BIL with Superglide drops his trailer

[Me_Again]

Yesterday my BIL went to bring his trailer home from storage lot. Has trouble hooking up as he had left the battery switch on the last time in visited the trailer a few weeks earlier. Has the generator in the bed of the truck and gets the batteries going. Hooks up and makes several turns get out of the lot. Stops at the highway entrance and waits on traffic, gets a clear spot and takes off and the trailer drops off the truck completely, ripping off his 5th wheel tailgate.

Storage lot owner and a bunch of guys come to his aid. He has to use the generator again to charge batteries to be able to lift trailer back to hitching height and get hooked back up.

He does not know what he did wrong!

I am not familiar with the Superglide head and latch, but the day before he moving a trailer for a friend between sites at another park.

I have not looked at his rig yet, he however says damage was mostly to the 5th wheel tail gate.

[johndeerefarmer]

I had a SuperGlide a few years ago. First time out the latch mechanism got bent and had to be replaced. Half the time when unhitching I couldn't get it to turn loose. I sold that hitch 6 months after getting it

[Cummins12V98]

blofgren wrote:

Etstorm wrote:
During the summer, I hooked with my Superglide, did a test pull, then pulled out of the park. I had to stop and start at the gate then at a red light. Drove 2 miles stopped and started again, then drove 43 miles to the exit I was taking when my fiver came loose landing in the bed of the truck.

I have not figured out what went wrong but I now have an Andersen

Wow, that's scary....

What? That he bought an Andersen. 😉

[blofgren]

Etstorm wrote:
During the summer, I hooked with my Superglide, did a test pull, then pulled out of the park. I had to stop and start at the gate then at a red light. Drove 2 miles stopped and started again, then drove 43 miles to the exit I was taking when my fiver came loose landing in the bed of the truck.

I have not figured out what went wrong but I now have an Andersen

Wow, that's scary....

[B_O__Plenty]

thomas201 wrote:
X3 Get out, bend over and look with a flashlight. Check that the pin is captured by the fifth wheel. You may be high hitched, or maybe submarined the pin (pin rode up and over, dropped in front of the fifth wheel). Do it the same way every time. Don't let people or events distract you. Checklists are good, if you use them.

I agree 100% One of the first things you learn in a class A drivers training class is to get out and shine your flashlight at the pin and make sure it is properly latched. It is very easy to high hitch a Super Glide. Had one.
B.O.

[Etstorm]

During the summer, I hooked with my Superglide, did a test pull, then pulled out of the park. I had to stop and start at the gate then at a red light. Drove 2 miles stopped and started again, then drove 43 miles to the exit I was taking when my fiver came loose landing in the bed of the truck.

I have not figured out what went wrong but I now have an Andersen

[Me_Again]

Bird Freak wrote:

Me Again wrote:

Bird Freak wrote:
I have also used a SG for years. When you hear it snap in its locked.
Thing that caught my attention was he said he moved a friends trailer before.
Did it have the SG plate on the pin box? It had better!

NOPE, just a king pin hanging down. Why would that matter? Just would not do the auto slide???

The SG is designed for the whole saddle plate to turn not have the pin box turn on the hitch. He could very easily have damaged the hitch with two pivot points. Pullrite makes it very clear not to hitch without the capture plate.

He moved a trailer within a park from one site to another. A block or two.

[ford_truck_guy]

Cummins12V98 wrote:

REBEL

ONLY when I have to be ..:B

[Cummins12V98]

ford truck guy wrote:

Me Again wrote:

Bird Freak wrote:
I have also used a SG for years. When you hear it snap in its locked.
Thing that caught my attention was he said he moved a friends trailer before.
Did it have the SG plate on the pin box? It had better!

NOPE, just a king pin hanging down. Why would that matter? Just would not do the auto slide???

Correct, A few have "locked out" their SuperGlides and removed the capture plate for different reasons with no issues.. Me being 1 of them

REBEL

[Bird_Freak]

Me Again wrote:

Bird Freak wrote:
I have also used a SG for years. When you hear it snap in its locked.
Thing that caught my attention was he said he moved a friends trailer before.
Did it have the SG plate on the pin box? It had better!

NOPE, just a king pin hanging down. Why would that matter? Just would not do the auto slide???

The SG is designed for the whole saddle plate to turn not have the pin box turn on the hitch. He could very easily have damaged the hitch with two pivot points. Pullrite makes it very clear not to hitch without the capture plate.

[time2roll]

Me Again wrote:

Bird Freak wrote:
I have also used a SG for years. When you hear it snap in its locked.
Thing that caught my attention was he said he moved a friends trailer before.
Did it have the SG plate on the pin box? It had better!

NOPE, just a king pin hanging down. Why would that matter? Just would not do the auto slide???

If the hitch head is allowed to rotate independent of the pin box it could slide uncontrollably and possibly be damaged.

[ford_truck_guy]

Me Again wrote:

Bird Freak wrote:
I have also used a SG for years. When you hear it snap in its locked.
Thing that caught my attention was he said he moved a friends trailer before.
Did it have the SG plate on the pin box? It had better!

NOPE, just a king pin hanging down. Why would that matter? Just would not do the auto slide???

Correct, A few have "locked out" their SuperGlides and removed the capture plate for different reasons with no issues.. Me being 1 of them

[Me_Again]

Bird Freak wrote:
I have also used a SG for years. When you hear it snap in its locked.
Thing that caught my attention was he said he moved a friends trailer before.
Did it have the SG plate on the pin box? It had better!

NOPE, just a king pin hanging down. Why would that matter? Just would not do the auto slide???

[Me_Again]

schlep1967 wrote:

Me Again wrote:

schlep1967 wrote:
Just a general reminder to all 5th wheel owners... If the battery in the trailer is dead, you most likely have a good one in the truck you are trying to hook up. Use jumper cables and raise the trailer to the height you need it. Leave it just a little low so the weight lifts off of the legs when you hook up. Then pull the pins and raise the legs for travel.
I have cables long enough to reach the trailer battery when hooked up so I could raise the legs after being hooked up.

Also, in the two times I have had to do something like this to unhook, both time I forgot to unhook the umbilical cord before pulling out from under the trailer. Especially after doing something unusual when hooking or unhooking, start over and walk through your normal steps before proceeding.

Jumpering off these new trucks with all their electronics is not a very wise thing to do, plus the chance of blowing alternator diodes.

Tell you what, compare the motor size on your landing gear to the starter on your truck. As long as I am intelligent enough to hook up the cables correctly, I have no fear of hurting a truck by jumping another 12 volt system.

Unless of course you can show me in the manual where it says you shouldn't do it.

Has nothing to do with the landing gear motor. It is the surge of current hooking the truck to the dead batteries in the trailer or another vehicle.

[bobsallyh]

Certainly did not do the jerk test!