Ahhh! Don’t you just love these cooler nights and the fresh smell of wood smoke from the bonfire? That is unless you live in one of those areas that have been overrun with wildfire or live south of the Canadian border. But I still look forward to fresh popped corn on the open fire along with a tall glass of cold apple cider. Nothing says “fall is here” like the sound of friends gathering to celibate whatever occasion they dream up.
Here on the farm, we celebrated, “I finished all of my fall maintenance!” Don’t feel left out – it was a small get together – just Aunt Barb, Penny the Pooch, and myself. We piled up some leftover dunage (that’s what we call lumber from my trailer), poured diesel on it, and threw in a few firecrackers to get it going. Here’s a Public Service Announcement… don’t try this at home unless you are an experienced fire starter. Then, we roasted a few dogs, some marshmallows, and popped the corn. After the fire burned down, we stretched out under the stars and started dreaming up more cool stuff to do.
I can’t believe October is already here. For those of you who live north of the 40, that means the white stuff won’t be far off. I hope you are prepared for it. You might want to get out those old rusted tire irons and drag them around the driveway a couple times to loosen them up and then find where you stored the repair links. Rule of thumb: it is a lot easier to repair them in the yard than on the hill. The same goes for your survival kit. It never fails – I store mine in the shop, and some mouse finds it and turns it into a homeless rodent shelter.
It doesn’t hurt to stop by Goodwill and pick up some spare clothing to keep in the truck just in case some unsuspecting wayward travelers find their way into snow country wearing short pants and no shoes. We have all seen them – they load up and head up never thinking about what they will do if the road closes and they get stranded. I usually keep a couple bags of M&Ms in the cab to stave off hunger and keep my energy up (it’s also a great help to the folks who have kids in the car and no food with them). Plus, it’s great entertainment (for me) to load them up with sugar and watch them bounce around between the windows and drive their folks nuts. I’m a bad man, and I’m easily humored.
You are probably wondering how I came up with this month’s article title. Well, let me explain. We were gathered for a social event when I noticed a few young men, boys actually, looking at a tractor-trailer combo parked in the driveway. It was apparent that one was a bit familiar with how trucks worked, so he was showing the others what he knew. When they got to the fifth wheel, he wasn’t having any luck conveying how it worked so he said (you will always hear the greatest words out of the mouth of babes), “It’s the hooker-upper thing that makes the trailer follow back there.” Sometimes I think people should just say what they think instead of giving things a name that has nothing to do with its function. So, the next time you can’t remember what the fifth wheel is called, just call it the hooker-upper thing.
Now that we have had a little fun with this, let’s get serious about your responsibilities for maintenance, and what some of the signs are that indicate you need to make adjustments or clean things up a bit. All of us do the pre-trip inspections required by the DOT, right? Well, some of you might be doing a better job of inspecting than others. I don’t mean giving the king pin a quick tug when you hook up, I’m asking if you ever really look over the fifth wheel? Do you know how it works? Yes, it’s that hooker-upper thing, but what is it that hooks and how do you know if it needs to be repaired or replaced?
I’m going to tell you a story about a driver who was minding his own business, driving on a very rough section of road in Detroit, Michigan, when without warning he felt a tug and realized the trailer had slid off the fifth wheel plate and was resting on the frame. It’s a scary few seconds until you get off the road and get parked. I know because I was that driver. At that time, I was leased to a company called Triple Crown Services out of Melvindale, Michigan, working for the railroad. The trailers we hooked to had an extended tongue that allowed them to be platooned together on the rails. The extra extension of the frame put extreme pressure over the center of the jaws on our fifth wheels, and after time, it damaged the internal workings. Visually, there were marks from the trailer, but I didn’t know to check for damage underneath. I did get the load repowered and delivered with no damage, but it could have cut my driving career short due to not knowing any better.
It’s been a few years since that incident happened, but it’s a lesson I will never forget. Nowadays, I make an appointment to clean and inspect the head at least once a year. I can hear the doomsdayers out there complaining that they don’t have the equipment to do that. I call BS, because it can be done without removing it from the frame of the truck. First, before we remove it, how about we look for symptoms of a problem. Do you feel a jerking motion, like the trailer is moving, when you speed up or slow down? Is there a rough banging when you hit bumps in the parking lot? Can you feel a solid bump and hear a loud metal on metal sound? Has the lever to unlock become difficult to pull? Do you sometimes have trouble getting the jaws to stay closed when hooking to a trailer? These are all symptoms of a dirty or out of adjustment fifth wheel.
The new thing for many of the high rollers is to have an aluminum or a nylon inserted fifth wheel head. Don’t get me wrong, they are nice to see at the truck show, and if you are chasing saving weight, then don’t let me discourage you. The average person who shells out over four grand for a custom aluminum head is most likely not going to benefit from this article. The rest of you might want to listen. Maintenance is never ending, and every part of the unit needs to be looked at and checked for wear, even if it looks all right at first sight.
How many of you slap a little grease on the top of your plate and think it’s all done? Sure, that helps the trailer to pivot easier, but it doesn’t help the mechanism work to lock the pin or to keep it tight. All those parts are hidden under the actual head or top plate. So, how do you inspect it? If you’re not sure as to what you are looking at, don’t be afraid to search for a video online. Even if you don’t intend to do the work, you should at least know what is under the head and how it works. Remember, if it fails you are the one responsible for any and all damage caused by it.
A dropped trailer that is loaded can do substantial damage to a parking lot or to the trailer itself – not to mention the cost of having a heavy wrecker come out and lift it up. Between the repair costs, lost time, and a certain loss of trust and confidence of your shipper, money will be flying out your window. The personal embarrassment when it happens is the least of your worries, and in most cases, your insurance will not cover the damage due to driver neglect.
There are a few different types of fifth wheels and multiple manufacturers. If you are not sure which one you have, there should be an identification tag attached to the side of it. In most cases, clean the grease off the top and there may be a logo embossed in the casting. I have all Holland fifth wheels, so mine are all marked as such in the casting. If you are still unsure, check your VIN number with the dealer and they should be able to tell you what was installed at the time of manufacture. That doesn’t mean it hasn’t been changed at some point, but it should make it easier to identify. Once you know what you have, then you are on your way to ordering and receiving the correct replacement parts. I mention this because there are companies that are willing to sell you “will fit” parts. They may fit, but are they rated to do the job? That’s a risk I’m not willing to take. This is probably the most critical component on your truck, so don’t take chances.
After that incident in Detroit, I swapped out my fifth wheel head because mine malfunctioned. That was a case where the head was physically damaged and needed to go. In a lot of cases where your fifth wheel gets dirty and clogged up, it can be cleaned and readjusted. Not a big deal, but one that can save you the cost of a replacement. For the record, I priced a replacement head a couple weeks ago when mine started acting up. Brace yourself (sticker shock) when I tell you my best price was $1,650. Most places were closer to $2,400 plus installation. I didn’t order one, but I did price a rebuild kit for my unit. Normally, they are around $650 to $800 dollars. The price has really jumped since covid shut down manufacturing, and not all parts are still being made available.
I couldn’t find a rebuild kit, so I went back and pulled my head off the truck, pressure washed it, and gave it a good visual inspection. There weren’t any signs of wear, but I did find a stone lodged in the back side of the jaws. It had gotten stuck in some old dried up grease and was preventing the adjustment wedge from fully locking. This turned out to be a cheap fix. I disassembled the adjustment mechanism. This sounds complicated, but it’s not so much – it’s a single shoulder bolt with a spring that pushes a wedge into the jaws. Total cost to repair was 40 cents (that was the cost of a new locking nut).
If you’re capable of adjusting the brakes on your tractor, then you should be able to adjust the jaws on your fifth wheel. Our faithful readers will know I always recommend doing a Google search online for specific instructions on your unit. Once you know the make and the model you can get the proper adjustment sequence. In most cases, this can be done with hand tools. If your tools don’t go big enough, head to Harbor Freight for some bigger sockets. Note to self: tools in your toolbox are never wasted money. They don’t have to be fancy or high impact since they aren’t a torqued spec, but it is important that you keep every aspect of your unit in adjustment and working properly. I realize many of our readers don’t do their own work, so when your truck is already in the shop for routine repairs, ask the technician to remove and clean the fifth wheel head and replace the pivot bushing and pins, if needed. This may cost you a couple hours of labor and maybe $100 in parts, but the peace of mind will be well worth the price (trust me).
I have run a little long this month, but with winter coming on, I plan to be prepared for the worst conditions Mother Nature can throw at us. With proper planning and some sound maintenance practices I hope to have much fewer mechanical troubles this winter. I would love to leave the old “Just Steppin” truck locked in the shop until spring, but my banker doesn’t recommend or support that idea. If you will excuse me, I need to go ask my wife for some extra money to take a happy hooker-upper out for a date to the truck wash. Where did you think we would go? The two of us have a big day planned for tomorrow, as we are hooking up with the “tag along” trailer. There’s iron in the mills and we are haulin’ it to the hills, so get off the corner and hit the street, because it’s time to rock and roll, 10-4.
