RV Crushes Truck

JIMNLIN wrote:

agesilaus wrote:
They did not do a test pull tho it seems like they pulled the rv a short distance before it dropped.

With any brand RV hitch or any brand professional grade OTR hitch a high pin usually falls as the operator pulls forward and turning.
Saw my first OTR drop in a loading yard in the '70s. Newby driver thought a pull test wasn't necessary even after going through training class required by the loading yard and truck companies working out of the yard. He was sent down the road looking for another job.
As Ford guy mentioned the vid shows way too much gap between the plates (hitch plate and pin box plate). Looks like a usual rv slip plate and another thickness of some type.

Sad....all the name calling....... when someone makes a honest mistake.

Did you look at the two time frames I mentioned? It clearly shows it was hitched.

noteven wrote:
2 nylon plates = increased chance of a high hitch?

The release lever on either my Holland FW001 and my B&W will not latch when high hitched. The pin uncouples as soon as you tug test but you can see the jaws are not latched by the lever position. Both 5th wheels (“hitches”) are designed for 1 nylon lube plate.

Thats interesting you mentioned that, some insist that you can't drop a fifth wheel with a B&W , all you need is to see that the jaw is closed , well the lever position tells you they are not apparently ,but the visual tells you the jaw IS closed ??.

I think my point is there are steps to do, B&W recommends a pull test . I open my fifth wheel hitch, and the handle locks in place, and unlocks ,and closes when backed into, now the jaw I can see wrapped around my kingpin, but I make sure my handle is in all the way, and pinned closed, and then the pull test. I can't see a reason in the world why you wouldn't with a B&W.

We have one that has explained why he doesn't ,and when one step is not followed then he will drop a fifth wheel. Only takes once. But we have those that it NEVER happens .

JIMNLIN wrote:

agesilaus wrote:
They did not do a test pull tho it seems like they pulled the rv a short distance before it dropped.

With any brand RV hitch or any brand professional grade OTR hitch a high pin usually falls as the operator pulls forward and turning.
Saw my first OTR drop in a loading yard in the '70s. Newby driver thought a pull test wasn't necessary even after going through training class required by the loading yard and truck companies working out of the yard. He was sent down the road looking for another job.
As Ford guy mentioned the vid shows way too much gap between the plates (hitch plate and pin box plate). Looks like a usual rv slip plate and another thickness of some type.

Sad....all the name calling....... when someone makes a honest mistake.

I saw a guy lose a load at a rest stop, some ahole must have pulled his pin while he was in using the restroom, that's why seasoned guys will do a pull test any time the truck has been out of their sight.

RCMAN46 wrote:
The first thing I noticed the trailer tires did not have chocks.

I am sure the trailer was high hitched thus the hitch did not latch. This was most likely because of the extra lube plate.

The first picture shows what the release handle should look like when the hitch is latched.

The second shows it after connected to the trailer. You can clearly see that the hitch is not latched.

In the third picture I can still see the hitch pin as the hitch jaw has not completely surrounded the pin and locked in place.

As I mentioned in my previous post , in that case the lube plate was not letting it sit completely flat, , it did close some but not all the way, and he recognized it not closing all the way. This guy in the video did not. Probably the same issue just not sitting down far enough , held up a bit with the extra plate , just enough bind that the handle would start to close ,but not all the way.

I'll bet if they take that lube plate off ,and started over it would latch just fine. I seen it first hand , it didn't take much to not let that handle close up all the way.

noteven wrote:
2 nylon plates = increased chance of a high hitch?

The release lever on either my Holland FW001 and my B&W will not latch when high hitched. The pin uncouples as soon as you tug test but you can see the jaws are not latched by the lever position. Both 5th wheels (“hitches”) are designed for 1 nylon lube plate.

And if you had tried to pull your trailer with the B&W as the OP had done you would have dropped a trailer as he did.

2 nylon plates = increased chance of a high hitch?

The release lever on either my Holland FW001 and my B&W will not latch when high hitched. The pin uncouples as soon as you tug test but you can see the jaws are not latched by the lever position. Both 5th wheels (“hitches”) are designed for 1 nylon lube plate.

JIMNLIN wrote:

agesilaus wrote:
They did not do a test pull tho it seems like they pulled the rv a short distance before it dropped.

With any brand RV hitch or any brand professional grade OTR hitch a high pin usually falls as the operator pulls forward and turning.
Saw my first OTR drop in a loading yard in the '70s. Newby driver thought a pull test wasn't necessary even after going through training class required by the loading yard and truck companies working out of the yard. He was sent down the road looking for another job.
As Ford guy mentioned the vid shows way too much gap between the plates (hitch plate and pin box plate). Looks like a usual rv slip plate and another thickness of some type.

Sad....all the name calling....... when someone makes a honest mistake.

And as usual bad mouthing the hitch .

Helped a guy in Montana couple years ago that was trying to get hitched up .The jaws just would not close all the way. He had buggered up the lube disk a bit. Had some burrs on it , and was a bit warped and was leaving just enough gap it would not let the pin box sit flat on the hitch . He had a friend there, and insisted on a bunch of stuff, wasn't lined up going in, etc, etc. I could see that isn't wasn't sitting down tight against everything, and told them, but the friend wasn't listening too much. Kept backing in ,and pulling out to the point it was getting ridiculous . I finally said humor me here, take that lube disk off ,and try it. He backed in ,the handle closed ,and he was ready to go . I said go buy you a new disc. Everyone learned something that day.

Experience helps, and hopefully you learn enough or ask enough ,that you don't make those kind of mistakes like dropping a fifth wheel. Bad mouthing the hitches ,and the operator does not help.

The first thing I noticed the trailer tires did not have chocks.

I am sure the trailer was high hitched thus the hitch did not latch. This was most likely because of the extra lube plate.

The first picture shows what the release handle should look like when the hitch is latched.

The second shows it after connected to the trailer. You can clearly see that the hitch is not latched.

In the third picture I can still see the hitch pin as the hitch jaw has not completely surrounded the pin and locked in place.

Sad....all the name calling....... when someone makes a honest mistake.
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That's true, of course the most expensive way to learn is by experience. That said I have to confess I had the same thing happen to me. New fiver owner, high hitched, no test pull, and whamm! In my case the truck bed was only cosmetically dented so just a painless learning experience. We had a very good hitch a Pullrite. It positively locks shut. I'm not one to blame my tools, human error in my experiece is to blame for almost all of these events.

So evermore we were very very careful to be sure that we were correctly hitched and never had a problem again.

Cummins12V98 wrote:
Face it it's a crappy hitch design!

Look at 21:34 the pinbox and top of hitch head are tight to each other. It's NOT high hitched.

At 19:45 it shows the slide bar is right where it should be. If high hitched you would have seen it then.

I'm telling ya there have been MANY dropped RV's with this type of hitch with no reasonable explanation.

I have had that so called crappy hitch design, I faced it without issue. Towed a lot of miles with it, probably would still have it ,but needed a higher weight rating.

It appears to be same the style I had, you can back into with the jaws closed as long as you don't lock the handle , pretty sure the jaws cannot open when pulling against them . The handle was a crappy design.

Whatever he did was WRONG, design or not, they don't drop if properly hitched . We can jump up, and down all we want ,and blame it on the hitch, but its operator error.