5th Wheeel Hitch Upgrade

[Rob_Fla]

We have been pulling our Pinnacle with a 16K Husky 5th Wheel Hitch we have been using for about 10 years.

The hitch is starting to show some wear and tear and now has a lot of head movement from all the years of use with our previous Jayco Eagle and our current Jayco Pinnacle.

Also with our Pinnacle (weighted at 15,700 lbs.) we are just about at the max rating of the 16K Hitch so I decided to replace the hitch with a new hitch.

I was looking at a 18K to 20K hitches and found a Curt Q24 hitch for about $25 more than the 20K so I bought it.

Amazon had the best price I could find with free shipping (I am sure the UPS driver was not happy with the shipping weight of approx. 150 lbs.)

Installed the new hitch last week, made first tow yesterday to Atlanta GA (Stone Mountain Park).

Towed great, much smoother and no play / clunking in the hitch.

I did have to lower the Mor/ryde Pinbox on our Pinnacle one set of holes due to the fact the Husky Hitch was set at the Max Height to get our Pinnacle Level and the Curt Q24 Hitch at Max Height is about 2 inches lower.
I checked our Pinnacle at a level rest stop yesterday and it is level with good bed clearance on our 3500HD.

[Larry G.]

We have the Curt 24K also Rob and very pleased.

[Bird Dawg]

We have the 20K Reese and our happy with it. Just curious, do you grease the head or use the lube plates? When we had the hitch installed, Camping World suggested the Lube Plates, but sold me a 10". It wasn't until I called Reese on another issue that I found out the 20K hitches need a 12" plate.

Fred

[djalbrec]

I never really thought about it before but I did find out that these fifth wheel hitches will eventually weaken over the years. I, too, was getting a lot of clunking and movement from my hitch which I bought used about 20 years ago. It still looked good, and I lubed the moving parts on it each year. Then I had a friend of mine who is a welder check it out to see if there were any problems with it. He found a couple of hairline cracks in the welds and said that they were right on the verge of failing. That would have been disastrous! Immediately purchased a new Reese 16 K and got rid of the old one. What a difference a new hitch made. I have been pulling fivers for more than 20 years, but never gave a thought to the hitch getting in bad shape. Lesson learned, nothing lasts forever.

[Larry G.]

We use a lube plate.

[Bird Dawg]

I am curious if anyone actually uses grease on their hitch instead of the lube plate. The lube plates aren't that expensive and are really clean to use.

[Rob_Fla]

We use a lube plate too, I have put a light film of grease on the pin to minimize the rust

[Bird Dawg]

Do you use white lithium spray grease to prevent rust, so something else?

[Rob_Fla]

Originally Posted by Bird Dawg

Do you use white lithium spray grease to prevent rust, so something else?

I just use a light film of bearing grease

[Cruzinfools]

I use a 12" lube plate and spray silicone on king pin before I hookup. This has worked good for me. Used grease before but me and the grandkids get into it.