Which 5th Wheel Hitch?

[dennydecuir]

After ten years in a 30'TT, I'm planning to graduate to a 5th Wheel. I drive an F350 long bed diesel. I assume everyone has a favorite hitch, probably the one in the bed of his truck, but what should I consider when shopping for a hitch? Which should I NOT buy? I'm planning to pull about 37'. Thanks in advance.

[BarneyS]

I think we all have read enough of this same back and forth about the hitches. Time to close this one after 8 pages.
Barney

[Cummins12V98]

If someone pulls the Andersen ball latch and drives down some of these NICE highways it sure CAN separate, if not please tell me why is there a latching system at al???

With B&W and other similarly designed hitches it's impossible for the RV to separate if the hitch plate/pinbox plate are touching along with the latching handle being pinned/locked and VISUALLY confirming the 1" thick jaws are around the kingpin it can't separate! Well i guess it can "IF" the hitch breaks, NOT likely. I have not done a pull test with my current and last B&W's for at least 10 years. I sure DID with my RBW that had a sliding bar.

[bshgto1]

Posted: 08/12/18 01:00pm
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fj12ryder said

bshgto1 wrote:

And there you go we are talking about a barely adequate design and materials as apposed to over the top design and materials set up for 3 million miles of towing and a driver that is attentive to the connection as apposed to the camper owners that for the most part haven`t got a clue of the dangers. Not sure about you but don`t believe I`ve ever heard of a truck hitch failure but on a regular basis you here about your wonder hitch failing or the owner dropping the camper on his bed because " I thought it was connected" " what does high hitch mean?" it`s all over this forum and the others as well. Myrtle Beach 3 weeks ago right in front of my camper the guy dropped his unit leaving on the bed of his new truck, he had to beat his tailgate lose with a campground borrowed sledge hammer to free up the wedged pin box made for quit a morning coffee break show, yep wonder hitch sold to him by the dealer. The deal with the AU is you can`t miss the fact that it`s connected even if your stupid and you don`t have all the known or not known issues with Grandpas hitch.
You seem to be the only one talking about "a barely adequate design" but I've yet to see anyone else, and any papers that back up your opinion.

You said in your previous post that a hitch that had moving parts was just waiting to fail, but the hitches on semi's have moving parts and won't fail. Guess you're the arbiter of what will fail and what will not.

Wow, you've never seen an over-the-road driver drop his trailer due to an "Oops" moment. I have, quite a few times, and seen them drive off without hooking up the air, and trying to drive off while still hooked up to the dock. Guess those are just the ones that "haven`t got a clue of the dangers".

And please post up those B&W hitch failures that happen "on a regular basis". Please, I'm very interested to see the facts that back up your opinions.

Reply
OK, look about 13 posts down in this section there is 4 pages that show how your wonder hitch has failed and how you will beg it to release if conditions aren`t prefect, yep try that in the pouring rain with the wife hollering " is the water on yet". Like I said there is no comparison to the new style hitches.

[cummins2014]

Me Again wrote:
FWIW, semi trailers trailers do get dropped from time to time. And yes they do pull tests.

Do you do a pull test with your B&W hitch, or do you claim the same as another member that there is no need with a B&W ??

[Me_Again]

FWIW, semi trailers trailers do get dropped from time to time. And yes they do pull tests.

[Wild_Card]

Yep...no second guessing it being on the ball.

[bshgto1]

fj12ryder wrote:

bshgto1 wrote:
And there you go we are talking about a barely adequate design and materials as apposed to over the top design and materials set up for 3 million miles of towing and a driver that is attentive to the connection as apposed to the camper owners that for the most part haven`t got a clue of the dangers. Not sure about you but don`t believe I`ve ever heard of a truck hitch failure but on a regular basis you here about your wonder hitch failing or the owner dropping the camper on his bed because " I thought it was connected" " what does high hitch mean?" it`s all over this forum and the others as well. Myrtle Beach 3 weeks ago right in front of my camper the guy dropped his unit leaving on the bed of his new truck, he had to beat his tailgate lose with a campground borrowed sledge hammer to free up the wedged pin box made for quit a morning coffee break show, yep wonder hitch sold to him by the dealer. The deal with the AU is you can`t miss the fact that it`s connected even if your stupid and you don`t have all the known or not known issues with Grandpas hitch.

You seem to be the only one talking about "a barely adequate design" but I've yet to see anyone else, and any papers that back up your opinion.

You said in your previous post that a hitch that had moving parts was just waiting to fail, but the hitches on semi's have moving parts and won't fail. Guess you're the arbiter of what will fail and what will not.

Wow, you've never seen an over-the-road driver drop his trailer due to an "Oops" moment. I have, quite a few times, and seen them drive off without hooking up the air, and trying to drive off while still hooked up to the dock. Guess those are just the ones that "haven`t got a clue of the dangers".

And please post up those B&W hitch failures that happen "on a regular basis". Please, I'm very interested to see the facts that back up your opinions.

Wow, reading your post pretty much sums up what I was talking about. On the AU ball really is on the ball.

[J_E]

We have the Trailer Saver air hitch. It was the first generation so it was not designed in two pieces for easy removal. We have been using it for 15 years with a 14,000 Lb fifth-wheel. It works very well as I have never had a non-air type hitch for comparison. My understanding is if the pump fails it can still be used as a conventional non-air hitch.
Going down the road going over bumps I look back at the trailer and it is slowly pulsing up and down on the air cushions as if it is being rocked to sleep.
Good luck with your decision.

