5th Wheel Accident

[Hitchhiker]

We have this favorite Forest Service campground nearby that we like to go to and yesterday my wife was talking with the volunteer host about an accident that happened this past weekend with one of the RV'rs. It seems this guy had his 'large' 5th wheel set up on a double site because that was the only one available and when a single site opened up he decided to change sites.

After he moved the trailer over to the other site and was getting ready to set it up again, he failed to chock his trailer wheels and when he pulled the hitch slide bar to disconnect, the trailer rolled back off the blocks that were under the landing gear and fell down on the bedrails. He had one of his hands resting on the bed rail while pulling the slide bar handle and the trailer came down on his hand smashing it. Then, as the trailer rolled back with his hand smashed between it and the truck, it pulled most of the flesh and skin off of his hand because it was wedged in between. He was freed when the trailer rolled back farther, thus freeing his hand.

His wife quickly wrapped his hand in a towel and rushed him to the emergency room. Not sure what the long term prognosis is for his hand is but on the short term it's in bad shape. Several neighboring campers finished setting his rig up while they were at the hospital.

Not to be preaching to the choir, but always chock the tires... even on flat level ground. Plus, I never put my landing gear up on anything that's taller than the distance between my bedrails and the trailer.... learned that lesson the hard way quite a few years ago.

[Hitchhiker]

We have this favorite Forest Service campground nearby that we like to go to and yesterday my wife was talking with the volunteer host about an accident that happened this past weekend with one of the RV'rs. It seems this guy had his 'large' 5th wheel set up on a double site because that was the only one available and when a single site opened up he decided to change sites.

After he moved the trailer over to the other site and was getting ready to set it up again, he failed to chock his trailer wheels and when he pulled the hitch slide bar to disconnect, the trailer rolled back off the blocks that were under the landing gear and fell down on the bedrails. He had one of his hands resting on the bed rail while pulling the slide bar handle and the trailer came down on his hand smashing it. Then, as the trailer rolled back with his hand smashed between it and the truck, it pulled most of the flesh and skin off of his hand because it was wedged in between. He was freed when the trailer rolled back farther, thus freeing his hand.

His wife quickly wrapped his hand in a towel and rushed him to the emergency room. Not sure what the long term prognosis is for his hand is but on the short term it's in bad shape. Several neighboring campers finished setting his rig up while they were at the hospital.

Not to be preaching to the choir, but always chock the tires... even on flat level ground. Plus, I never put my landing gear up on anything that's taller than the distance between my bedrails and the trailer.... learned that lesson the hard way quite a few years ago.

[GraciesMom]

Ouch!!! OMG, I got chills reading that!! I had a Teton 5'er and the first trip out of the parking lot of Camping World ended up that way - not the hand injury - but the hitch wasn't latched properly and it slid off and hit the side rails of the truck. Lots of damage. After that, I was paranoid about putting my hand under there to pull the hitch to release it at all. And I always had chocks under both tires and a double chock in between. I'd read too many horror stories. Gosh, that is SO awful. Just goes to show, you can never be too careful doing this. Thanks for the warning Richard.

[Ray,IN]

I've came close, too close. Had the 5er parked on a slight incline. Getting ready to hitch up, I left the 5er about 1-2" lower than the truck hitch as usual. When I hit the 5er plate it pushed the 5er off the blocks, over the too-small chocks, and down the incline she rolled, wife inside. Thankfully there was an open site behind ours, so I finally hitched up in that vacant site.
Wanta guess what the first question is my wife now asks before I unhook?

[Route 66]

BLUE OX has a couple of safety devices to prevent unhitching accidents.

Several months ago there was a news article about a Canadian man who was killed when he had his head between the truck and falling 5th wheel.

[RustyJC]

I'll bet many, if not most, of us 5th wheel draggers have similar stories, although not with such tragic results. I learned my lesson about chocking trailer wheels on our first long trip with our first 5th wheel from Ohio (where we lived at the time) down to the Smoky Mountains, but out of sheer dumb luck we avoided any damage to the truck, trailer or ourselves!

Be careful out there...

Rusty

[joneldbrat]

I certainly hope all works out well for him. Another area of concern I found when we had our 5th Wheel. Was the clowns who thought it was funny as they walked by your rig to pull your Pin Lever while you were in the Rest Stop. So I made sure mine was padlocked while we traveled on the road. So now I lock all my pins when pulling our Jeep.

[Jeff_in_The_Dalles]

Wow, that sounds like a horrible injury. My best wishes go out to the man. It sure must have slipped fast for him not to have been able to get his arm out of there.

Anyway, I always chock my wheels. In addition to preventing the trailer from rolling when you unhitch, I think a lot of people have backed into the pin hard when hitching and bent legs, or by pulling forward when the hitch wasn't fully released.

[RedGuy]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by jonelsr:
I certainly hope all works out well for him. Another area of concern I found when we had our 5th Wheel. Was the clowns who thought it was funny as they walked by your rig to pull your Pin Lever while you were in the Rest Stop. So I made sure mine was padlocked while we traveled on the road. So now I lock all my pins when pulling our Jeep. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>


Why do people do that!!! I had something similar happen at a rest stop pulling a car trailer, so idiot must have though it'd be funny to unlatch the toung on my trailer! Luckily I ALWAYS double check everything everytime before I leave after I stop and found it. I now also pad lock my hitch.

As far as chocking goes I've been using one set of chocks on one wheel, I think I'm going to get another set even though I don;t have a fithwheel. That sounds horrible!

[woodburner]

If you use Roto Chocks; you'll never have to worry about the coach rolling away after you bump it when hitching up.
1st thing on/ last thing off; don't leave home without them.