I haven't needed he bungee cord trick but will keep it in mind.  At one time I wedged a short 1/4" board between the back of the hitch and the 5th wheel to keep it from banging around when I was driving (unhitched of course).  However that was only till I got around to adjusting it.
I keep mine pretty tight.  Once I had it so tight I could hardly move it.  I decided I had gotten carried away a bit and backed it off some - but still fairly stiff.
We're full time and move pretty often a good part of the year, it seems I have to tighten it up every couple of months.  For others with the pullrite, is that fairly common?