hitching a fiver

[Happytrails-5TH]

My wife and I have had motor homes, but are now looking at replacing our DP with a fiver. We were at a campground earlier tonight and watched someone un-hitch his rig from truck. When he went to actually unhitch, he had to work with the lever on the hitch and pull it pretty hard to unlock rig. Looked pretty difficult or vigorous to unhitch. Would appreciate insight into what all is involved and difficulty(physical) when unhitching and seting up a fiver. We are used to undoing toad and pushing buttons from inside to level etc. however, we are very interested in a fiver, just a little concerned about set-up and unhitching or even re-hitching?
Thanks in advance for your insight and experience in fiver info.

 

[billr-5TH]

Happytrails,

It is no problem connecting or disconnecting the fiver. Most hitches are set up to lock automatically when you back into the king pin. Then you just verify it is locked and secure the lever.

To disconnect, pulling the lever to unlock the hitch is made easy by unloading the hitch before you pull it.

If when you try to pull the handle it is tight, just release the truck out of park and allow the tension to relax, if on unlevel ground, you may need to put in fwd or rev then park and set brake to hold the truck in the "sweet spot" then pulling the lever is easy.

The fellow you saw, must not have done that, and just gave it a yank. Which is ok too as long as your king kong!

Cheers,
Bill

 

[rverdlm]

I would sugest a hitch with a Binkley head like these http://www.trailersaver.com/products.php#hitches They are much easier to use and are much stronger than any others.

 

[jbeletti]

Happytrails,

With respect to the pushbutton leveling aspect of your post, you can have a hydraulic leveling system added to many 5ers.

If that's what you're used to and if you have no desire to stack boards on the low side and run over them to raise the low side of the coach up, the cost of a hydraulic leveling system may be worth it to you.

Best of luck,

Jim

 

[john-5TH]

Level

You can't get "Big Foot" levelers added to the Mobile Suite. I tried and Big Foot said no....
I just use the inf. bags...they work great for me.

 

[rverdlm]

I'm very sensative to things being level. That being said, the pocess of leveling my 5th wheel is real easy. First off, most RV spaces are pretty level side to side. The first thing we do when we're in position on a lot is check the side to side level. You'll quickly learn how much you need for level. If it's out a little it's a board under one wheel, for a little more it's a board under both wheels, or 2 under one and one under the other, etc. Then it's put the front jacks down, unhook (or not if only staying one night) level front to back and put the back stabilizing jacks down. This whole process takes less than 10 min because in less than 20 min we have all the hookups done, the TV dish set and are relaxing after a days drive.

 

[cwsoules]

When my 5er hitch is reluctant to open it is caused by the pin riding on the bar which locks my hitch. If I have already put my wheel locks on the trailer, I start the truck and back up about 1/8" to relieve the pressure on the locking bar. It shifts with ease then.