[cummins2014]

3 dog nights wrote:
These same claims and arguments were going on when I bought mine. The take away for me and my recommendation for all is what ever hitch you have, do a pull test before you raise the landing gear and drive away.

And we have a winner , what could be more true, but then we will hear no need for a pull test with B&W

[3_dog_nights]

These same claims and arguments were going on when I bought mine. The take away for me and my recommendation for all is what ever hitch you have, do a pull test before you raise the landing gear and drive away.

[fj12ryder]

bshgto1 wrote:
And there you go we are talking about a barely adequate design and materials as apposed to over the top design and materials set up for 3 million miles of towing and a driver that is attentive to the connection as apposed to the camper owners that for the most part haven`t got a clue of the dangers. Not sure about you but don`t believe I`ve ever heard of a truck hitch failure but on a regular basis you here about your wonder hitch failing or the owner dropping the camper on his bed because " I thought it was connected" " what does high hitch mean?" it`s all over this forum and the others as well. Myrtle Beach 3 weeks ago right in front of my camper the guy dropped his unit leaving on the bed of his new truck, he had to beat his tailgate lose with a campground borrowed sledge hammer to free up the wedged pin box made for quit a morning coffee break show, yep wonder hitch sold to him by the dealer. The deal with the AU is you can`t miss the fact that it`s connected even if your stupid and you don`t have all the known or not known issues with Grandpas hitch.

You seem to be the only one talking about "a barely adequate design" but I've yet to see anyone else, and any papers that back up your opinion.

You said in your previous post that a hitch that had moving parts was just waiting to fail, but the hitches on semi's have moving parts and won't fail. Guess you're the arbiter of what will fail and what will not.

Wow, you've never seen an over-the-road driver drop his trailer due to an "Oops" moment. I have, quite a few times, and seen them drive off without hooking up the air, and trying to drive off while still hooked up to the dock. Guess those are just the ones that "haven`t got a clue of the dangers".

And please post up those B&W hitch failures that happen "on a regular basis". Please, I'm very interested to see the facts that back up your opinions.

[cummins2014]

GMH wrote:
Glad you guys cleared that all up for the OP! :B I had no issues with the Reese 15K in my old truck other than a bit of chucking. The sliding bar was positively latched and I never feared losing the trailer. My new B&W is really nice. I'm not sure I believe the bit about it being "engineered" to separate in a rollover but I would be glad it happened rather than take me over with it. Proper installation and hookup is imperative with All hitches.

IMO , there is no way they could possibly engineer that in any hitch, nor want to, it would make no sense. Its a mechanical device, just the fact if it came apart with say, hard braking, or hard maneuver . Way to many variables. Where someone came up with that is a bit over the top. I know we have the B&W fan club here, but even the president of the fan club has not made that claim, and some good ones have been made :B Probably the best one is you can't drop a fifth wheel with a B&W 🙂 Of course besides this engineering one.

[cummins2014]

Dave H M wrote:
Well lets keep beating this horse. :B I cannot figure out what the pic of the smashed pick up bed and a Reese hitch in it proves.

If the guy had a B&W and drove off with the hitch open, would a B&W sense that and automatically close before the trailer came unhitched and dropped. :h

Pics like that and all the wailing on this board made me paranoid and I installed a Butches Services Attachment on my hitch. When I commented on that someone came back and asked, what if you forgot to latch the safety hitch also. it is to early or i would switch from coffee to beer. :R

I promise to behave now.

Its been close to 12years now, 11 towing with a two different Reese hitches, 1year with an Andersen. Been happy with all of them.

The hitch in question in the picture that Cummins12V98 posted, more times then we can count, , was my first hitch , it was quiet, easy to hitch, and unhitch. It had a locking mechanism that had to be locked or you were going to drop a fifth wheel, who's fault would that be if it occurred :hIs that a bad design, I guess no worse then how they designed the B&W to be locked in the open position for whatever reason. I had no issues with it, just wanted a higher weight rated hitch, so went with a 18K Reese signature hitch.

First thing I did was build a bedsaver copied from the Blueox bedsaver for the Reese hitches. Can't count how many times I read on this forum the comment " Its not if you you are going to drop a fifth wheel, but when". I can see why we would be paranoid. 12 years towing, and I won't say never, but hitching is a situational awareness, and there are steps to be followed.

Now with this Andersen its going to pretty tough to drop a fifth wheel, but I could be done.

[cummins2014]

texasjayco wrote:

agesilaus wrote:
I would avoid Reese.

At ALL COST!!! I had an 18K Reese Elite that I bought from Ford when I got the new truck in 2010. It was great for a while, but got so sloppy that the king pin would actually raise up out of the hitch!! Worst hitch ever made!!

I got a B&W recently and LOVE IT!! I tow with much more confidence now!!

And it fits perfectly in the Ford 5th wheel prep pucks.

Mark

Thats a pretty amazing statement , considering there is nowhere for the kingpin or jaws to go up, and down , possibly front to back, but up, and down not possible ,unless your kingpin had excessive wear. Have the same hitch, just not possible the way the hitch is constructed, and have towed thousands of miles with that hitch, without issue.

You are the first I have read about that has reported anything about a problem like that with the signature or elite Reese hitch.