How often do you grease your fifth wheel?

Three times as often in freezing winter temps.

Mikeeee

 

better to over grease then say i will get it next time
there is significant tire wear associated with poorly maintained 5th wheels
you look at bobtails going down the highway and see what percentage of fifth wheels have rust spots
very few people take the time to grease everything
automatic slack adjusters do not work very well if they are rusted
and on and on and on

 

It's not a matter how much grease is on the fit wheel. It matters how much is in the groves.
Clean the groves and fill them up. Yes, it will be a lot of stuff. But the viscosity pulls the grease up and out at every turn.
When done properly, you should be good for two month and then just refill. If you're bobtailing a lots, dirt will build up.
Grease put on the top of the plate is useless. It's cleaned off the first time you hook up a trailer and it ends up on the frame and ground.

 

Twice a week. No seriously. Day cab that hooks to 4 different trailers daily and my codriver won't lower the air bags when backing under one. On my pretrip if there is any metal showing I have the shop guys add grease (we aren't allowed in the shop)

-Steven

 

I applied grease PRN.

 

At a job I used to have every different truck I drove first thing I'd do is grease everything. World of difference. Same trucks in the fleet but some not getting grease and it was like turning the wheel in sand. Compared to trucks that got greased still turned like new

 

As needed. Your pre-trip will tell you.

 

Don't over do it with the grease either. Jaws will get gunked up from bad weather roads. Plus cold temps. You'll hook, think it's tight and locked. Roll 50-80miles then trailer drops on the interstate. Happened last year on I-25 to one of our company drivers. Rolling at 65mph. Lucky trailer slid perfectly upright onto the shoulder beyond the fog line and nobody was behind him. Very lucky. If metal is showing a very thin layer of grease. Sand and grit can get stuck in there by over applying grease all the time. I'm hooking every night to a different trailer too never had issues.

 

This is a super common newbie question. It appears every new driver is sure their fifth wheel is going to fail unless it is slathered in grease.

As the Barvarian stated you only need enough grease to fill the groves and a bit on the jaw. Anything else is excess and just making a mess and causing problems. All the excess crap most people smear on the top of the fifth wheel just gets wiped off by the front edge of the trailer, making a mess out of the trailer and the axles underneath the fifth wheel. Quit making a mess of everything with excess grease. You are more likely to have fifth wheel problems when that grease combines with water and road grime to make the muck that jams the fifth wheel mechanism.

 

In my shop, we're expected to grease the fifth wheel every time it comes in. When I owned end dumps, I'd just gauge it visually.