5th Wheel came off the truck - RV-Dreams Community Forum

Janeen · RV-Dreams Family Member

5th Wheel came off the truck

Luvglass · RV-Dreams Family Member

Just a guess, but maybe you're exceeding the lifting capacity of the one jack and a safety tripped? or it's at an angle that did the same thing?

Sounds like time for some professional help.

Speedhitch · RV-Dreams Family Member

Number one you should never level you 5th wheel with the jacks. You can twist your frame and damage the slides. If you are on an incline you should run your tires up on blocks to level and then run your jacks out to secure the position. Always chaulk your tires too so as not to put lateral pressure on your jacks. As far as the jack ceasing to raise the unit...like Fred said it could be a limit switch or a fuse. Both jacks should be in contact with the ground when you raise them. Make sure the one jack that is down is not fully extended this could keep it from going any further.

Janeen · RV-Dreams Family Member

I didn't know that, I wish they would have covered that when we bought it. How can I get them to work again?

Delaine and Lindy · RV-Dreams Family Member

Dropping trailer on bed rails is not unusual. It happen to often and I have seen it many times. Not knowing what kind of 5th wheel hitch you have this option might not work for you. There is a option called Bed Saver, which attaches to your 5th wheel hitch and will actually catch the king pin before it drop onto your bed rails. However the cheapest options is call bump and pull. After connecting to the 5th wheel, raise you landing gear about 2" and put Truck in reverse and gently back up and then put Truck in a forward gear and gently pull forward this will assure you that your connected to the 5er. As for the landing gear it could be a shear pin or a circuit breaker issue. As stated above never try to level you 5th wheel with the electric jacks. The best side to side leveling device is plastic blocks and can be purchased at Wally World for under $30.00. The Mobile Suites we now have has side to side leveling hydraulic jacks and the hydraulic jacks can lift the trailer wheels off the ground. This is the best system we have ever owned. No need for leveling blocks, just push a button. Good Luck. GBY.....

Janeen · RV-Dreams Family Member

Okay, it gets better. I opened the service bay at the front, we had just had an extra battery put in last week. When they taped the wires up they wrapped tape and the safety net to the bar that turns to lower the jacks! This pulled and stripped many of the wires to the batteries and pulled the connector out of the back of the jack switch!! Now we don't know what order to put the wires back to the jack switch as we don't know which ones are hot as they are not color coded.
28 Ft Legend 5th Wheel.

Racerguy · RV-Dreams Family Member

If this work was done by a Dealer I think they owe you a service call to fix their mistake.If not then a qualified technition should be hired.Don't feel bad about dropping the 5ver on the truck(been there done that!)The tug and pull method mentioned works well and for piece of mind I also do a physical check to be sure. All above posts give good experienced advice about leveling.

Janeen · RV-Dreams Family Member

I drove over to the dealer and looked at another rig just like ours to see how the connections were made. They took no responsibility of course but I didn't expect them to. I got the proper connection made and we're back in business. My husband went to Home Depot to get some tubing to run the wiring through so this won't happen again. The one we looked at had all the wires run through conduit cover, it also had a nice solid partition between the battery box in the front and the storage area, I think we will rig a piece of plywood or composite to fit between there so things don't shift. I don't trust that net, it's to flimsy. I am glad all this has happened at home, I'd hate to think what would have happened on the road. I picked up some extra fuses too. Thanks for the help everyone, it's nice to know y'all are here for future screw ups! LOL!
Janeen

thebearII · RV-Dreams Family Member

I can manually raise and lower the landing gear on my 5th wheel. The original setup (both operated together) had a crank slot in the gearing. The fifth wheel came with a long necked crank and I could raise and lower the trailer if the battery or motor failed. It was easy to use, the dead motor and gearing acted like a flywheel.

The new setup- the landing gears operate independently. There is a connection on the top of the landing gear for a 3/4" socket. I can use a ratcheting socket wrench to raise and lower each gear. It's awkward and takes some elbow grease but works.

It's handy for those times when the batteries have died in storage and I don't have time to charge them.

By the way the right landing gear motor will overheat and stop if I try to raise the fifth wheel too high, I have to stop to let it cool so the internal breaker will reset. The left motor doesn't do this. So now I kind of pulse the switches as I raise the 5th wheel beyond a certain height to prevent the breaker from tripping. It takes several minutes for the breaker to automatically reset.