Well, after 8 years of pulling 5 different 5th wheels and probably hitching/unhitching hundreds of times - I went and done it!
Yep, mis-hitched and dropped her. That's the bad news.
The good news is the damage is minimal. A small chunk of gel coat in the front cap needs repaired/painted and I need a new closet clothes pole. The weight of clothing and the drop bent the pole on 1 end. The truck has a tiny chip in the paint on 1 of my tool boxes. I can see a slight scuff in the bedliner where the king pin rested. The hitch took it the worst. Bent the plate/top bracket the holds the air bags in the TS3 and bent one of the 2 shields for the left side air bag line/connector.
What happened? Apparently, I believed I had placed the hitch head in the "ready to hitch" position a few days ago. That's my story! Today I backed into the king pin and clunk. Same old sound I've heard maybe a 50 times. I pulled out of the RV garage and down the driveway (7 degree down slope) and started to make a left turn onto the street, the king pin rotated out of the open jaws of the hitch.
Lesson learned by me? ALWAYS visually check the jaws to make sure they appear to be fully-wrapped around the king pin and locked. It's a simple lesson and one that I know I should ALWAYS do. But after hundreds of successful operations, it's easy to get complacent. Could have been worse.
So - don't do as I did, do as I say Be ever vigilant and check those jaws before you raise the front jacks and move the truck.
Yep, mis-hitched and dropped her. That's the bad news.
The good news is the damage is minimal. A small chunk of gel coat in the front cap needs repaired/painted and I need a new closet clothes pole. The weight of clothing and the drop bent the pole on 1 end. The truck has a tiny chip in the paint on 1 of my tool boxes. I can see a slight scuff in the bedliner where the king pin rested. The hitch took it the worst. Bent the plate/top bracket the holds the air bags in the TS3 and bent one of the 2 shields for the left side air bag line/connector.
What happened? Apparently, I believed I had placed the hitch head in the "ready to hitch" position a few days ago. That's my story! Today I backed into the king pin and clunk. Same old sound I've heard maybe a 50 times. I pulled out of the RV garage and down the driveway (7 degree down slope) and started to make a left turn onto the street, the king pin rotated out of the open jaws of the hitch.
Lesson learned by me? ALWAYS visually check the jaws to make sure they appear to be fully-wrapped around the king pin and locked. It's a simple lesson and one that I know I should ALWAYS do. But after hundreds of successful operations, it's easy to get complacent. Could have been worse.
So - don't do as I did, do as I say Be ever vigilant and check those jaws before you raise the front jacks and move the truck.