SuperGlide hitch issue

[Pappydude]

For those of you who have the #2700 or #2900 Industry Standard SuperGlide hitch, I had an incident occur yesterday while hooking up my 5th wheel to come home after a two week vacation. I'm assuming both are identical except one is built to handle a heavier 5th wheel. I have the #2700.
The owner's manual calls the part I'm writing about a ROLLER ASSEMBLY. It is a bolt that threads through the "turntable cam arm" on which sits a roller with a washer and nut holding it tightly onto the "turn table cam arm". The bolt comes up through the bottom. If you have the manual it's clearly indicated in the blown up diagram of your hitch assembly. If you don't, look for the nut between the turntable way tubes. It's clearly visible.
The nut holding the roller came loose enough to come off, causing the cam to drop to the pickup bed. If you hook up your trailer to tow, there is no pivot point for the plastic wear plate.The entire hitch will move back to it's maximum point when towing forward and slam forward when you slow down or try to stop. The roller assembly prevents this, creating a pivot point.
A rather UN-NERVING experience to say the least.
I have added this nut to my "check list" to make certain it never happens again. I've written to the PullRite company to get a size for the nut to make certain I have the proper size socket.
The person who helped me put this back together has quite a bit of experience with trailers and hitches and he advised he's never seen this happen before. I thought perhaps I should share the info - "just in case"........I've only had this hitch for 2 1/2 years.

[Pappydude]

Here's the blown up diagram. The bolt, cam, roller and nut/washer are labeled C2 in the diagram

[bobbecky]

On page 9 of the owner's manual, there is instructions on maintenance. One of the instructions is: 5. Inspect the Roller to ensure it is securely fastened. This manual, if you don't have one, can be downloaded from their website. It also tells how to lube and maintain the entire hitch. I wonder if the bearing failed, which caused the bolt to become loose.

[Pappydude]

On page 9 of the owner's manual, there is instructions on maintenance. One of the instructions is: 5. Inspect the Roller to ensure it is securely fastened. This manual, if you don't have one, can be downloaded from their website. It also tells how to lube and maintain the entire hitch. I wonder if the bearing failed, which caused the bolt to become loose.

You're absolutely correct - that's something I overlooked in the "lubrication" section on page 9. I towed the trailer home without further incident.........if the bearing had failed, I probably would have noticed something not right on the 2 hr. trip.
When I store the trailer for the winter next month - I'll follow the instructions on page 9 to lubricate all parts mentioned............
My initial post was to inform those who might also over look the parts I mentioned. Except on page 5 for the "lubrication" there is no other mention of the rocker assembly - the inspection suggested is mentioned after the entire king pin, pivot bolt and roller had been lubricated - probably something most folks would do perhaps once a year, if that. Thank you for your reply!!

[billstuart]

PappyDude,
Thanks for posting this. We've had our PullRite for about 2 1/2 years, too. I'll check it out before we head out next time.

[Pappydude]

After 4 emails to the PullRite company I finally got an answer about the size nut I was inquiring about. Not from them - on my own!! I actually spoke to someone with the company about the nut that holds the bolt and roller assembly and he told me it was 15/16" - while I'm standing at the back of my truck holding a 1" open ended wrench on it - and it didn't fit because it was to small. So I went to a local auto parts store and purchased a 1 1/8" socket that fits perfectly. He told me that the nut needs to be torqued to 151 ft. lbs. - since he was wrong on the nut size, I'm curious about that response to - but I'll do it - and keep the emails for future reference if needed.

[jtyphoid]

You can do a quick sanity check on the torque. Just measure the diameter of the threaded part of the shaft that the nut goes on and do a google search for bolt torque. You should be able to find a table of bolt sizes with standard torque values for the different grades of bolts.

This should tell you whether 151 ft. lbs. is in the right ball park.