Fifth Wheel Damage

Tomharg

Member
Nicely done, Silver! I would love to have done something like that when we bought the rig, but a lot of things would have had to be different for us to have done that, not the least of which was the $$. It kinda irks me that there is so much empty space inside the outer shell of the box that could be put to use for storage!
Tom

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ParkIt

Well-known member
After forgetting to check the latch on my hitch once......My solution took care of the other potential issues you mention! :)
Have thought about doing the same for a solution, there is a shop in our area that builds flat decks at a very affordable price. It would be easy on ours since they had to find a bed to fit on the suspension since there is no bed on an ambulance and it looks funny with the 6" gap between the cab and bed.
 

wdk450

Well-known member
Maybe you could put a weatherproof paper tag on the 7 pin cable near the plug saying: "Did You Doublecheck the hitch?" You would see this when you plugged the cable into the truck. This would be a lot like the bright orange "TV Antenna UP" warning tags they sell.

Edit
Gang: I just went looking on the internet for a link to the familiar diamond-shaped, orange, "RV Antenna Is Up" sign that I have and found this other website for many varied little wristband-like warning signs for RVers that attach themselves to your steering wheel (but could be used elsewhere like the 7 way cable). Here is the link:
http://www.rvminders.com/
 

mattpopp

Trouble Maker
I am to paranoid about my hitch. I'll check ten times before I finally move the pickup.


We lost a Malibu Ski boat about 6 years ago due to a worn out hitch. It unhitched after we hit a bad patch in the road doing around 60. It was a pretty horrifying sight to watch the boat slowly veer off the road and slam into the side of a culvert. Lucky there was no traffic and it didnt hit a car loaded with a family. Safety chains weren't hooked up because they would not reach on my pickup.


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Gas20

Well-known member
For the stove exhaust flap on the outside of the rv I got a small clip like a chip bag clip, tied two streamers made from orange surveying tape cut them about 18 inches long and tied them to the bag clip and clip it to the vent on the side of your RV, and remove before flight. If you lose it your out about 50 cents.
 

Birchwood

Well-known member
Maybe someday they will design a fifth wheel hitch that is full proof and this kind for accident couldn't possibly occur.As for now we have to put up with poorly designed hitches where these incidents happen to often.
 

SilverRhino

Well-known member
How does failure to insure the hitch is indeed latched a poor design issue?

I totally agree.........No matter how well designed something is.....People can always find a way to mess up!! I wish I could have blamed my "drop" on something or someone......Bottom line I forgot to flip one latch, I screwed up, not my hitch!
 

porthole

Retired
Same here Randy, only my damage was limited to a $35 piece of trim, and no drop. I was on the jacks and just put it in gear with the tailgate up. Hit the very top of the gate with the pin and cracked the plastic trim.
 

mattpopp

Trouble Maker
How does failure to insure the hitch is indeed latched a poor design issue?

I work offshore and manage a FSV. We deal with safety along with taking it very seriously here. I always challenge anybody to tell me that you can identify a single incident not caused by a human. It's impossible, every single incident will have a person(s) to blame. No matter how well built the safety is it can fail due to human or lack of human intervention.

Like the boat that unhitched from my pickup. The hitch was worn out. Still my fault because I never took the time to inspect it before using it. I didn't use safety chains cause they were to short, I should have lengthen them.

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