What you think.... 5th wheel jaws

You should pull the plate off once a year to steam clean and degrease it.
That way you can really give it the once over.

 

Clean it up and grease it, talking about the locking jaws, not the top plate, and try it, it should positively lock with a gentle back into the trailer. Back in right and you will hear it lock, if it doesn't, and you are on level ground, and the trailer is not too high, get it rebuilt or replaced, before it does more than cause you a hard time.

 

I’ve had something like that happen to my 5th wheel before, and I’m starting to think sometimes it’s because the trailer is on an unleveled surface. You want to make sure the 5th wheel is making good contact with the bottom of the trailer from both sides (driver and passenger).

I remember Stevens Transport mechanic shop had a long pole with a kingpin attached at the end. They used it to check the 5th wheel. The mechanic said my 5th wheel was fine.

 

Could you get a pic of said tool... I want to build something for checking fifth wheels for propper locking and excessive slack.

 

Something like this?

 

I believe its law up here to have one if the shop is certified to perform commercial vehicle inspections.

 

The one I saw was more basic. It’s possible someone created it by welding a kingpin to a long pole/bar.

 

That's pretty fancy. The ones I have seen are just a pin welded to a eight foot bar with some knuckel head humping it.