Community Forums

uncledon · 10-20-2019, 06:17 AM

Had a newbie a few years back in the next site. He had raised his landing gear AND removed the feet. He had not insured the hitch was latched properly and while reaching over the bed rail messing with the hitch lever, the trailer slid off and pinned his forearm.

ALWAYS insure wheels are chocked and lower landing gear to remove weight from hitch prior to unhitching, and NEVER raise landing gear before insuring hitch has completely engaged and locked.

Rob Mitch · 10-21-2019, 07:44 AM

Landing gear up, hitch jaws unlatched, eventually that won't end well. Cost can be many thousands of dollars.

Barlow46 · 10-21-2019, 09:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by uncledon

Had a newbie a few years back in the next site. He had raised his landing gear AND removed the feet. He had not insured the hitch was latched properly and while reaching over the bed rail messing with the hitch lever, the trailer slid off and pinned his forearm.

ALWAYS insure wheels are chocked and lower landing gear to remove weight from hitch prior to unhitching, and NEVER raise landing gear before insuring hitch has completely engaged and locked.

My rule also: Chocks first out. Chocks last in.

TXiceman · 10-21-2019, 10:04 AM

Only safe way to unhitch the 5er is....
Place wheel chocks at trailer wheels to prevent rolling either direction.
lower front jacks to take load off the hitch
Disconnect trailer electriacl cord and break away swith
Release jaws on hitch
pull out from under trailer.

if you release jaws with the load on the truck, you may have the trailer roll, even with chocks, and you get a mashed truck bed.

Ken

Jshopes81 · 10-22-2019, 08:42 PM

Just a thought, but maybe theyre afraid of people picking up the pickup with the jacks and overburdening the system. Ive had guys on job sites pick the rear end of a pickup off the ground with hand cranks.

egwilly · 10-23-2019, 08:00 AM

Nothing like the feeling you get if your trailer rolls backwards even an inch once you've disconnected.

Heart stopping.

TRiehl · 10-27-2019, 02:43 PM

I lower the front jacks until they just barely contact the ground. Otherwise, my Curt hitch will sometimes have trouble unlatching. After it's unlatched, then I extend the jacks to unload the hitch. Never had a problem. The Curt Q20 I use is perfection, too.

rogerramjet442 · 10-27-2019, 03:30 PM

You want to be safe ? Or sorry ? Drop the legs!

MTK46 · 10-27-2019, 04:42 PM

I have the same hitch,but also have 2 tons of pin weight. I have to raise the front of my 5th wheel to get the jaws to open. Front Jack's have to be down for my tow vehicle to be unhitched.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TRiehl

I lower the front jacks until they just barely contact the ground. Otherwise, my Curt hitch will sometimes have trouble unlatching. After it's unlatched, then I extend the jacks to unload the hitch. Never had a problem. The Curt Q20 I use is perfection, too.

StageCoachDr · 10-27-2019, 05:39 PM

I open the hitch before lifting the trailer off of the hitch. I found this is easier than trying to open the hitch at the end of the process.

callites · 10-27-2019, 06:02 PM

I dropped my 5th once when I forgot to drop my front jacks before pulling my pin. I now set the truck parking brake before I pull the pin. That way the truck doesn’t roll when the the jaws open.

HDGoose · 10-27-2019, 06:06 PM

I lower my landing gear to remove all oressusenin the hitch, then I unlock the jaws. And I also chock the trailer wheels fore and aft to or vent roll.

8824rv · 10-28-2019, 07:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PulNSerenity

Another vote for this ^^^ Pretty much the same as I did with my semi. One thing I do, that was normal practice with the semi, but maybe shouldn't be done in the trailer world, is I don't raise the trailer completely off of the plate when I pull out & I leave the trailer a little lower than the plate when I couple back up. Only talking about a 1/2" to an 1". Is that ok to do? In the semi world you could damage the jaws if you didn't do it that way.

I do the same based on the advice of my OTR neighbor. I lower the landing gear until I see the pin box just starts to separate from the hitch plate. Then I retract the gear just enough to put slight pressure back on the hitch. (This assures the pin is set exactly where it needs to be in relation to the jaws.) Next I disconnect everything, open the jaws, and pull the truck away.
The auto level system takes care of the rest and returns the pin to the same spot to hook up.

PulNSerenity · 10-28-2019, 08:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by uncledon

Had a newbie a few years back in the next site. He had raised his landing gear AND removed the feet. He had not insured the hitch was latched properly and while reaching over the bed rail messing with the hitch lever, the trailer slid off and pinned his forearm.

ALWAYS insure wheels are chocked and lower landing gear to remove weight from hitch prior to unhitching, and NEVER raise landing gear before insuring hitch has completely engaged and locked.

How do you test the "hitch has completely engaged & locked"? When I drove semi I would give it the tug test, but since my landing gear is on blocks, if I did give it a tug test & it wasn't locked the trailer could possibly roll off the blocks damaging the truck & trailer landing gear. Do you just trust if the jaws are closed that it is good to go?