Clunking noise

[ORbiker]

I'm new to the fifth wheel thing.

What is the fifth wheel hitch clunking noise? I here it when braking and starting from a slow-down or stop.

[Cummins12V98]

Learjet wrote:
yes, I keep the old universal rails and got the B&W Patriot 18k.

The hitch is solid in the rails with bigger feet and pins.

Also, the head has no slop with the pin. My Q16 I could watch the pin box slide forward and aft @ 1/2", which was OK according to the Curt Rep.

Until you have towed with a B&W hitch...........

[goducks10]

ORbiker wrote:

goducks10 wrote:
I had the same clunking with both my old Reese and new B&W Patriot. I simply put some pieces of bike inner tube under the B&W and the rails. Completely silent now.

That's the kind of answer I expect from people here on RV Net. A little ingenuity goes a long ways.

Thanks. Could you go into a little more detail? Thanks, KEN

I just cut pieces of the inner tube that look like those in Me Agains post.

[Learjet]

yes, I keep the old universal rails and got the B&W Patriot 18k.

The hitch is solid in the rails with bigger feet and pins.

Also, the head has no slop with the pin. My Q16 I could watch the pin box slide forward and aft @ 1/2", which was OK according to the Curt Rep.

[Me_Again]

Get an old inner tube and cut out pads like pictured. Tire store might have the supplies. Exacto knife or razor blade to cut the slot. Chris

[ORbiker]

goducks10 wrote:
I had the same clunking with both my old Reese and new B&W Patriot. I simply put some pieces of bike inner tube under the B&W and the rails. Completely silent now.

That's the kind of answer I expect from people here on RV Net. A little ingenuity goes a long ways.

Thanks. Could you go into a little more detail? Thanks, KEN

[2112]

I made a set of pads with an inner tube as well.

[goducks10]

I had the same clunking with both my old Reese and new B&W Patriot. I simply put some pieces of bike inner tube under the B&W and the rails. Completely silent now.

[ORbiker]

ORbiker wrote:

Learjet wrote:
I went through a set of pads with my Q16 every trip. The way I fixed my clunking was to get rid of the cheap Q16 and a get a real hitch 🙂

The Q16 did have smaller pins in the rail, and the rail point were loose and the head had lots of play around the pin. No more of this with my B&W.

Did you keep the rails and just get a new hitch, or replace the rails too?

Also
What else was better with the B & W?

[ORbiker]

Learjet wrote:
I went through a set of pads with my Q16 every trip. The way I fixed my clunking was to get rid of the cheap Q16 and a get a real hitch 🙂

The Q16 did have smaller pins in the rail, and the rail point were loose and the head had lots of play around the pin. No more of this with my B&W.

Did you keep the rails and just get a new hitch, or replace the rails too?

[Learjet]

I went through a set of pads with my Q16 every trip. The way I fixed my clunking was to get rid of the cheap Q16 and a get a real hitch 🙂

The Q16 did have smaller pins in the rail, and the rail point were loose and the head had lots of play around the pin. No more of this with my B&W.

[Me_Again]

Someone posted a while back about getting slightly larger diameter pins for the bed rails from their hitch manufacturer. Chris

[High_Sierra]

The noise may be that the trailer brakes are not equal to vehicle brakes. When you stop, the trailer glides forward and the tilt part of the hitch clunks. Then when you leave the hitch tilts back and may clunk. This is how I know when to adjust trailer brakes.

[DHCamper]

bbTX wrote:
Checkng with the dealer would be a good idea. But may well be nothing really wrong with it. Not familiar with the Curt. But my previous Pulrite Super 5th and and my current Reese Elite both had about 1/8" play where the top cradle (that rocks side to side) mounted on a shaft to the base. If I pushed forward and pulled back on the cradle, it would slide that small amount. Doesn't sound like much, but when having 13-14,000 lbs doing the push/pull every time I started/stopped it clunked. The Pulrite had a nut to tighten to take the gap out. The Reese is fully welded so I had to slip a plastic disc into the gap to close it up.

I have a Reese Elite 18k and there is less that 1/16" play in the pivot shaft clearance. I can barely spray grease onto the shaft through it. If you have an 1/8", it must be a manufacturing deviation. You might be able to get a replacement base from Reese under warranty.

[ORbiker]

Dave H M wrote:
Holy crapola OR. i am gonna track those down and order them today

On second thought they got some real bad reviews on Amazon for durability. :R

Thanks for the review info Dave.

Hopefully the dealer that installed the hitch will give me a set. I'll look at them real close and then make something better out of a tougher material.