Hitch removal acceptable procedure?

I have a Pulrite slider and take my hitch apart. Slide the hitch on carpet on top of a cart I built, that is the same height of the tailgate. and roll every thing in to the garage. Don't like the idea of all that weight in front of the trailer and I can see myself knocking my head on it every time I access the front storage door.:S

My hitch just came out of the truck, second time since 2008. The first time it came out with a fork lift, the second was attached to the trailer. I didn't want to leave it dangling so I placed it in my utility trailer. I took it out so I could take advantage of a FREE rhinoliner.

I used the trailer to lift out the hitch as described and it worked ok but very hard to line up feet to reinstall hitch. I had to unhook hitch once it was sitting close on rails and then pull truck forward to get in bed to actually properly set feet and pin in rail. I have a Harbor Freight electric winch mounted in the rafters of garage and that works much easier. Pull pins, attach winch, lift out of bed, pull truck out from under, lower hitch to dolly, move hitch and dolly to corner of garage out of the way until needed next time..
Randu

How can one worry about the weight of the hitch damaging the king pin? The static load of the hitch is less than two hundred pounds. Compare that to the thousands of pounds of dynamic load the pin has take to pull the trailer. We've all seen pictures on semis turned over on the road where the tractor and trailer did not separate. Our fifth wheel pins are identical.

It can/has been done.
Hitches are heavy....5vrs landing gear/king pin can easily lift them out of truck

Some concerns (not mine)
Jaws getting damaged by weight of hitch hanging from them
King Pin getting damaged by weight of hitch hanging from it
Handle getting moved, releasing hitch and it falling off king pin

When I was strapping young man I would do it myself.
Then I got a bit older......still strong but I work smarter now and use mechanical advantages when possible.
I have NO concerns using king pin to lift hitch out/in truck and it can hang on king pin. If pin or jaws prone to damage/failure....then wouldn't trust them when towing

8.0 fullbed

agesilaus wrote:
We did that one year but it made me nervous since we have a semi-psychotic kid living down the road. My hitch easily breaks into two parts, the head section and the base. All I have to do is pull two cotter pins. Then I can just lift the two parts out one at a time. They are both individually light enough to manage. Much safer in my case. Takes me about 10 mins max to take our Pullrite out or to install it.

* Thank you, is your truck box a 6.5 or 8.0 please?

We did that one year but it made me nervous since we have a semi-psychotic kid living down the road. My hitch easily breaks into two parts, the head section and the base. All I have to do is pull two cotter pins. Then I can just lift the two parts out one at a time. They are both individually light enough to manage. Much safer in my case. Takes me about 10 mins max to take our Pullrite out or to install it.