Opinions on 5th wheel hitch storage

[jhardin]

Does anyone have a technique for storing a 5[SUP]th[/SUP] wheel hitch? One person told me to leave it attached to the king pin on the camper and just let it hang. Then, when you get ready to go camping, just back under camper, attach 5[SUP]th[/SUP] wheel to rails and you’re ready to go. Seems like a lot of weight on camper king pin just to hang (I have a 20k lb hitch).Does anyone have other suggestions?

 

[RoadJunkie]

I don't--and probably would not--hang my hitch from the king pin, although I have seen it done. It seems to me the king pin and hitch were designed for compression mating as opposed to hanging tension. Also, realigning the hitch to the truck must be a nightmare, at least with rail mounts. Anyway, I take mine out of the truck and store it under the rig. Overall, this is easiest for me.

 

[jnbhobe]

I just take mine out and put it on the garage floor. It breaks down into two pieces. Hitch is a 18K Reese Elite, I have an 18K Super Glide I used with the short bed trucks. It would break down into 4 pieces but 1 was still too heavy for one person to handle very much. I would use an electric hoist to take it out in one piece.

 

[caissiel]

I can assure you that the hitch will hold as much pressure pulling down as pushing up. Its design to hold as much torque braking as pulling also.

 

[Wolfpackers]

I have the Pullrite 18K hitch with superrails (under bed mounting) and it is heavy, so I intalled a HF hoist in the garage ceiling and built a dolly to put the hitch on and roll it out of the way when I do take it out of the truck.

 

[PUG]

Trying to hook up a hanging hitch would be a nightmare. Forget that idea. I remove my hitch in two pieces to make it easier to handle and dismantle it further into as many pieces as I can do. I clean everything and then lube anything and everything. After that I reassemble it, wrap it up in clean plastic and it is ready to go.

 

[branson4020]

With my previous rigs, I just hung the hitch from the kingpin. Never had a problem in 10 years and got pretty good at just dropping it back onto the rails. Now I have a superglide with removable rails. I've let it hang from the kingpin a few times, like when I'm parked somewhere for a week and need the truck bed clear, but now when I'm home it just sits on the shop floor.

 

[sjs731]

I have a B&W Companion Hitch and I take it out in two pieces, lube it and put it back together and let it sit in the garage covered with an old sheet. My brother lets his hang from the hitch. Seems to work both ways.

 

[Nabo]

We took our hitch out only 1 winter but haven't done that since we have a cover for the truck bed. It gives me a little extra weight for the truck in bad weather.

 

[Birchwood]

Thats absurd,remove it from your truck and store it in your shed or garage.

 

[JohnDar]

I leave it in the bed of the truck, under the cover, until I need the full bed for other purposes. Our first two post-seasons, I pulled it out and put in under a cover on the garage floor, but it had a habit of getting in the way when I wanted to work out there.

I definitely would not leave it hanging on the king pin in the storage yard, or at the seasonal CG.

 

[caissiel]

I take mine off all the time as I have use for my truck box. I even remove the starage boxes I carry when camping.. We use the front box for our Kayaking equipment so when we kayake we use both the truck and car and the equipment is stored in the truck storage box. I also use the hitch bottom to carry the rear kayake support so it will stay in the truck more often.
PS. We came down to Florida, a 2000 mile trip and the kayake installed on top of the cab was a great wind deflector that became very usefull in fuel savings.

 

[Dave012]

I have a bench in the garage which is really close to the height of the truck bed. I just back my truck up to the bench and slide the hitch off onto the bench. Saves the heavy lifting.

 

[TedS]

I hang my 16k Reese on the pin. To hook up, I back under close enough, lower the trailer and release the hitch, lift the trailer and with a few easy lifts it drops into the rails and is re-installed.

 

[jpajax]

Just wonder how it affects the hitches with air bag's that would be suspended from camper?

 

[larryanddonnakeever]

I have a 20K Curt. It comes out in 2 pieces real easy to take out and reinstall. Put it in the corner of the garage when I need to take it out.. I leave it in most of the time especially in the winter for added weight.. I have a cover I put over the hitch when not in use.. I don't think I would ever leave it hanging from the kingpin...

Larry and Donna Keever
Oklahoma City, Ok.
2011 BigHorn 3585
2010 Ford F350 FX4 Lariet 6.4 Diesel
TransferFlow Fuel Monitor System 75 Gallon

 

[porthole]

I have a Hensley BD3 - heavy hitch, with air bags.

Right from the Hensley tech support is that it is OK to hang the hitch from the king pin.

During the summer I will do just that. Made a cover out of a new/old tonneau cover I had laying around and it will sit like that as long as we are not trailing.
For the winter I go to my buddy's shop and use the electric hoist, put it up in the loft and say goodbye till spring.

With the hydraulic front jacks I don't think twice about hauling the hitch out of the truck with the kingpin.

 

[Dale Smith]

I also have the Hensley BD 3 hitch with the airbags. Mine rarely comes out of the back of the truck since we are busy with the trailer in the summer months and snowbirds in the winter months. I do have a small Spitzlift crane assembly that mounts into a pedestal in the back of my truck, which I can use to remove the hitch out of the truck in two separate lifts.

When I am in Arizona this winter, it may be worth my while to remove the hitch and store in front of the trailer in a canvas enclosure I purchased last year.

I rarely use the box of the truck for any other purpose, so I'm not sure that this effort would be worth while.

Dale

 

[porthole]

Spitz lift, they look pretty nice. Too pricey though for me for an occasional use. And they never come up used on eBay or Craigslist.

You said 2 lifts, what do you take apart? Have any pictures of it in use? Long bed or short?

 

[Westwind]

Check out Harbor Freight, they have some inexpensive ones that probably would do for the limited number of times that we remove them from the trucks. I'm thinking of getting one for my garage so I can remove it. It would be a matter of taking it out and putting it on a castered dolly and moving it to a spot out of the way.