pitching the fifth wheel
 

what do you think of a device to pitch each side of the fifth wheel up and down (pitch in the direction perpendicular to the chasis) so you can manually level the fifth wheel to the trailer at many steep angles, even pick up the trailer, and then manually level the trailer by pitching the fifth wheel, to slide the king pin in on the first try, most of the time?

I believe if the fifth wheel was allowed to tilt side to side on top of front to back the trailer would be pretty unstable. The only thing keeping the trailer upright would be the tandems way at the back of the trailer. The fact that the fifth wheel can't tilt side to side helps stabilize the trailer. If it could tilt side to side and it was loaded heavy on one side it would be in a constant lean. This style fifth wheel you're talking about is used a lot in the camper world. However the wheel bases are shorter and there's a big weight difference and the trailer center of gravity is different. :) :)

Plus I can already slide the kingpin in on the first try about 99.99% of the time. It's called practice dear boy, practice.

You get an A for the thought. Just be remember to ask yourself "why would anyone NEED to have and use this idea of mine?" and it won't be long before your ideas equate to dollar signs. ;)

I do believe that belly dump trailers have this on the kingpin. If it was added to the truck it would add weight, and another wear point. Both of which is not needed. If the trailer is tilted, the truck should tilt some to when backing under. Most have air bags which allow some degree of tilt, when on uneven surface.

Not a bad idea for offroad use, but I can't see why it would be needed for hooking up a trailer. Usually are left parked on level ground.

jorlee, Whats with the pics on your potobucket link ????

The main page, are pics I had gotten in an email. Guess a disgruntled worker did that after work. Don't remember all the details of it.

The sub albums 2003 is my nice pickup, Construction job is the summer job, and the Ranger is the pickup I used to have.

the pivot is not like the fifth wheel pivots now but slave cyclinders attached to its base, attached to one master cylinder, it only pivots when you want it to

A standard Off Road fifth wheel does tilt side to side. When working in the woods on uneaven ground you will need that extra axis of motion to keep the drives in contact with the ground. These have a lockout that you need to engage to prevent the side to side roll when going down the road at highway speeds, otherwise a small bump would start a dangerous oscillation resulting in the truck and trailer sliding down the road on one side or the other.

The b train I pull has air bags between the trailer and the pin plate :shock: Lets just say, with a legal axel weight load...I haul fluid, it really leans in the corners :shock:

the reason i bring this up is that i've worked with a lot of truck drivers, and watched drivers of 30 years experience take 45 minutes to hook their truck up on what seemed level ground, it was even paved. the air dump weren't enough to level the truck and he had to use ply wood, which took extremely long. it seems if you could manipulate the fifth wheel more you could save more time on uneven surfaces

Don't know what their problem was. If the ground was relatively level, a newbie should be able to "hit the pin" in one or two tries.

Interesting thought process, though. And like others, I applaud your trying to think outside the box. However, it seems that the parts needed for your solution would be scrunched into a small space, and possibly not tough enough for the job.

How about this? Not having given much thought to this.... you currently have a function that raises or lowers your "drive" suspension. How hard would it be to make that operation an "independant" one for each END of the axle? i.e. would it be easier to modify the drive suspensions to be able to lower just ONE side instead of the whole thing at once? Drop just ONE side of the suspension at a time, and to "intermittent" levels instead of just UP or DOWN. This would allow you to level the fifth wheel plate, (to that of the trailer platform,) without all the additional parts and problems of fifth wheel "levelers."

Besides, I don't know about "plywood" but I carry 2X4's and 4X8's to "step up" my drives when needed to reach a "high" trailer. If I used them on just ONE side of the drives, I've accomplished the same thing.

If you want to make my life easier, invent a small motor that raises and lowers the landing gear for me! :lol:

Good luck. And if you get rich.... remember how nice I was to ya!! :lol:

I second GH's motion

If you want to make my life easier, invent a small motor that raises and lowers the landing gear for me!

conway truckload has them on some of their trailers (the ones that have the air skirts) it uses air to do it and the controls are behind the little door ware the crank for the landing gear should be.

as for me i just wish WABASH was still putting backup lites on their trailers. nothing like having backup lites on the trailer when backing at nite

Nothing except maybe, 4 way flashers... which is the universal method of indicating that you might be backing up. :roll:

i always use my 4-ways but i like it when i have one of our older trailers that have the backup lites on them. it is nice to have backup lites when backing at nite