Getting 5th wheel front cap clean without access to a hose

[dpgllg]

Hello,

While we love our new 5th wheel a unforeseen problem has come up. It is the same size as our previous 5th wheel BUT the new one with auto leveling has made it almost impossible to unhitch and hitch easily in my driveway.

I had it detailed (wash and wax) at the end of last season but the front cap is filthy and I at least want to get that cleaned up. I tried going to a Blue Beacon Truck Wash near me and because of all the gas fracking trucks in line there was a 4 hour minimum wait. The operator there said they have been backed up 24 / 7 for awhile and there is no end in site.

I'm looking for an easy way to wash the front cap while in the storage yard. There is no access to water or electric there.

The one method I thought of is I have four 5 gallon water jugs, a 5 gallon bucket, a sprayer (used for spaying chemicals in yard and garden and a long handled wash brush. I was going to fill all the water bottles mix my car wash soap and water in the bucket and wash with the long brush. Then I would use the sprayer to rinse.

Anyone with a better idea or suggestion?

Thanks in advance for your response!

Dave

[stvdman]

I use WASH / WAX ALL with their extendable pole (which is an excellent design).

[John_Wayne]

At the end of each day I have a brush on the end of an extendable pole. I just put some Meguires wash/ wax soap in a bucket. wash the front of my MH use a squeegee to clear the water off the windows and let the rest air dry. Next day I start with clean windows and no bugs on the front of the MH.

[jdb7566]

If I'm in a campground that does not allow washing, and the front cap is full of bugs, I use a foaming all survace cleaner. It might be labor intensive, but the foam softens up the bugs and crud and usually wipe off with a soft cloth. Meguires makes a wash/wax, it's not cheap and dosen't do as well on softening up the bugs. Between barley breaks, I can do the complete front cap in about an hour or two.

[Artum_Snowbird]

If you want to clean bugs and road grime very fast get some Spray Nine. Spray it on your soft wash brush or directly on your front cap, then just wash lightly with the soft wash brush and rinse with the water ideas suggested almost immediately. Bugs, grime, water marks are gone almost instantly.

[dpgllg]

RobWNY wrote:
Can't you use boards or blocks under the feet so you don't have to extend the legs so far and thereby giving you more travel to lift the 5er high enough to get connected?

OP Here,

I had 10 of the plastic pads under each of the legs. The one time that I did not have such a big issue I didn't use anything under the front legs BUT I couldn't raise the front legs high enough to get level.

Maybe 5 would work better not sure

Dave

[RobWNY]

Can't you use boards or blocks under the feet so you don't have to extend the legs so far and thereby giving you more travel to lift the 5er high enough to get connected?

[dpgllg]

Toolguy5 wrote:

dpgllg wrote:
Hello,

While we love our new 5th wheel a unforeseen problem has come up. It is the same size as our previous 5th wheel BUT the new one with auto leveling has made it almost impossible to unhitch and hitch easily in my driveway.
Dave

Don't understand why the auto level would make it hard to hitch and unhitch in your driveway. If you did your previous 5er why cant you do this one?

What am I missing?

The old 5th wheel was all manual and the legs dropped further down then on the new 5th wheel I believe.

My driveway slopes toward the road and also toward the passenger side. This makes the passenger side front jack to be extended a lot farther then the drivers side.

When the new one was parked the last time my brother was here helping me and when we went to unhitch we couldn't get the hitch (RBW hitch) to release. He ended up pulling the pins on the hitch rails and taking the hitch out of the truck leaving hitch hanging from the pin. Took the hitch off pin and installed in truck bed. When we went to hitch up again with the front of the 5th wheel lowered to the max I was about three inches below the pin. We had to put boards as a ramp to get the truck hitch high enough to engage the pin.

Dave

[Toolguy5]

dpgllg wrote:
Hello,

While we love our new 5th wheel a unforeseen problem has come up. It is the same size as our previous 5th wheel BUT the new one with auto leveling has made it almost impossible to unhitch and hitch easily in my driveway.
Dave

Don't understand why the auto level would make it hard to hitch and unhitch in your driveway. If you did your previous 5er why cant you do this one?

