5th wheel limitations?

Craigidyllwild · 03-27-2017, 08:37 AM

I have a rather deep culvert that I cross, basically a dip in the road for water run off. Like a deep gutter. My question is how deep a dip in the road can I safely travel over and thru without damaging my hitch and or trailer. I called Reese and they didn't have a clue. Thanks for your help.

canesfan · 03-27-2017, 08:51 AM

tough question. Depends on how deep and how wide I would say. I used to have double gates in the back of my fence that I could drive off the end of our road, into a field, and into my back yard. Then they built a parking lot for a nature trail and decided to dig a roughly 3-4 foot deep by 6-8 foot wide "ditch" right behind my gates. Right after they finished it I came home from a trip and decided to try it. I made it but the back of the fiver bottomed out pretty good as the wheels where down in the ditch and the front started going up the other side. Thankfully it was only dirt but after looking it all over that was the last time I ever tried that.

Outback 325BH · 03-27-2017, 08:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Craigidyllwild

I have a rather deep culvert that I cross, basically a dip in the road for water run off. Like a deep gutter. My question is how deep a dip in the road can I safely travel over and thru without damaging my hitch and or trailer. I called Reese and they didn't have a clue. Thanks for your help.

That is something only you can answer because your specific truck and trailer setup is what drives the answer. Extreme angles like you are describing are an issue with 5ers. (At some point extreme angles are an issue with TTs too, but a 5er has more clearance issues to deal with fairly quickly.)

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

gearhead · 03-27-2017, 12:22 PM

How much clearance do you have between the 5th and your tailgate when level vs. when you go through the dip with the front wheels? I put mine at a pretty good angle just backing in my drive from the street. Have you heard any bad noises when doing it? I guess it depends on how much stress the pin is putting on the hitch jaws at whatever angle. No way for you to measure that. One would think Reese would have tested that, or done a Finite Element Analysis when designing the hitch.

dcg9381 · 03-27-2017, 12:26 PM

Mine will do a pretty good angle, more than I'm comfortable with. As long as you watch the 5th to truck bed clearance, do it slow, and be prepared to back out, you should be fine...

**JRTJH** · 03-27-2017, 01:18 PM

Looking at the OP's question, I'd have to ask for some kind of dimensions to go with the "what if".... Thinking about it, you can go through the Grand Canyon, 1500' deep. Conditionally, if you have 2 or 3 miles to make the downgrade to the bottom and then 2 or 3 miles to go "back up to the rim"... Easy peasy. But, if you try to do it in 100 feet, well, when you crash into the bottom.....

So, depending on the depth of the depression and the length of the ramp from top to the bottom, it might be almost un-noticeable or it might be a "tailgate banger" that crushes the truck box on the way down and rips the trailer bumper off on the way up.....

There are so many variables that make the question almost impossible to answer, and then, even with a proper setup, sometimes the best rig can "bottom out" on a particularly steep ramp and/or the pinbox overhang area can hit the truck bed in a "oh no, but we have to get through here" kind of maneuver.....

Pull Toy · 03-27-2017, 01:27 PM

Best advice I can give you is have a good spotter that yo can see clearly the first time. I don't believe there is one right answer for all campers.

Good luck

Craigidyllwild · 03-27-2017, 01:28 PM

Thanks guys for your input. I'm not so much worried about the coach bottoming out as I am about the angle and related stress that the pin would put on the hitch when the truck wheels are in the dip and the coach is not. Doesn't sound like there is a definitive answer..which does in fact surprise me. Reese didn't have an answer so we will have to rely upon experience. I am going to avoid deep dips as much as possible.

notanlines · 03-27-2017, 01:35 PM

I think the main issue would be the tailgate and back of the box of the pickup hitting the bottom of the trailer, not stress on the 5th wheel or the back of the trailer bottoming out.

**JRTJH** · 03-27-2017, 01:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Craigidyllwild

Thanks guys for your input. I'm not so much worried about the coach bottoming out as I am about the angle and related stress that the pin would put on the hitch when the truck wheels are in the dip and the coach is not. Doesn't sound like there is a definitive answer..which does in fact surprise me. Reese didn't have an answer so we will have to rely upon experience. I am going to avoid deep dips as much as possible.

Almost all hitch heads rotate along the fore/aft axis and most also rotate side to side, so the movement of the hitch head will prevent any "excessive stress" on the pin that's in the capture plate. I don't think you'll have any "unexpected stress" on the pin, pinbox or hitch head. As said, you'll either hit the front of the trailer on the truck bed rails, the tailgate or the sides of the pinbox overhang before you "twist off the pin"....

Craigidyllwild · 03-28-2017, 12:51 PM

Excellent...I will carefully check the coach attitude when trying to go through this dip....

RandyandDeb · 03-28-2017, 05:51 PM

Very slowly!

takpak · 03-29-2017, 09:02 AM

Yes, have a spotter with you. I always have my wife watch when I'm in unfamiliar surroundings. The hitch has a lot of forgiveness to it. The critical part is to watch the front of the fiver in relation to the truck bed, the underside behind the hitch in relation to the truck bed, and finally the rear of the fiver, as there is a LOT of overhang there that could drag the ground. I had that happen once, very slight damage fortunately.

You may also like: