Fifth wheel hitch storage

[CaptainB]

we go on trips every two to three months, so my hitch is usually just taking up room in the bed of my truck. It is a pain to wrestle it out of the truck and sit it in the garage. Does anyone ever just leave it hanging on the kingpin of the trailer. My trailer is stored in a pretty secure area but I think the only worry I see is about someone stealing it. Any good pro's or con's?
Buster

[PerryB]

I've often considered doing this,just haven't gotten around to doing it yet. Does your hitch has some means of locking the latch mechanism ? If so, I would feel pretty good about it being safe. In fact, I would lock it more for liability purposes than anything else. The only issue I could see is that this might challenge one's driving ability when hooking up as you now have a pretty small target to hit (I'm assuming you have a rail-type mounting system). -- Perry

[SteveRacer]

If you can do it, it's great.

I do it with mine, although my setup is inverted. If you can lock it in place, the hitch is safe plus it serves as a deterrent on the trailer.

Bad news is depending on how your hitch pivots, it will be all flippy floppy when released from the bed, and it may pivot and hang down so low you'll need another two feet of height out of the landing gear when trying to get it to clear the bed -- and not drag and gouge and catch on the tailgate gap.

I run safety chains, so what I do is wrap the chains around the assembly to keep it level as I'm pulling out. But my setup is different, and as the previous poster mentioned you may be cursing the darkness trying to get it lined up again for pinning. Worst case is you can manually pull it from the pin and set it in the bed with the truck right next to it. Still a pain, but a lot easier than carrying it to your shop or garage -- plus you don't use space storing it.

It's a darn good idea, albiet not perfect.

-steve

[grt]

I often store my hitch on the kin pin, in fact thats where it is right now. when it's locked in place I figure the hitch is pretty safe and I don't need a kin pin lock.

As for hooking it all back up I usually back under it and get close then unhook so I can get the hitch back in the rails. It's still a little bit of work but not as bad as trying to lift the hitch in and out of the bed. Someday I might get good enough to line up the bed rails but not today.

Ryan

[Sandman]

I do it with a PulRite SuperGlide.. I support the back with a tow strap up to the pin box and then lower it down onto two saw horses..

[iwejun]

Sandman, do you have a picture of your setup? I too have tthe Pullrite on the rails and would like to see. Thanks

[CaptainB]

Thanks for the posts. I was worried about any structural issues with the kingpin, but, if it can haul the weight of a trailer it makes sense it can hold the weight of a hitch. so I think I'm gonna try it and just deal with the re-alignment issue as it happens. Gotta be easier than wrestling the hitch out of the bed.
Thanks,
Buster

[FloridaEd]

I tried that, once. It's a PITA to re-mount in the truck...at least for an old fat man like me. I have a big L-shaped transfer tank and two aluminum storage boxes in my bed, so I wouldn't use the bed for hauling stuff even if I pulled the hitch out. Plus, I got Momma's pickup if I need stuff hauled.

I pull the hitch from my truck every March (come-along with an overhead beam) before we start out west. I take it apart (major components), Gunk and pressure wash it, lube it and put it back together. Otherwise, it stays mounted in the truck.

I've seen LOTS of hitches hanging on 5'vers in campgrounds, though, and would have no concerns with the king-pin holding the hitch.

Florida Ed