5th Wheel Problem

I drive a 2001 Mack CH613, and it has one of those nice older style 5th wheels with the adjustment bolt/nut sticking out the front of it, I believe it is a Holland. My job requires me to hook/unhook the trailer several times a shift, and I always look at the connection like your supposed to after I hook each time. Well, this one time a few months ago I backed under the trailer, got out and looked at it, and that nut was not flush with the 5th wheel like it should be, so I rehooked, and it looked fine. By the time I got to where my next load was, which is only a 60 mile trip, that nut/bolt was sticking out again about half an inch. I've been with that truck for four years, and it had never done that. So I tell the mechanic and the boss and they dont see a problem with it. Me, not knowing anything about the mechanics of a 5th wheel, kept driving it for a couple days, and it kept getting worse, and I still couldn't get anyone to do anything about it, so I refused to drive that truck until the 5th wheel was at least rebuilt. Finally it got rebuilt, and I haven't had any trouble since.

So my question is, did I do the right thing by refusing to drive it, or did I waste the bosses money like he told me I did? Could I actually have lost the trailer with the 5th wheel doing that? And what internally would have been wrong with or causing the 5th wheel to loosen on its own, I thought the only way it could release is by pulling the handle, assuming the trailer was hooked up right in the first place?

Thanks a lot for any opinions anyone can give me on this.

 

All right, thanks guys, I figured I did, and I meant to mention that this problem started not too long after being adjusted for excessive play, the 5th wheel was even power washed, they did everything possible to avoid the rebuild, and kept trying to tell me there was no problem. IMO, it is up to the mechanic to FIX a problem when there is one, not TELL the driver that there isn't a problem when I would think the driver knows the truck better than the mechanic because I spent 60 hours a week in it for four years now!

 

Thats what I was wondering, is what was actually going on in the 5th wheel because it seemed as though it was going to keep releasing all the way by itself. The mechanic always says you need some slack in the 5th wheel, and that makes sense, but how much is "some"? I went to a basic two month school and of course we didn't learn anything about the different parts of a 5th wheel or how the dang things actually work internally, just what it should look like when the trailer is hooked properly.