School me on 5th wheel hitches please
Hi all. We have been travel trailer campers for several years and have worked ourselves up to our current trailer which is a triple slide, 36ft long very comfortable mobile suite. However, we have d...
Forum Discussion
Slide bar is the cheapest and worst kind of connection, too small of a contact patch with the king pin.
Dual jaws are better, more contact area. Some people say it is possible to hitch up but not really get the jaws fully closed around the pin and it can pull out. That is what I have used for 30 yrs. I hitch up with the jaws open and can hook up just barely 'kissing' the king pin against the hitch head. Back side of the jaws are painted white to clearly show they are closed. Never do a pull test and don't need to chock the wheels during hook up. Again been doing it this way for 30 yrs.
Single jaw that wraps around the king pin is probably the safest. But overall reliability and maintenance of the mechanism should be considered, some may be better than others.
Final note, all my experience is with 6.5 ft bed trucks and I do not use a sliding hitch. Never damaged a vehicle and never found a situation that couldn't be managed with a little extra jockeying back and forth. I feel that jack-knifing at 90 degrees is damaging to the trailer tires, bearings and suspension.
Regarding lube plate, I use them but they can also cause interference with proper hook up. Especially as they age. Dealers use fork lifts to more units around and they can destroy a lube plate in the blink of an eye.
Dual jaws are better, more contact area. Some people say it is possible to hitch up but not really get the jaws fully closed around the pin and it can pull out. That is what I have used for 30 yrs. I hitch up with the jaws open and can hook up just barely 'kissing' the king pin against the hitch head. Back side of the jaws are painted white to clearly show they are closed. Never do a pull test and don't need to chock the wheels during hook up. Again been doing it this way for 30 yrs.
Single jaw that wraps around the king pin is probably the safest. But overall reliability and maintenance of the mechanism should be considered, some may be better than others.
Final note, all my experience is with 6.5 ft bed trucks and I do not use a sliding hitch. Never damaged a vehicle and never found a situation that couldn't be managed with a little extra jockeying back and forth. I feel that jack-knifing at 90 degrees is damaging to the trailer tires, bearings and suspension.
Regarding lube plate, I use them but they can also cause interference with proper hook up. Especially as they age. Dealers use fork lifts to more units around and they can destroy a lube plate in the blink of an eye.
