disk to death and the jaws on the B&W were too thick for the beat up disk. I got a new one and all was good in the 5th wheel world.
Old-Biscuit
Explorer III
Jan 09, 2016
They are not 'plastic'

They are Teflon hence the lubricating properties
*Allows the hitch head plate and the pin box plate to slide up over each other when hitching up (pin box plate lower than hitch head plate------eliminates high hitching)
*Allows the pin box and hitch to rotate on each other when making turns

Teflon plate replaces the need for greasing the plates.
They come in different thicknesses and dimensions

Greasing of king pin/hitch jaws still a good idea due to metal/metal contact.
greende
Explorer II
Jan 09, 2016
Old-Biscuit wrote:
They are not 'plastic'

They are Teflon hence the lubricating properties
*Allows the hitch head plate and the pin box plate to slide up over each other when hitching up (pin box plate lower than hitch head plate------eliminates high hitching)
*Allows the pin box and hitch to rotate on each other when making turns

Teflon plate replaces the need for greasing the plates.
They come in different thicknesses and dimensions

Greasing of king pin/hitch jaws still a good idea due to metal/metal contact.

OB, the type of plastic doesn't really matter, but I think you will find that the disks are made of High Density Poly. Same thing the machine slides and snowmobile slides are made of. Does the same function that you so expertly outlined, however.
Dennis_M_M
Explorer
Jan 10, 2016
As noted there are thinner ones available. You could also use a belt sander to make the one you have thinner - just watch your fingers!
Old-Biscuit
Explorer III
Jan 10, 2016
greende wrote:
Old-Biscuit wrote:
They are not 'plastic'

They are Teflon hence the lubricating properties
*Allows the hitch head plate and the pin box plate to slide up over each other when hitching up (pin box plate lower than hitch head plate------eliminates high hitching)
*Allows the pin box and hitch to rotate on each other when making turns

Teflon plate replaces the need for greasing the plates.
They come in different thicknesses and dimensions

Greasing of king pin/hitch jaws still a good idea due to metal/metal contact.

OB, the type of plastic doesn't really matter, but I think you will find that the disks are made of High Density Poly. Same thing the machine slides and snowmobile slides are made of. Does the same function that you so expertly outlined, however.

Correct .......they are a plastic (just not the type of plastic one normally thinks of)
PTFE----PolyTetraFluoroEthylene
Teflon is the brand name by DuPont

:B
RustyJC
Explorer
Jan 10, 2016
Actually, e-trailer lists the material of the Reese disc as being nylon.

It really doesn't matter to me if they're recycled milk jugs. I've used them with no problems since 1996 on both Reese and B&W Companion 5th wheel hitches.

Rusty
mach8274
Explorer
Jan 10, 2016
B&W Companion here as well. I use the Reese disc and have no issues. I was unaware of different thicknesses, I did however get the larger diameter disc.
azjeffh
Explorer
Jan 10, 2016
RustyJC wrote:
Actually, e-trailer lists the material of the Reese disc as being nylon.

Noticed that as well, however the Reese site specifies white polyethylene.

Click the Technical Specs tab on this page: Lube Plate
Cummins12V98
Explorer III
Jan 10, 2016
maxmorrow wrote:
I have a B&W companion hitch and only thing we could see was that the jaws are thicker than on most other hitches. I hated to take it off because it really worked great when towing.

Your hitch must one of the older ones that has 1 1/8" thick jaws. Contact Hensley, they sell a 1/8" thick slip plate. It also makes it easier to see what the weight is off the hitch for unhooking.
FlatBroke
Explorer II
Jan 10, 2016
Just found this 1/8"
Icon plate