Fifth Wheel Hitch Lock

[Jim Dow]

After reading about a dire insurance situation in which a 5er was stolen, I decided to put a lock on my hitch pin - see photo. This seems like it would suffice, at least for a while. I purchased the hitch lock from Camping World.

While I was at it, I painted the lower rim of the hitch pin so that I could see it more easily when hooking up. Sometimes it was difficult to see whether or not the hitch pin was positioned correctly. See photo.

[WaltBennett]

I like to leave our hitch attached to the king pin, but put a heavy duty padlock through one of the foot holes. There's also a small padlock on the hitch release handle safety latch so it can't be taken easily.

[Family_5ers]

We were just discussing purchasing one of these... I think it's a great idea.

[jsmith948]

Before we purchased our lock (similar to the OP) we wondered how effective it would be. I asked a mechanic at one of our local RV repair places (they also store RVs). The mechanic said that on one or two occasions, customers have lost the keys to the lock and he had to use a torch to cut the lock off.
It will at least slow the thief down or force him to go to easier pickins. FWIW:)

[Onelick]

@WaltBennett, that sounds like a cool idea to leave the hitch on the pin and use the landing gear motor to pull the hitch out of the truck, and then put it back in again. My questions would be, is the motor strong enough for the extra weight? and is the frame of the camper strong enough to hold the hitch weight for a month or more at a time? This sounds like a good way to save space in my shed also if it doesn't mind the extra weight.

Thanks.
Onelick

[howdy]

The one thing I disliked about king pin locks was how messy with grease the got after a few uses. I suppose if it keeps your trailer safe then its a small inconvenience to deal with.

[Ginther]

The one thing I disliked about king pin locks was how messy with grease the got after a few uses. I suppose if it keeps your trailer safe then its a small inconvenience to deal with.

Luckily for me, thanks to having a Hijacker Autoslide hitch, very little (if any) grease is needed on the king pin. So I dont have much mess to live with.

I bought one of these - BlayLock EZ-Lock on Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/Lock-Model-TL-70-Economical-King/dp/B000G2MHJE) - BlayLock EZ-Lock on e-trailer (http://www.etrailer.com/Locks/Blaylock-Industries/BLTL-70-40D.html) for when I put the rig in storage.