My Satanic Fifth Wheel

Just thought I would share an update on this. Not getting the fifth wheel to unhook this happened to me three times since I posted this. So just for the heck of it I did what my fellow driver at Butler and the old guy told me drop the airbags and raise them up again. All three times it worked on the first pull.. even told my trainer about this and he said he never heard that before. Hope this is something you guys can try if you have the same situation.

JYD wrote...

Just thought I would share an update on this. Not getting the fifth wheel to unhook this happened to me three times since I posted this. So just for the heck of it I did what my fellow driver at Butler and the old guy told me drop the airbags and raise them up again. All three times it worked on the first pull.. even told my trainer about this and he said he never heard that before. Hope this is something you guys can try if you have the same situation.

You are right about that, I sort of forgot about it. But I used that trick a couple of times in the dead of winter when nothing else worked.

Good call.

And one more thing you can try if it’s really being evil, is crank the LG down, then drop/inflate the airbags. I’ve done that one a time or two during cold weather when snow or ice buildup was encountered. Sometimes it doesn’t take much for that mechanical coupling to seem like it has been welded together. Anything mechanical will become “satanically possessed” every now and then.

And one more thing you can try if it’s really being evil, is crank the LG down, then drop/inflate the airbags. I’ve done that one a time or two during cold weather when snow or ice buildup was encountered. Sometimes it doesn’t take much for that mechanical coupling to seem like it has been welded together. Anything mechanical will become “satanically possessed” every now and then.

I did raise and lower the landing gear. But never tried to drop the airbags while doing that. I'm not kidding since I had this truck I probably wasted four to six hours attempting to get the fifth wheel unhooked, one time in the pouring rain. So far since the advice I've been able to deal with it. And it's worked. We deal with a lot of crazy stuff in this business... but something as simple as unhooking a fifth wheel shouldn't be something we worry about.

Have you tried spraying down all the moving parts with PB Blaster? Try doing that a few times when hooked and unhooked.

Have you tried spraying down all the moving parts with PB Blaster? Try doing that a few times when hooked and unhooked.

Every time I drop a trailer and hook up to a new one I spray PB Blaster. I get two cans every time I get back to the terminal.. this is why I call it the satanic 5th wheel. First truck I had never a problem. Not once. Then they gave me a new truck which I love except for this...

Just a thought, but I wonder if the PB Blaster may be part of the problem. PBB is a very thin, light weight lubricant. Things like fifth wheels need heavy duty lubrication that stays in place, hence thick nasty fifth wheel grease. I wonder if the PBB may be flushing out the grease and allowing things to bind?

Just a thought, but I wonder if the PB Blaster may be part of the problem. PBB is a very thin, light weight lubricant. Things like fifth wheels need heavy duty lubrication that stays in place, hence thick nasty fifth wheel grease. I wonder if the PBB may be flushing out the grease and allowing things to bind?

That’s a good point. I don’t spray mine every time, maybe once every couple of weeks during the warm months, but more often when I’m in snow and ice. Always check out the top of the fifth wheel surface. If I notice any dry areas or surface rust, then I break out the tube of grease.

My dad suggested the PB Blaster he said if that does not work have it looked at again, obviously something is not right.

I spray the springs that is it. Like I posted previously 90% of the time I don't have a problem. First pull and it's unhooked. So far I think I've got the solution to that evil SOB when it acts up.