Sidewinder problem

[Charli]

We have a 5th Airborne Sidewinder Pinbox combination and every time I make a turn I get a loud metal on metal scraping sound. Loud enough to make us cringe. There has always been some noise but it has gotten much worse in the past few days. I think it's the friction between the wedge and the hitch and suspect that the wedge may have slipped back a small amount creating some play. It's fine as long as we drive straight but as soon as we make a turn it seems that the gap between the slot in the hitch and the wedge starts screaming at us.
Anybody have experience with this.

[chuckster57]

Are you sure the noise is coming from the wedge? If so then it's possible that the bolts holding it have loosened up and allowed the wedge to move, as they are adjustable.

[gearhead]

Hey Chuckster....nothing to do with this issue...just want to thank you for all your help on the forum.

[chuckster57]

It's my pleasure. I get real satisfaction from helping people enjoy their RV's and I am grateful for the opportunity to share on this site.

[TomHaycraft]

Charli, how long has it been since you re-greased the turret?

While mine is just the basic Sidewinder, I am finding the need to drop and re-grease the turret every 9 to 12 months. I know it needs it when I hear a pop or feel it is catching when first pulling out of my storage space and go into the first turn. My son and I have the routine down. Set the jack (forklift would be more fun!), remove 4 bolts, lower jack, clean, regrease, raise and re-torque.

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/cdoUR_nOJdzdZ3KE698SzdMTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=d irectlink

[Albert]

Charli, how long has it been since you re-greased the turret?

While mine is just the basic Sidewinder, I am finding the need to drop and re-grease the turret every 9 to 12 months. I know it needs it when I hear a pop or feel it is catching when first pulling out of my storage space and go into the first turn. My son and I have the routine down. Set the jack (forklift would be more fun!), remove 4 bolts, lower jack, clean, regrease, raise and re-torque.

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/cdoUR_nOJdzdZ3KE698SzdMTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=d irectlink

Thanks for the info. Mine started making lots of noise on turns at the end of this
camping season. Going to add greasing it to my items to do before next trip. What kind of grease do you use?

[Charli]

Ours is brand new, installed in June and this is our first trip so shouldn't need to be greased yet. Interesting the dealer, who I trust less and less with every interaction, said there was no real Maintenance required other than re torquing the wedge bolts which I haven't done yet as its so new.
May phone the mfg to talk to their service dept if I can get ahold of a live body.

[TomHaycraft]

Albert, I use a white lithium spray. Don’t know if another type of grease would last longer.

Charli, Reese has no set maintenance interval on the turret (last I looked). When calling Reese asking about what I was experiencing, the person I talked with acknowledged that while not required, he owns a Sidewinder and re-greases the turret on his every 6 to 12 months.

Considering how new yours is, the turret is less likely the root cause of the noise you are hearing, but makes me wonder if everything was torqued properly. The 4 cap bolts on the turret of my "basic" Sidewinder, they only get pulled down to 45 ft-lbs.

Hope this helps in some way.