Cautionary Tale!

[anthonbloom]

Last year, leaving my last campsite of the year I managed to drop my 5th wheel onto my tailgate, bending it out of shape and bending myself out of shape too! I was packing up on my own and getting busy with multitasking and I guess I just forgot to check that the pin had latched properly before trying to pull the rig off the leveling blocks.
Last week I was setting up and placed the leveling blocks under the wheels, removed the emergency brake cord and flipped up the pin handle lock......bang!!! Really crushed the tailgate this time.
Post Mortem:
I took the 5th wheel hitch off the legs and flipped it over. All the parts seemed to have a lot of play and I was able to prise the jaws open quite easily. That's not right? So I checked the spring that ran from the front to the operating handle and that seemed OK, so I went to the shed and dug out an old 14K hitch that was buried somewhere in the back. I flipped it over and.....it had two springs, one to the handle and one to HOLD THE JAWS CLOSED. No sign of the missing spring in the truck bed and, come to think of it, I had noticed that the operating handle pulled a bit easier than my old one for at least a couple of years and 20,000 kilometers.
So, I put the spring in place and now there is little play and the jaws stay shut. The poor tailgate was so bent that it wouldn't latch either side so I put a length of 2 x 10 on it and drove over it with the truck. It latches both sides now but looks like someone drove a truck over it......Oh the joys of the RV life!

[notanlines]

Anthony, if you don't get many responses it is because we are all trying to stifle the sound of laughing at "SOMEONE ELSE'S MISTAKES." It is always easy to learn by someone else's errors and considerably less costly. I took this opportunity to go out and lay around our hitch and lube it at the same time. Thanks for the story!

[canesfan]

"The poor tailgate was so bent that it wouldn't latch either side so I put a length of 2 x 10 on it and drove over it with the truck. It latches both sides now but looks like someone drove a truck over it...."

LMAO...I've threatened many times to run over something with the truck, but never the tailgate. Thanks for the story!

[Javi]

Two words.... Pull Test....

[chuckster57]

Originally Posted by Javi

Two words.... Pull Test....

Would have prevented the first, but not the second. I pull test every time I hook on before retracting landing gear, but I also use X chocks BEFORE I unhook.

[Javi]

Originally Posted by chuckster57

Would have prevented the first, but not the second. I pull test every time I hook on before retracting landing gear, but I also use X chocks BEFORE I unhook.

I chock the wheels, then drop the landing gear, then drop the tailgate, then unplug...... then and only then do I remove the jaw pin and pull the handle...

Too many years around 18 wheelers to ever unlock the jaws before the landing gear is on the ground..

[JRTJH]

A "not the same but related" event: After years of towing travel trailers and watching people with fifth wheels, when we bought our first fifth wheel, I decided to do what I'd seen many fifth wheel owners do. I cut some 6x6x12" blocks to use under the front landing gear. (You know, the shorter the leg the more stable it is).... Anyway, I'd done that for probably 5 years without any problems. Then, last summer, in a little campground in Ohio, the fifth wheel in the next site also had blocks under the front landing gear. As they were hitching to leave, he backed under the trailer, bumped the hitch pin and rather than hitching, he pushed the landing gear off the blocks.

FAST FORWARD about 1/2 second and we all heard a LOUD CRASH !!!! As the landing gear dropped off the 6" block, there was about 3" clearance to the bed rails on his truck. So, the "second 3 inches of the drop was "fully supported" by his truck bed rails. Needless to say, 3000 pounds dropping 6" onto the bed rails didn't go without damage.

So, the moral of the story is that I learned from his mistake not to use blocks under the front landing gear. Needless to say, hitching that next morning was uncomfortable, but we managed without pushing our trailer off the blocks. Funny thing is that I'd done it for 5 years without a thought, but that last time was "oh so nervewracking".... Now I use 2x6x12" pads under the landing gear. There is a "good side" to not using those blocks, I've got a little extra weight allowance now, for another case of adult beverage, or tools, or ?????

[cpaulsen]

Have always leveled side to side....chocked wheels......put blocks under landing gear.... raised 5th wheel......un-hitched and pulled out.........never a problem.

[notanlines]

Carl, that is the system they are discussing. You get into a habit of doing the same thing over and over. And then one day....BAM! You bump the pin and off the blocks it comes. We use 2x12's under the front pads. I guess the main point to all of this is to make sure one keeps their mind on the job at hand and keep that routine rolling.

[jsmith948]

On the last stop of our last trip, we stayed at a CG in Mammoth Lakes. Still had snow on the ground so the only sites open were in the "upper" section. Really just a big, macadam parking lot that sloped down back to front. Couldn't level the camper without extending the landing gear all the way so I used 4x4x11" blocks (normally use under the scissor jacks) and stacked them cribbage style 4 blocks under each leg - about 7" total height. We were able to level without fully extending the landing gear but, at the time, I was a little worried about the stability. Chocks under the wheels and x-chocks between the wheels lessened the worry. Well, we did notice there was less "wiggle" with the landing gear shortened and on cribbage and we were thinking this would be how we set up in the future. After reading the above posts, we have decided to continue as we had before by using the 2x6x24" pads under the landing gear. Thanks to all for posting and confirming my "worries" about the trailer legs being way up on blocks.

[Desert185]

Yet another reason to be pleased with the simplicity and effectiveness of the Andersen Ulimate hitch.

Ensure king pin is high enough, back in, raise landing gear legs to lower trailer front, secure hitch with t-handle lock, remove chocks, drive away. When home, three minutes to remove and hand carry hitch to storage position, turn over ball in bed, enjoy flat, obstruction-free (8') bed.

Frankly, I don't understand why anyone would buy any other hitch, but I'm pretty biased when it comes to simplicity, effectiveness and minimal grief.