What am I missing?

[dpgllg]

DutchmenSport wrote:
In your Grand Design 5er, your "wet bay" or "Docking Station" as it's called for the Grand Design should have a spigot attachment with hot and cold faucets where you attach a coiled blue hose with a standard garden hose threaded connector on the other end.

I have found multiple ways to use this faucet for multiple purposes. If you have water in your fresh water tank, you can attach a garden hose to the end of the blue coiled hose, attach a garden sprayer squeeze handle, turn on the water pump inside your camper and you have water anywhere the hose will reach!

You can also use that same blue hose, attach a shorter standard garden hose and attach that to the black tank flusher. You can also attach a garden hose and put the garden hose under the camper and use for washing dishes and such outside on the opposite side of the camper or anywhere the hose will reach. Or use for washing the dog or muddy kids.

Here's a tip to make cleaning that tall front cap easier: Open the tail gate of your truck and back it up close to the 5er king pin, but not under it. Then use a short 4 or 6 foot step ladder set up in the bed of your truck. You can VERY easily reach the top of the front cap to wash it.


OK, you don't have water in the fresh water tank because it's in storage? No problem. Bring a container of water. Hook up the hose to the winterizing spigot in the wet bay. Flip the handle from fill or city water to "Winterize". Turn on your water pump, turn on the outside spigot for the blue coiled hose and you'll be able to pump as much water as you bring in your bucket.

Is the battery low or dead on your camper because it's been in storage? Plug in the trailer pig-tail to the truck, give it a few minutes to charge the battery a little. Keep it plugged in and the water pump will run. (try it, you've got nothing to loose, everything to gain.)


I do it this way because the front cap of my Montana High Country is actually a window and it gets bug covered. I had to come up with an easy way to wash it down anywhere, otherwise, it looks really ugly from inside the camper.

Thank you so much for your response! I never thought about using the onboard fresh water tank and water pump. I also have not used the winterize option as I have always stored it in an underground mine over the winter.

I do know about the ladder in the back of the truck as I am vertically challenged in the height department.

Thanks again!

Dave

[DutchmenSport]

In your Grand Design 5er, your "wet bay" or "Docking Station" as it's called for the Grand Design should have a spigot attachment with hot and cold faucets where you attach a coiled blue hose with a standard garden hose threaded connector on the other end.

I have found multiple ways to use this faucet for multiple purposes. If you have water in your fresh water tank, you can attach a garden hose to the end of the blue coiled hose, attach a garden sprayer squeeze handle, turn on the water pump inside your camper and you have water anywhere the hose will reach!

You can also use that same blue hose, attach a shorter standard garden hose and attach that to the black tank flusher. You can also attach a garden hose and put the garden hose under the camper and use for washing dishes and such outside on the opposite side of the camper or anywhere the hose will reach. Or use for washing the dog or muddy kids.

Here's a tip to make cleaning that tall front cap easier: Open the tail gate of your truck and back it up close to the 5er king pin, but not under it. Then use a short 4 or 6 foot step ladder set up in the bed of your truck. You can VERY easily reach the top of the front cap to wash it.


OK, you don't have water in the fresh water tank because it's in storage? No problem. Bring a container of water. Hook up the hose to the winterizing spigot in the wet bay. Flip the handle from fill or city water to "Winterize". Turn on your water pump, turn on the outside spigot for the blue coiled hose and you'll be able to pump as much water as you bring in your bucket.

Is the battery low or dead on your camper because it's been in storage? Plug in the trailer pig-tail to the truck, give it a few minutes to charge the battery a little. Keep it plugged in and the water pump will run. (try it, you've got nothing to loose, everything to gain.)


I do it this way because the front cap of my Montana High Country is actually a window and it gets bug covered. I had to come up with an easy way to wash it down anywhere, otherwise, it looks really ugly from inside the camper.