5th wheel collision!

BruteForce · Sep 13, 2011

Well, I've had my first collision in my 2010 Roadwarrior 395. With only 3 hours sleep, my brothers and I had ATV's loaded in the back when after an hour of driving, we decided to stop in Nephi, Utah (at the Burger King) for breakfast. The lot was mostly empty except one smaller (almost every other 5'er is SMALLER compared to mine) rig in the lot. I pulled up next to it, but didn't cut far enough away and WHAMO.. I hit his 5'er with the back side of mine. Ripped the awning off his and cut a 3' gouge up high on my slide-out.

We helped get the awning strapped back on as best we could, gave my insurance information and apologized.

My rig is now at a local dealer getting extensive body work.

Lesson learned: Don't head out without sufficient sleep and swing wider around parked vehicles!

GOTTOYS · Sep 13, 2011

I bet you can never imagine how happy I would have been if that was my trailer you had hit!..I know things happen and I hope it never happens to me...Don

Hastey · Sep 13, 2011

Ouch! Things happen, I've got a big dent in my TV because I wasn't paying attention and backed my backhoe into it. Two weeks later got the other side with the brother-in-laws mailbox. That's why we pay insurance.

2psnapod1 · Sep 13, 2011

We live and learn...we dropped out Landmark on our truck about 3 months after picking it up. We have since learned that we will never accept the help of others as we have our own system and it works just fine.

BruteForce · Sep 13, 2011

2psnapod1 said:
We live and learn...we dropped out Landmark on our truck about 3 months after picking it up. We have since learned that we will never accept the help of others as we have our own system and it works just fine.

I learned that lesson early on when a neighbor showed up and "tried to help" me back in. I ended up hitting the side of my fence & gate, getting totally stuck. I ended up having to cut the gate & fence down to get the 5'er moved. Since then, we ask everyone to leave us be and I can now back in (up hill and at an angle) on the first try.

TravelTiger · Sep 13, 2011

We clipped a small pole pulling into our site after a loooong 12 hour drive... on our first major trip. (it was cement-filled metal, to protect the electrical hookups, and it didn't budge.)

Been there, done that, felt the pain in the stomach as well as the wallet (deductible). WILL NOT DO THAT AGAIN. ;-D

Bernie55 · Sep 13, 2011

Glad no one was hurt...

BruteForce · Sep 13, 2011

Bernie55 said:
Glad no one was hurt...

Agreed! I didn't even know I hit the rig until I saw the truck buck forward a few feet. My brother then yelled out that I hit the 5'er. Fortunately, the owners were inside enjoying breakfast. I offered to buy their breakfast, and they politely refused. All in all, it was a quiet transaction. I was surprised at how calm the owner was. Maybe he wanted/needed a new awning. No other damage other than a few bolt holes stripped out.

porthole · Sep 14, 2011

I have been failry lucky so far, all the damage has been by me on our truck/trailer. And nothing that required insurance.

jpdoggett · Sep 14, 2011

The Landmark I have now is he only one that I have not hit something with, we traded up from a 30' Starcraft to a 34' Newmar I backed it into the house and moved a bedroom wall in about 6". The wife now comes out and watchs as I back it into the driveway~~And I had only had the Newmar 45 min's

codycarver · Sep 14, 2011

BruteForce said:
Agreed! I didn't even know I hit the rig until I saw the truck buck forward a few feet. My brother then yelled out that I hit the 5'er. Fortunately, the owners were inside enjoying breakfast. I offered to buy their breakfast, and they politely refused. All in all, it was a quiet transaction. I was surprised at how calm the owner was. Maybe he wanted/needed a new awning. No other damage other than a few bolt holes stripped out.

Could be they were on the other side of the coin before. Anyway, I'm glad to hear folks can still work things out on their own.

gratton · Sep 15, 2011

The first time I took out the prior 5th wheel I had, I dropped it on the truck. No damage to the trailer but sure bent up the side rail of the truck. Waited until after the summer to have it repaired. Was always a topic of conversation in the campgrounds all summer.

