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johnnydiesel's avatar
johnnydiesel
Explorer
May 28, 2023

Mopar M20 Hitch 5th wheel pin loose and clunks

I purchased a 2023 Ram 3500 Diesel 4x4 Crew Cab 8 Ft bed truck new from the factory and added a 20k M20 Mopar 5th wheel hitch on the build sheet. I received the truck on March 7, 2023. Before utilizing the hitch, I went over it to check all bolts for proper torque and greased all fittings, and greased the jaw and pin on the 5th wheel. On the first trip leaving the RV dealer, I noticed loud clunking when I stopped rv, and a clunk when starting pulling the RV. This clunk was most aggravating and upon arriving home, the hitch was gone over extensively. The puck system is tight and checked with a crowbar, all bolts on the hitch head were retorqued to spec, and all grease points were lubed again. On the second trip towing the RV, the clunking upon initial pull and stopping persisted. When I grab the hitch with no RV on it, the lower area of the hitch has a tiny bit of slop, but not much. I connected the RV and had the RV moved back and forth with wheel chocks on the RV, and I could see clearly the 5th wheel sliding back and forth a large amount. I measured the pin on the RV and it is 2.00 inches in diameter with a caliper. I measured the hitch jaws opening the best I could and measures 2.15 inches. It is hard to hold the jaws level to get an accurate measurement. I called my Ram dealer, and they have no room for me to bring an RV and truck there and just want to look over the hitch, but, there is not much that can be done as it all checks out for tightness and grease. The RV dealer says it is an inherent issue with the Mopar M20 hitches. Mopar customer service is not much help. It was escalated to no avail. I don't buy this as I read so many happy customers with the M20 in 2500 and 3500 trucks on the puck system. Is anyone else seeing and having this issue and what can be done other than replacing and upgrading to another hitch, that is where I am at. I do have a video of the movement and clunk.

Link to loosness
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VRLt7W3xn65J2cNMchBItR1Iohoop5qB/view?usp=sharing
  • that is why I sold my curt hitch and went with B&W....nice and tight no slop.
  • Yup, sell the Curt/Mopar, get the B&W 3600. Lots of people use Craigslist, but I see many hitches being listed on Facebook market place, so must be selling well there also.

    No one wants to start with new truck/new hitch, and listen to it clunk!

    Learjet is correct, no noise, no slop, but very easy connect/disconnect at any angle.

    Jerry
  • DEMAND a refund and buy the B&W puck hitch. The CURT is an inferior hitch in many ways that's just a fACT along with it being Made in CHINA!!!

    "President of the B&W HeavyWeight FanBoy Club"