What happens when you are distracted

RustyJC wrote:

fj12ryder wrote:
But if you'll notice: it looks like the hitch arm is pinned open. Doing that almost guarantees that you'll drop the 5th wheel at some point.

I believe we've had this conversation before. B&W's INSTRUCTIONS specifically state to pin the handle in the open position when unhitching:

STEP 7: UNATTACHING TRAILER

Lower landing gear and block the trailer wheels. Raise the trailer until the tongue weight is removed from the truck. Then, unpin the Companion RV handle and rotate to the open position to unlatch the jaws. If the jaws do not open, readjusting the landing gear may relieve pressure and allow them to open. Use the safety pin to lock the handle in the open position and when you are sure that the landing gear will support the trailer, move the truck forward to release the jaws from the kingpin. The jaws will always open when the pressure of the trailer is taken off the RV Companion as the truck pulls away.

I've followed this procedure since installing my first B&W Companion in 2001 and haven't dropped a trailer yet. If someone chooses to do it differently, that's fine, but don't crucify the OP for unhitching in accordance with B&W's procedures insofar as pinning the handle open is concerned. He just missed the little landing gear thingy! :S

Rusty

Rusty, I think we all =ass=umed that this was a hitching accident, not unhitching. We now have the full story from the OP.

Lyle

JumboJet wrote:

laknox wrote:

newman fulltimer wrote:
What did you do just not close the hitch?

I'd like to know, too. That's a B&W Companion, and you almost have to purposely screw something up to do this.

Lyle

The tall looking fellow in the 2nd picture is the owner of the truck. I am the repairman.

He stepped out of his truck and was distracted for a few minutes by another camper. He didn't follow his normal routine and unlatched the B&W before dropping the legs. The camper rolled backwards off the hitch. A pin catcher would have saved the damage.

Next: Repair the damage to the underside of the RV overhang. Will be using bright aluminum tread plate for the repair.

That's why =my= first step is chocking the wheels before anything else. Nice job, BTW. Got pics of the FW, before and after?

Lyle

JumboJet wrote:

laknox wrote:

newman fulltimer wrote:
What did you do just not close the hitch?

I'd like to know, too. That's a B&W Companion, and you almost have to purposely screw something up to do this.

Lyle

The tall looking fellow in the 2nd picture is the owner of the truck. I am the repairman.

He stepped out of his truck and was distracted for a few minutes by another camper. He didn't follow his normal routine and unlatched the B&W before dropping the legs. The camper rolled backwards off the hitch. A pin catcher would have saved the damage.

Next: Repair the damage to the underside of the RV overhang. NiceWill be using bright aluminum tread plates for the repair.

nice straightening job just a slight ripple under the cap

JumboJet wrote:

laknox wrote:

newman fulltimer wrote:
What did you do just not close the hitch?

I'd like to know, too. That's a B&W Companion, and you almost have to purposely screw something up to do this.

Lyle

The tall looking fellow in the 2nd picture is the owner of the truck. I am the repairman.

He stepped out of his truck and was distracted for a few minutes by another camper. He didn't follow his normal routine and unlatched the B&W before dropping the legs. The camper rolled backwards off the hitch. A pin catcher would have saved the damage.

Next: Repair the damage to the underside of the RV overhang. Will be using bright aluminum tread plate for the repair.

You sure got a durn good buffing machine...

blofgren wrote:
It certainly doesn't take much of a brain fart to cause a real problem. One time I couldn't figure out why my hitch was not latching; that is until I noticed that I still had the handle locked in the open position!!:S

Same here, that's when the questioning DW mode kicks in and this is usually the only time DH appreciates it.

laknox wrote:

newman fulltimer wrote:
What did you do just not close the hitch?

I'd like to know, too. That's a B&W Companion, and you almost have to purposely screw something up to do this.

Lyle

The tall looking fellow in the 2nd picture is the owner of the truck. I am the repairman.

He stepped out of his truck and was distracted for a few minutes by another camper. He didn't follow his normal routine and unlatched the B&W before dropping the legs. The camper rolled backwards off the hitch. A pin catcher would have saved the damage.

Next: Repair the damage to the underside of the RV overhang. Will be using bright aluminum tread plate for the repair.

TomHaycraft wrote:
That could have so easily been me last weekend!

New (to me!) truck with a long bed. I pinned the Reese Sidewinder required for my prior SWB truck (and removed the wedge) and tried to use a lube plate. Seemed to hitch fine, jaws closed, button on front of Reese R16 hitch pushed out, maybe not quite as far as before, hitch handle swung (mostly) into the lock position. Two red flags I didn't fully investigate.

Pull test was fine. I got it out from under the covered parking and on to level ground. Stopping to check level and give it another look-over. This time I saw that the arm of this hitch wasn't all the way into the locked position. Feeling under the hitch head, I found how little was caught and up in the correct position.

The thickness of the lube plate caused the king pin to ride a bit high. I unhitched, remomved lube plate, got out my grease, hitched back up.

I was lucky.

Last time we hitched up we too had problem with the lube plate preventing a complete lock on the hitch head. Since we were only going a short distance, we removed the lube plate, hitched, and locked and headed home.

It certainly doesn't take much of a brain fart to cause a real problem. One time I couldn't figure out why my hitch was not latching; that is until I noticed that I still had the handle locked in the open position!!:S

fj12ryder wrote:
But if you'll notice: it looks like the hitch arm is pinned open. Doing that almost guarantees that you'll drop the 5th wheel at some point.

I believe we've had this conversation before. B&W's INSTRUCTIONS specifically state to pin the handle in the open position when unhitching:

STEP 7: UNATTACHING TRAILER

Lower landing gear and block the trailer wheels. Raise the trailer until the tongue weight is removed from the truck. Then, unpin the Companion RV handle and rotate to the open position to unlatch the jaws. If the jaws do not open, readjusting the landing gear may relieve pressure and allow them to open. Use the safety pin to lock the handle in the open position and when you are sure that the landing gear will support the trailer, move the truck forward to release the jaws from the kingpin. The jaws will always open when the pressure of the trailer is taken off the RV Companion as the truck pulls away.

I've followed this procedure since installing my first B&W Companion in 2001 and haven't dropped a trailer yet. If someone chooses to do it differently, that's fine, but don't crucify the OP for unhitching in accordance with B&W's procedures insofar as pinning the handle open is concerned. He just missed the little landing gear thingy! :S

Rusty

That could have so easily been me last weekend!

New (to me!) truck with a long bed. I pinned the Reese Sidewinder required for my prior SWB truck (and removed the wedge) and tried to use a lube plate. Seemed to hitch fine, jaws closed, button on front of Reese R16 hitch pushed out, maybe not quite as far as before, hitch handle swung (mostly) into the lock position. Two red flags I didn't fully investigate.

Pull test was fine. I got it out from under the covered parking and on to level ground. Stopping to check level and give it another look-over. This time I saw that the arm of this hitch wasn't all the way into the locked position. Feeling under the hitch head, I found how little was caught and up in the correct position.

The thickness of the lube plate caused the king pin to ride a bit high. I unhitched, remomved lube plate, got out my grease, hitched back up.

I was lucky.