a coworker shared this with me today..

he was loaded up for a trip, when he was leaving his house his hitch let go of his fifth and slammed down onto the bed of the truck. he hocked back up to put it away and it happened again. please take heed and let's learn from this.
make sure both locks lock into place around the pin.


This also goes for me, i have a reese hitch also... and no it wasn't me that this happened to........

 

Hmmm almost funny, I posted this yesterday in the thread about hitches in a short bed...

"I have been running a Husky slider in my current truck and ran a Husky in my previous truck too. They have held up well in the commercial world. I like the way they latch better than the Reese. If you see a truck that has had 5th wheel dropped on the bed, look in the bed its almost always a Reese."
__________________

 

What makes the Reese prone to this. I'm choosing between Draw-tite, Reese, or Pull rite. Is it design flaw, user error, or inadequate maintenance?

 

Draw tite and reese are basically the same. Its just the way the locking mechanism works. If you forget to flip the locking lever down it can open.

 

I can live with that. Same as forgetting to put your drive up before you pull the boat up the ramp. It can happen, and will...at least once.

 

in my coworker's case, only one jaw locked around the pin. i just painted the jaws on my hitch hot pink so my dad can see that it is locked properly.

as far as the hitch look at the husky's mechanism. i know the pullrite hitch has a mechanism that goes completely around the pin when it's locked. man i reallly wish i would have known about the pullrite when i was buying mine...

 

That's why I like my RBW. It has a solid bar that slides completely across behind the pin when latched.


Even though it is not a slider, the way mine is mounted for my set-up has worked flawlessly going on 8 years. When driving forward, I can turn lock to lock and not hit. If I get the 5er and truck close enough to make contact while backing up,,,,,, I'm doing something wrong that I shouldn't be doing. In 7 years, I have not had a reason to get the truck that jack-knifed, which puts an enormous strain on the 5er suspension and hitch,,,,, and I have turned it around in some tight places!
Once again, this has worked for me due to the way I mounted the hitch and the mounting position of the pin box on my 5er.



When my Dad bought his new 2005 shortbed, I recomended he go with a slider to add to his Reese 16k since his hitch was mounted closer to the cab. So far, he has never had to use it, but it is there just in case. There are some pictures in his gallery that we took while testing the turning radius with his.

 

RATTLINRAM, I have the same hitch. It works well until you have to park cross-slope.

Can you tell which way the roll pin is to be driven out in order to replace the plastic handle? I beat mine up so bad I can't tell anymore.

Regards, DBF

 

I know where you're coming from. I've always said I was going to put the side to side hitch head on it, but I've got real good at eyeballing it to see if it's level and carry a couple of 1" boards to stick under the truck wheel if the spot is really unlevel.

The handle on mine finally broke also and I managed to get the rollpin out, but can't remember which way. I kinda cheated and didn't replace it. Instead, I found a deep-well 1/2" drive socket that was just big enough to slide snugly onto the metal lever and stick a breaker bar on the socket if I need a little extra leverage. I guess I need to order the replacement handle. Of course if I would get the new tilting head to put on it,,,, it will come with a new handle!

 

another reason i really prefer goosneck over fifth wheel. with a gooseneck the trailer would have to make a HUGE bounce to come off the ball. ive seen one person this happened too (with a draw-tite hitch) and just made me really like that all the trailers i have are gooseneck or bumper pull for the little ones.

wes

 

Yeah, I've always got about six boards in the bed to make slopes level.

I'm using a foot-long "persuader bar" to open the latch for now.

Tx, DBF

 

I have the DSP "Easy- level" fifth wheel hitch. It has one bar that locks in front of the pin, and with the easy level feature, I don't have to put boards under truck wheels any more.

 

i got the hitch from my coworker today. the problem was a 5/8 inch pin was missing from the jaw on the passenger side of the hitch. only the jaw on the side with the release bar was working. the other was jammed beyond the open position.....