Manual sliding 5th wheel ?

Pull the lever

 

It doesn't look like a manual. It looks like it had a air cylinder on it at one time and it was removed.

 

WELCOME TO TTR!!

I've driven a large amount of Local and Road Trucks with Manual Release and a few Trucks with Air Release.
I preferred the Air over Manual yet they both can be buggered even though the "release" is open.
Looks like a job for a certified (or certifiable) Wrench.

Many Drivers negate Lubing The Slides, yet 5th wheels seemingly dripping Lube.

>>there may be a work around yet I know nothing<<

 

I would wash the dirt and gravel out of the slide area then soak the locks with PB Blaster,tap on the top of the locks with a hammer lightly.Might free it up.

 

I probably wasn't the original 5th wheel

 

Did you stop to think that maybe that fifh wheel was on another truck 1st and it was a air release but then put on that truck at some point ? And they had to convert it to a manual slide because the truck was not set up for a air slide fifth wheel ? That's why there's no air release switch in the cab .. ??
Not every fifth wheel is married to 1 truck forever
That manual release lever looks like it was a after thought

 

That is a real manual release. They came with a special rod to use. The notch is there to put a rod with a hook on end to lock it open. Designed that way to make it easier to grab when trailer is on it and in way. There should be a 1”hole or welded on tab somewhere on opposite side for the other end of rod to hold on to.
Lots of guys don’t know or remember that they were manual long before they had invented release cylinders. Trucks that may move the wheel a handful of times in its lifetime can still have them. Makes more sense when the cylinders just sit and collect dirt or the plastic hose rots and breaks, and they will always leak and not work the one time you do need it.