Urgent pull rite hitch help needed

When disconnecting, we just back into the hitch with a chock in place and the lever always releases. We always walk the pin box up the hitch when connecting, we have had a Pullrite hutch for over 10 years with no issues.

schlep1967 wrote:
...
When hitching you want the pinbox to hit about the middle of the plate and ride up the plate and into the slot. When it goes in the the curved jaw will snap into place behind the pin.

When unhitching you want to raise the trailer taking most of the weight off the suspension of the truck. Make sure to chock the trailer wheels at this point. Then put the truck in reverse and ease back. Set the parking brake. Then put the truck in Park. Now go see how easy it is to unlatch the hitch. Unhook cord and brake safety cable and ease the truck out from under the trailer.

This is EXACTLY how I have been doing it and no more problems. I usually don't need to put it in reverse during the process.

I would occasionally have problems pulling the lever when 'looking for the light'. I guess I was going too high or otherwise putting it in a bind. I have had to pull my side pins twice before to get the hitch off of the pin. I stopped looking for the light (gap)and now it's all good.

ol Bombero-JC wrote:

schlep1967 wrote:

Ignore the first sentence!

The "anybodys" are referring to UN-hitching.

~

And like I said, If you lift the trailer off the plate you risk pinching the jaws between the bottom lip of the pin and the bottom of the hitch plate. If you continualy do this you will damage the latching part of your hitch. There may be some fifthwheel hitches out there that the instructions tell you to do that. Pull-Rite is not one of them. Again look at how the system works. Look at the pin shape. Get a yardstick or other thin piece of wood and look under the hitch. You will see a small protusion sticking down. Carefully push on that with the stick until the hitch snaps shut while keeping fingers out of the way. Now with the jaw closed look at the hitch. The "post" fits through the hole you see down the middle. The "lip" at the bottom of the post is larger than the hole down the middle. As long as the pin box is sitting flush on the plate there is no way the "lip" at the bottom can bind on anything preventing you from pulling the handle and unlatching or from easily pulling out from under the pin box. If you lift the pinbox off the plate you can pinch the jaw between the bottom "lip" and the bottom of the plate. Making it hard or impossible to unlatch. If you do get it unlatched and the pull out you will be dragging that "lip" across the moving parts of your hitch.

I worked as a yard jockey at a trucking company for 10 years. Hooking and unhooking up to 100 times a night. I've been using a pull-rite for 4 years and have never had any problem hooking or unhooking while useing the proper technique as described in the instruction book I got with the pull-rite hitch. Keep the pin box on the plate when hooking and unhooking.

schlep1967 wrote:
Do yourself a favor. Ignore anybody that tells you that you should see daylight between the plate and the pinbox. Look at the pin on the pin box. It looks something like an upside down "T". The latch part of your hitch fits between the the lip at the bottom and the flat at the top. If you lift the trailer until you see daylight you can pinch the latch between the bottom lip and the underside of the plate.

When hitching you want the pinbox to hit about the middle of the plate and ride up the plate and into the slot. When it goes in the the curved jaw will snap into place behind the pin.

When unhitching you want to raise the trailer taking most of the weight off the suspension of the truck. Make sure to chock the trailer wheels at this point. Then put the truck in reverse and ease back. Set the parking brake. Then put the truck in Park. Now go see how easy it is to unlatch the hitch. Unhook cord and brake safety cable and ease the truck out from under the trailer.

Ignore the first sentence!

The "anybodys" are referring to UN-hitching.

("bpounds")- "Scariest thing" = Wow! - Very! ..:E

OP - No disrespect intended, but a thorough inspection of your hitch *for damage* is in order by someone other than yourself!

A Blue Ox Bedsaver might be a good investment also.

BTW - prime example of "why" to tell folks asking where/how to jack trailer wheels off the ground - to *NOT* jack under the axles!
The mechanical skills & ability of the person asking is *unknown* on a computer monitor..:R

~

Do yourself a favor. Ignore anybody that tells you that you should see daylight between the plate and the pinbox. Look at the pin on the pin box. It looks something like an upside down "T". The latch part of your hitch fits between the the lip at the bottom and the flat at the top. If you lift the trailer until you see daylight you can pinch the latch between the bottom lip and the underside of the plate.

When hitching you want the pinbox to hit about the middle of the plate and ride up the plate and into the slot. When it goes in the the curved jaw will snap into place behind the pin.

When unhitching you want to raise the trailer taking most of the weight off the suspension of the truck. Make sure to chock the trailer wheels at this point. Then put the truck in reverse and ease back. Set the parking brake. Then put the truck in Park. Now go see how easy it is to unlatch the hitch. Unhook cord and brake safety cable and ease the truck out from under the trailer.

Just to be sure you understand -- you slide the hitch under the trailer's pin box, slightly raising the trailer as you do so. Be sure you are as close to no angle with the trailer as possible hooking and unhooking.

RVcrazy wrote:
Yep, it was high hitched. It sounds like we have been doing it wrong ever since new! I still don't understand exactly what we should be aiming for when we hitch. Hubby says he understands, but he's not the one watching when he backs up. We have been looking in the hole and centering the hitch pin, then lowering the weight onto the truck. Their booklet is not very helpful!

We did get the truck unhitched and pull rite is sending the parts to have it fixed.

This may be the scariest thing I have read on RV.net. How long have you been hitching that way?

Happy for you that you made it safe thus far. Could have been a big disaster.

Thanks!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!

Jerimiah's video link is good. It clearly shows the pinbox plate on the trailer about 1 inch lower than the top of the hitch plate in the truck. Then when you back up, the plates slide over each other and the truck lifts the trailer slightly. If you try to hitch with the truck too high you stand the risk of the jaws of the hitch not grabbing the pin correctly.

This is a Reese video but its illustrates the hitching procedure.

Hitching Procedure

Thanks!

Jeremiah