Fifth Wheel Hitch won't release

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an RV or an interest in RVing!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

jrshall

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 3, 2009
Posts
71
Wow! We got into Pontchartrain Landing RV park yesterday after driving the roughest section of I-10 I've ever seen. (LA must have the worst roads in the US) When I went to unhook, the release lever just pulled free without any tension, but it didn't release the jaws, so it didn't release the trailer. It feels like the connection between the release lever and the jaws came undone. I tried various things to get the hitch to release, but no luck.

I have a repair guy coming tomorrow morning, but thought I'd see if anyone here had any ideas on how to fix. It might save me a $160 service call. I know I can remove the whole hitch assembly by pulling the pins on the rail, but this doesn't fix the problem. It just gets the truck separate from the trailer. I need to get the hitch off the king pin. I also need to ensure the hitch is still operating properly and is safe to pull the trailer.

Anyone out there know how these hitches work internally?

Thanks, Jerry
 
Jerry:

I assume that you have tried to move the truck back and forth a bit to release any possible tension between the kingpin on the trailer and the mechanism on the hitch?  My older Reese hitch will sometimes fail to release when under tension.

Frank.
 
Yeah, I tried that. The problem is that the release lever doesn't appear to be attached to anything. It just moves freely.
 
Sounds like the arm has disconnected. If you remove the hitch from the truck (attached to the kingpin) like you said in your original post, you might be able to get to the arm attachment from below. Just be real careful and don't do it by yourself so you don't get injured when the jaws release.
 
You don't mention what brand this hitch is. Reese is common, but there are others. On mine, which is Drop 'N Lock, I'd just pull the pins that attach the head to the pivot points on the frame and lift the 5'er nose high enough to clear. Then one can get to the workings of the head.
 
Thanks for all your replies. It turns out the release arm it attached to the jaws mechanism by a C clip. the rough roads popped the C clip off and allowed the arm to drop out of the jaws mechanism. It is surprising that they (Reese) don't use something more secure than a C clip. Seems a cotter pin or similar would be much better. Anyway, it is fixed now. I also discovered that the hitch had been hit hard at some point in the past and part of the hitch frame was bent. The repair guy said it was safe to use, but would explain why the hitch can be hard to disconnect sometimes. A new head would cost several hundred dollars,  so he suggested I keep using it unless it becomes too hard to release.

Only time will tell,

Jerry
 

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
134,554
Posts
1,431,387
Members
140,126
Latest member
The Flying Waltini
Back
Top Bottom