Reese 16K Slider Observation

wrighfr58 · 10-25-2011, 02:12 AM

I recently had a Reese 16K Slider installed to tow my new 5'er. During the first towing after delivery, I noticed that the hitch seems to move (or the handle at least) when slowing/stoping making a clunk.

Does anyone else have a Reese 16K Slider and is this normal? I have been looking at everything from TP to air bags to consider for resolution.

Jim W · 10-25-2011, 05:41 AM

I have a 15K Reese slider with the rectangle tubes. My handle does not move but my 5er did chuck in the two piece jaws when stopping. I changed to a Trailair Hitch this seem to eliminate most of the chucking that was occurring.
Sorry I could not answer your question on the handle movement.
Jim W.

DJ85 · 10-25-2011, 06:35 AM

I had the same thing happen and what I found was this. My problem was, we just took delivery and I was use to pulling a travel trailer that was around 6,000 pounds and I had the trailer brake set for it at a level 3. Well the fifth wheel comes in around 10,000 pounds so the camper was pushing the truck when I would stop causing it to slide forward in the hitch causing it to clunk.

I turned the brake controller up to a level 5 and I have not heard any more clunks when I stop. I have a 2008 ford f-250 with a intergated brake controller that I use. I am not real happy with the ford controller, but it works for now. I am not sure if this is what going on with you, but it fixed my problem so I thought I would share.

wrighfr58 · 10-25-2011, 08:01 AM

DJ85, I to have a 2008 F250 with the integtrated brake controller. i think mine was set at 5 or 6. Is yours a Diesel and do you have the Tow/Haul switch? It sounds like we have the same problem.

TAScarbee · 10-25-2011, 09:03 AM

I have the same hitch, and mine makes the same noise. Will try the brake adjustment, see if that fixes the problem.

Paddler · 10-25-2011, 11:29 AM

We also towed with the Reese 16K slider. I never noticed any handle movement (didn't look) but the chucking occcurs because there is slop in the jaws.

I bought a new truck that did not require the slider hitch, so I also purchased a Curt Q20 fifth wheel hitch. No chucking. You're just experiencing a design flaw.

Handysam · 10-25-2011, 03:33 PM

Mine does the same thing. I keep thinking the 5er will be towing the truck before long. The starts and stops are getting so annoying with all the clunking going on. I'm going to the dealer on friday to have it checked out and I'll report back. According to all I've read "its normal". I always thought "normal" was just a setting on the dryer. Happy Camping, Sam

DJ85 · 10-26-2011, 07:01 AM

Wrighfr58: Yes it looks like we have the same set up. Sometime I tow with the two/haul buttom actvatied sometimes I don't just depends on the situation. I sometime think the trk stays in the lower gears for to long. If it feels like it is starting to pull hard then I switch back over. I never have notice it shifting up and down. I don't know if it's a design flaw or not

all I know is mine quit doing it after setting the brake controller up to a level 5. I tryed it at a level 6 and it started dragging the tires in the rocks. Which from what everyone tells me is about for highway driving. That just doesn't sound normal to me. I towed the Jayco at 6,000 lbs for 12 yers and never had a problem, but only 6 months of that was with the f-250 and the intergated brake controller. The sad part is this weekend I am putting it in storage no more trips planned before winter. So I guess I will play around with it some more next year. It fix my clunking and banging that all I am saying

wrighfr58 · 10-26-2011, 08:11 AM

Many Thanks DJ85! Mine too is in storage. I went from delivery to storage without any camping.

Can't wait for the Spring!

ussweeneyd · 02-14-2012, 11:27 AM

I'm on my first 5th wheel and had the "clonking" start on my way home from the dealer. The braking adjustment makes sense to me. We are setting off for Florida from Minneapolis on Friday 17th. so i'll have a few miles to get it right. I did notice on my first run, about 150 miles, that i had to adjust the unit several times, i assumed this was shoes settling in.

oldfamer · 02-14-2012, 04:06 PM

I have the Reese Pro Series 16k hitch. The problem that I have with mine is that the hitch does not capture the king pin with jaws, but with a flat sliding bar. There is some slop allowing the king pin to move a some amount. I thought about welding a small bead on this bar, but I'm not sure if that would void my warranty. I have my brake controller set at 4, this spring I'll try some higher setting. Can't wait till spring gets here.

rjsurfer · 02-15-2012, 03:27 AM

I always remove my hitch by keeping it attached to the camper by pulling the 4 pins when putting the 5th wheel in storage, keeps the bed of the truck clean.

I have some clunking when braking and accelerating and I'm starting to think it might be the pins that hold the hitch to the rails. They have ALWAYS been way to easy to pull out and in, causing a lot of free play.

Someone mentioned that they have slightly different sized pins to make up for any slop....I'm calling up the Valley to see if that's true, might be the same for Reese.

Ron W.

Mike L123 · 02-16-2012, 11:09 PM

Jeez, I always thought that the bangng and clanging was more or less normal. I found that accelerating smoothly and braking smoothly greatly reduced the noise. I agree that carefully tuning the brake controller goes a long way to smoothing things out. Yes, there seems to be a fair bit of slop inherent to the design of the bar vs the jaw type of pin closure. That being said, I can attest that in an all wheels locked panic stop the hitch did it's job just fine (thankfully)!

Cheers!

Mike

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