2oldman wrote:
T-10 Parabolic wrote:
how do you align the king pin with the hitch???? T-10
I have an MDT, a Freightliner M2 Business Class hauler. I use the rear camera, as there's really no other way. I cannot see the hitch from either the 4 seater cab or using mirrors.
I had to put a length of white tape on the kingpin to know where the kp was in relation to the hitch. Then I had to get used to which way to turn the wheel when looking at a reverse image. Then I had to learn to deal with the seemingly random up and down movement of the air hitch and truck air when both hitching up and unhitching. I came from a 'simple' solid, visible hitching of my old F450.
I'm very happy with my MDT. I tried an HDT with a similar transmission to the OP's, and the clutch was extremely hard to push. Knowing that I would have to be doing that a lot when backing, I passed on any clutched vehicle. My truck cost considerably more than the OP's.
Howdy 2oldman,
Thanks for adding to the discussion. I can only say that the clutch on my Freightliner is easy to use for what little time it is needed to include holding it while waiting for a light to change.
As to backing up and hooking up to the trailer, for me its easier then when doing it with the Dodge. The deck on my HDT is 4 inches narrower then the width of my trailer, I put a piece of black tape about 3 inches long on each front side of the trailer positioned so that the outside edge of the tape is 2 inches from the outside edge of the trailer; this allows simply backing the truck up using the mirrors to align the outside edge of the truck deck with the outside edges of the tape this puts the king pin right in the middle of the 5th wheel hitch opening. I put a white line that I can see in the mirror on left side on top of the truck deck that is on line with the center of the 5th wheel hitch, I use the tape to align the truck with the trailer and the white line to know when I am getting close to the hook up point of the hitch, easy to do by myself, no camera needed.
