Cleanup of 5th wheel accident in California
Any details on what happened here? https://youtu.be/DOnxT1S4Irw
Forum Discussion
Question for you 5er guys.
Being a truck driver, I have seen a fair amount of truck roll-overs in my day. The 5th wheel is normally still attached to the frame rail. What is left of the truck and trailer are still attached to one another.
So why did his 5th wheel come unattached from the frame?
I know you guys remove them (not fixed like on a semi) but I would think it should be affixed in a manner that could take a bit of twisting and shaking.
Is this a normal weak point in the removable system? If it can't take a bit of left/right twisting...is it also suspect to be weak with forward/backward motion?
Meaning, you could eat the trailer via the back window if you jarred it with a hard stop.
Seems to me that there would be a lot less damage if the 5th wheel kept them attached to each other...as the trailer would have helped to keep the truck upright.
Doesn't sound as if the impact would have flipped both (conjecture on my part)
Came back on the edit to add a second question.
I hear you guys talking about sideways articulating hitches. I guess this is a more comfortable ride Factor?
Having only pulled the big boys, I have only experienced with forward/ backward moving hitches, not side to side.
Is it possible that the sideways tilting motion of the fifth wheel allowed to truck to get tilted far enough under the trailer that the entire assembly snapped off?
Being a truck driver, I have seen a fair amount of truck roll-overs in my day. The 5th wheel is normally still attached to the frame rail. What is left of the truck and trailer are still attached to one another.
So why did his 5th wheel come unattached from the frame?
I know you guys remove them (not fixed like on a semi) but I would think it should be affixed in a manner that could take a bit of twisting and shaking.
Is this a normal weak point in the removable system? If it can't take a bit of left/right twisting...is it also suspect to be weak with forward/backward motion?
Meaning, you could eat the trailer via the back window if you jarred it with a hard stop.
Seems to me that there would be a lot less damage if the 5th wheel kept them attached to each other...as the trailer would have helped to keep the truck upright.
Doesn't sound as if the impact would have flipped both (conjecture on my part)
Came back on the edit to add a second question.
I hear you guys talking about sideways articulating hitches. I guess this is a more comfortable ride Factor?
Having only pulled the big boys, I have only experienced with forward/ backward moving hitches, not side to side.
Is it possible that the sideways tilting motion of the fifth wheel allowed to truck to get tilted far enough under the trailer that the entire assembly snapped off?
