lithium grease on 5th wheel?

Permanently or just till you can get some good thick grease?

Permanently, I would not use it. I think it is too thin.
Nothing like some clean bearing grease slapped on there.
A dry 5th wheel is no joke on a slippery road.

 

2 tubes of Lucas Red 'N' Tacky, squeeze it straight out of the tube onto the plate and spread it around good with the end of the empty tube, wrap the tube in a rag and throw it in the bin, do it carefully and you shouldnt make a mess or get any grease on your hands.
Be sure to drop your air suspension and back under the trailer right until your pin is just about into the slot of the 5th wheel, air up and then hit the pin , do it right and shouldn't scrape any grease off the plate.
You might have to doly up the trailer a bit higher to get under it without scraping your fresh grease off the plate on the front of the trailer king pin plate , then drop it back down onto the 5th wheel once youve positioned the truck under it to hook up.
In winter mix a bit of old (or new, depending how rich you are lol) engine oil into the grease when you put it on the 5th wheel plate, the oil helps thin out the cold grease and spreads easier.
Red n tacky is cheap and that means you don't feel bad about using it regularly , save the good quality greases for the bushings and u-joints.
Back when I used to do city drop and hook In winter we would just have bottles of old engine oil from the shop in the jockey box and pour that over the plate every time we dropped a trailer before pinning the next one. That works just as good if your constantly dropping and hookin , all those drop and hooks would wipe off the grease in no time at all, the oil was quick and easy , and in the cold of winter that oils thick enough to hang on the plate and not make a mess too.

 

Our shop is lazy. One line across the back of the plate then as you back under the trailer it gets spread across the plate

 

Yeah that's lazy for sure. A well greased 5th wheel is important especially in winter on icy roads, a dry plate in that circumstance can be enough to contribute to a jackknife. If they're too lazy to grease it they should just put Teflon no-lube plate discs on the trucks.

 

Don't worry there's plenty of it on there and all over everything else. Lazy and sloppy but effective.