BruteForce · Sep 15, 2011

gratton said:
The first time I took out the prior 5th wheel I had, I dropped it on the truck. No damage to the trailer but sure bent up the side rail of the truck. Waited until after the summer to have it repaired. Was always a topic of conversation in the campgrounds all summer.

I think I've done it all with my 5'er. In the last 1.5 years since I bought it, I've brushed up against trees (poking a huge hole in my front door), scraping the entire side. I almost dropped the 5'er on my truck, but got lucky that we noticed just as the 5'er hitch was jamming up against my tailgate and coming off the slider. Got the legs back down and lifted it off the truck. Had to use a huge hammer to pound the tail-gate pins straight again.

Destroyed my back gate when I got too close and now the 5'er on 5'er hit!

rebootsemi · Sep 15, 2011

BruteForce said:
I think I've done it all with my 5'er. In the last 1.5 years since I bought it, I've brushed up against trees (poking a huge hole in my front door), scraping the entire side. I almost dropped the 5'er on my truck, but got lucky that we noticed just as the 5'er hitch was jamming up against my tailgate and coming off the slider. Got the legs back down and lifted it off the truck. Had to use a huge hammer to pound the tail-gate pins straight again.

Destroyed my back gate when I got too close and now the 5'er on 5'er hit!

How do you still have insurance? If you were a CDL driver you would not have a license or a job.

BruteForce · Sep 15, 2011

rebootsemi said:
How do you still have insurance? If you were a CDL driver you would not have a license or a job.

Because other than hitting the other person's 5'er, it been on me. I've repaired most of the issues myself. I've only made one insurance claim and that was for the 5'er on 5'er impact. I couldn't reasonably repair the deep gouge up high by myself. This is the only claim I've made in over 20 years and I have a ton with State Farm (house, 5'er, tandem axle trailer, 4x ATV's, 2 x trucks and a jeep).

porthole · Sep 18, 2011

rebootsemi said:
How do you still have insurance? If you were a CDL driver you would not have a license or a job.

IF he was a CDL driver he probably wouldn't be running 5th wheels through campgrounds that are designed for TT's.
The trailer not be secure in the pin box turns out to be a fairly common mistake, usually only once though.

There are a ton of videos on you tube with CDL drivers showing their stuff. Glass houses.

BruteForce · Sep 19, 2011

porthole said:
IF he was a CDL driver he probably wouldn't be running 5th wheels through campgrounds that are designed for TT's.
The trailer not be secure in the pin box turns out to be a fairly common mistake, usually only once though.

There are a ton of videos on you tube with CDL drivers showing their stuff. Glass houses.

Judgmental lot. I wasn't in a campground, but rather a Burger King parking lot. I don't have/need/want a CDL and this has been my first accident (vehicle or 5'er in over 20 years).

porthole · Sep 19, 2011

BruteForce said:
Judgmental lot.

Not me, I'm on your side.

mmomega · Sep 19, 2011

Yeah, not happy to say I had a run in with the side of a huge pine tree on our last trip to SC. One of those driveways made for a lot shorter trailer so I swung a little too wide and the last foot and a half of my 5'er took the bark off. Only damage was my red light lens cover was ripped off but the fixture and bulb are still there and work and some Goo Gone took the smudge marks off.
So far my worst has been shutting the bedroom slide with the basement door open, it caught, popped the handle out and was basically hanging on by a few hinge screws. Then the trip after the door was replaced the DW did the same thing but she caught it sooner than me and there was only a small crack in the door this time.

I'm thankful everytime I make it back home with zero problems.

2psnapod1 · Sep 20, 2011

porthole said:
Not me, I'm on your side.

Ditto, Ditto, Ditto! (Wouldn't let me post something under 10 letters

)

5th wheel collision!

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