Sliding the fifth wheel tips and tricks. Truck is riding funny.

Unless your truck has a steer axle rated for exactly 12k pounds (not likely these days) you’d be fine even with G rated tires. H are even better.

If you run a little over 12k on the steer like you have it gives you some wiggle room on your drives and trailer when you’re up close to 80k gross.

 

Just a watch how tight you turn. Don’t try to put it in a L shape if that makes sense.

 

It all depends on what truck you drive, all have different sweet spot.

 

It doesn’t look like you can go back a whole lot farther than it is. You’re not that far ahead of being centered on your tandems anyway. Another thing, you slide back like you want and you’ll be 11k or so on the steer and then you can only gross 79k unless you slide your 5th wheel back up. If it were me, I’d leave it where it is and drive the truck. If you lighten the steer axle it will also want to push in the corners on slick roads. I’ve always ran 12.3-12.5 or so on all the trucks I’ve driven.

 

Your focus is wrong. You asked about 5th wheel placement for weight. A lot of drivers told you that the placement is perfect. Now you’re concerned with comfort. You asked a question and didn’t take the time to educate yourself.

Why did they tell you that your 5th wheel placement was perfect? How do they know? Don’t just take what someone tells you as fact, learn why and how.

 

Yes, I found that putting the 5th wheel so that the kingpin is at or behind the midpoint between the 2 drive axles caused my tractor to ride better. The biggest improvement was when hitting bumps or potholes. With kingpin forward of the drive axle pair midpoint, you not only get the up and down motion from running over a rough surface, but you also get the sharp forward motion like someone hitting you in the back of the head, or what is called a Dope Slap. When I was less experienced I often drove with the 5th wheel slid as far backward on the frame as it would go.

 

I understand hand. You hear people say that you can train a monkey to drive a truck. That may be true, but you can’t TEACH a monkey to be a great driver. Be good at what you do. Most will find that being the average steeringwheelholder is acceptable. I wouldn’t get out of bed to be average.