RV Crushes Truck

cummins2014 wrote:

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 .

I have a B&W and manged to drop my FW, after 15 years of RV'ing. Got in a hurry and simply forgot to close the d@mn latch OR visually check the hitch. One club I was =seriously= not wanting to join. :M

Lyle

I looked at 19.44 and it clearly shows both slip plates touching each other. I can also see the thicker portion of the kingpin just below the slip plates. I see just below that the narrower portion of the kingpin and then below that the slide bar.

It is hitched for sure at 19:44! If it were "high hitched" you would see at least a 1" gap between the two slip plates.

When he hitched the kingpin was NOT fully forward in the throat of the hitch so he had to push hard to get the handle to slide past the kingpin. At this point there was enough rearward tension to keep the bar in place and the handle in to look like all was well.

His wife started filming him pulling away then had him stop. During this initial time of pulling ahead if high hitched that sucker would have dropped instantly! The video starts again and almost immediately the RV drops like a rock. Reason is when he stopped the tenion of the kingpin against the slide bar released and the slide bar released and once pulling again it drops.

CASE CLOSED!!!

After reading some other ideas I will agree it could be that the bottom of the slide bar was being forced past the top edge of the lowest thick flange of the kingpin. Either way results in the same scenario that caused the drop.

CASE CLOSED!!! Again

At 19:45 it looks like a lot, if not all of the groove in the pin is above the bar.
Don't most people look after the weight is on the truck? About the start/stop/start was enough to open a hitch, how can you drive it?

mooky stinks wrote:
Why does the video cut after the truck and trailer start moving but before the trailer falls and then comes back on as the trailer falls? It just looks weird. Like something was edited out.

Does the camera operator need to hold a button to keep recording? See the fhit hit the san might make it hard to hold...

Why does the video cut after the truck and trailer start moving but before the trailer falls and then comes back on as the trailer falls? It just looks weird. Like something was edited out.

cummins2014 wrote:

rhagfo wrote:
I agree that he is high hitched, as at 19.33 there is a slight space between the two Teflon surfaces.
Then at 19:44 you can see that space again, and it doesn't look like the sliding bar goes gar enough to the right.

Do this look at 19:33 , and see the handle position . Now go back to the video ,and start at around 3:35 , and see where they are messing with that handle , and you will see it in the CLOSED position, and then tell me that handle was closed in 19:33, it was not .

IMO if there is a gap ,its not enough to call it high hitching, when I take some of the weight off of my hitch ,yes I can see it start to separate,and a bit of gap but its not high hitched its still hooked up. Then I pull the handle ,and pull out.

If you look at that video there never was a shot of that hitch AFTER he had let the weight down. All those shots were with the landing gear down , and there could of been just a slight gap until he did let the weight down on the truck .

I won't go back thru it again what I saw first hand. After looking at that hitch that fixed teflon plate is all that is needed. He had the other on the pin box, like most do. Too much there too allow the handle to close completely bound up the handle ,the rest is history. If that lube plate had not been on that pin box, IMO that handle closes ,and he drives off.

Well I didn't mention it is high hitched, and the sliding bar can't close correctly because the bar is trying to pass the larger diameter lower part of the pin. Too many lube plates!
It also sounds like they had many tried to get hitched, that were not shown. I also think the pin box was too high when hitching, one of most when it comes to hitching a 5er. Pin box needs to start 1" to 2" lower than the hitch head.

I’ve watched these 2 many times and I like them and feel sorry for them. I have the B&W companion slider and I have a suggestion that has helped me.

I cleaned off the pin and I put red electrical tape on the very bottom on the pin. Then when I’m hooked up I can clearly see the jaws are wrapped around the middle and it’s not high sided because you can see that tape easily below the jaws. I did high side this hitch once when my wife wasn’t with me and when I backed the truck up I was too far to the left. The jaws closed and the hitch pin was on top. I picked it up right away because that tape is so easy to see.

Even though I’m confident I always do a pull test.

Sorry for them that just hurts.

Peace

Lets talk about sliding bar hitches, are they not designed to come across the narrow part of the the king pin, to hold the king pin in there tight, no fore ,and aft movement to speak of ??

What I am asking is ,if I am thinking right . Wouldn't the high hitch be with the king pin sitting on top of that bar or jaws , thats my understanding of high hitching. So if that is the case here, how much gap would it take for that sliding bar to freely start to close. IMO that would have to be pretty high . If the sliding bar was level with the larger diameter of the king pin sitting up whatever that would be ,would it even let that bar slide over at all, remember its tight in there to allow it to be tight around the smaller portion of the pin.

Maybe someone can explain better how that hitch could of been high hitched ,and then appear to have little or no gap . I don't understand how that bar can come partially across UNLESS it coming across the narrow section of the king pin, then how can anyone call that high hitching .

larry barnhart wrote:
My first thought was don't install the white plate. As others feel. Chevman

Some are not getting it . I sound like a broken record here, I saw first hand what sitting up like a 1/4" of an inch will do , and he had double plates there. Go figure. No high hitching involved at all .

rhagfo wrote:
I agree that he is high hitched, as at 19.33 there is a slight space between the two Teflon surfaces.
Then at 19:44 you can see that space again, and it doesn't look like the sliding bar goes gar enough to the right.

Do this look at 19:33 , and see the handle position . Now go back to the video ,and start at around 3:35 , and see where they are messing with that handle , and you will see it in the CLOSED position, and then tell me that handle was closed in 19:33, it was not .

IMO if there is a gap ,its not enough to call it high hitching, when I take some of the weight off of my hitch ,yes I can see it start to separate,and a bit of gap but its not high hitched its still hooked up. Then I pull the handle ,and pull out.

If you look at that video there never was a shot of that hitch AFTER he had let the weight down. All those shots were with the landing gear down , and there could of been just a slight gap until he did let the weight down on the truck .

I won't go back thru it again what I saw first hand. After looking at that hitch that fixed teflon plate is all that is needed. He had the other on the pin box, like most do. Too much there too allow the handle to close completely bound up the handle ,the rest is history. If that lube plate had not been on that pin box, IMO that handle closes ,and he drives off.