As a long haul driver, myself, all of this is common knowledge for me, but I certainly appreciate the amount of detail you went through to explain the process. The way I look at it is not only could this information save the owner thousands (or millions) of dollars, it could also my life and the lives of everyone else on the highway. Not everyone that gets into the RV life has previous experience driving and operating this kind of equipment. Kudos to you for taking the time to share your experience and expertise.
harvey5869 Hi Harvey - Thanks for your positive comment! If you have questions, or want to learn something else about our RVHaulers I am always happy to make a video if I know the answer.
It is amazing that you people in Canada and the US can tow trailers at almost any weight using electric brakes.Here in Australia any trailer, caravan, or a fifthwheeler over 4500 km we have to have installed air brakes and that can cost up to $20,000.
Great video! It was interesting to see the differences between the way this setup functions vs the typical 53' tractor trailer setup most semi drivers learn on. And from reading some of your replies to comments it sounds like there's good sound reasons why this setup is much better and more applicable for these 5th wheel rv's. Liking your videos :-)
Don't have a Volvo truck just a Ford F-150 and a small 24ft fifth wheel Trailor. This was the best presentation on hooking up and un hooking up. Thanks. I dropped my fifth wheel on a Ford F-250 Bed and I had to replace the bed. It was. Friends truck. 1999 diesel. Had I had this it would not have happened.
I am fascinated by your videos Gregg as here in the United Kingdom, your type of company does not exist. To drive one of your trucks with a 5th wheel RV, UK drivers need a Class 1 HGV licence and cannot drive these vehicles at all on a standard driving licence. As this type of licence costs in excess of $2000 with the training and examination, the existence of this type of vehicle is very limited. Add to this campgrounds that will only take a maximum of 26ft motorhomes and you see more problems. I love watching you and your son delivering these great vehicles to their new owners.
Nice video. One comment on coming in straight for the hookup - yes it is best to come in straight. But you "can" come in at an angle and hook up without any issue. It is just harder to line up. A minor point. I love my ET Sr with "Super Binkley". I would not have another hitch.
Jack Mayer Thanks Jack for the clarification, and for taking the time to post. Hitchingis do-able at an angle. The only thing I personally miss is being able to use the "white lines" to get things lined up when I am coming in at an angle. Alternatively if you have an experienced spotter like Danielle, you are set!
Hi Greg, I am not sure why your landing legs on the trailer aren't fitted with lager landing plates. If you take a look at the landing legs fitted to refrigerated semi-trailers, they have a roll plate which can take a fair amount of punishment when coupling and uncoupling. The other point is to go back and double check that everything is connected correctly after hitching. I thought that Volvo's are equipped with electric ride height airbags, which I would prefer to use for coupling than the electric/hydraulic method that you use.
The trailer has great looking tires... 15/16"? Gregg, I recommend pads for the legs (bottom of the landing gear) and would definitely invest upgrading the landing gear. I've seen many trailers especially tractor trailers sink, and legs can actually penetrate parking lots/areas. Regina, SK was notorious for this... gumbo conditions. Good video.
Tony Hamilton Great suggestion - I will always use some big pads, as my 5th wheel trailer is approaching 20,000 lbs, and I think I have close to 4000 lbs on those front jacks at times. I took the liberty of going without pads for the video, as I was in my acreage driveway, and the driveway has been there for 60+ years. Good eye regarding the tires - those are actually 10,000 lb axles with dual tires on each side - 8 tires in total! I just had to buy new tires. They are a light truck tire, and at $200 each, 8 + 1 spare added up to a good bill. Thanks for taking the time to share your comment.
Gregg, Great video. I want Nader if it would be helpful to have an air dump switch in the cab to dump the air bags on the hitch to relive the pressure on the fifth wheel when unhitching. That way you can just drop the trailer legs to the ground and not have to jack the trailer with the front legs.
Hello Bill. There is a risk / reward with every approach. Your idea has significant merit. Sometimes, I like to keep things really simple to avoid the chance of something going wrong with the elegant solutions. One risk might be the addition of the valve itself. If it ever fails in the future, we would lose our air-ride hitch capabilities. BUT you could certainly speed up the process, and save yourself a minute in having to raise those legs!
Actually, some tractors have dump valves in the cab for the rear air bags on your driver's. Currently my tractor does and it's great for those guys that are too lazy and drop our trailers in our yard to low. ALLWAYS GET OUT AND CHECK YOU PIN HEIGHT OR YOU COULD OVER RUN THE FIFTH WHEEL. NOT A GOOD DAY😠😂
What about adding an "air dump" to the hitch bags? Not meaning to avoid jacking the trailer landing gear, just to "zero" out the vertical position of the hitch. Dump the air from the hitch before decoupling so that you are not waiting for the leveling valve to settle down. Then dump again prior to coupling to place the hitch in the same vertical position for coupling? Once coupled, inflate the bags again and you are ready to drive. This could use the switch that would have controlled the slide function of the commercial 5th wheel plate (if equipped).
Hi Gregg, great video! on other 5th wheel hitching videos I've seen they cover the hitch plate with a layer of grease or put a Teflon (I believe it's Teflon?) disc on the pin to lubricate between the hitch and pin, is this not needed on these hitches? Thanks for all the great videos and God Bless!
+TheHardTale Thanks for the excellent question. We never use grease. It produces such a mess, and a risk for getting it on your clothes. We have started including a specially designed plate that is not teflon. It looks very similar, but we have them cut to our specifications and our thickness needs. It has a natural lubricity that has superior friction reduction, and it does not compress like teflon. Our results have been very positive.
We like to use a thin friction plate between the head and pin box plate instead of grease. It keeps everything clean, and there isn't a risk of accidentally rubbing up against anything and getting your clothes stained.
Jason Guerard Thanks for the idea Jason. After we shot all the video, and I started editing it, I realized too late that it was way too dark to see the jaws closing very well. I think I need a mulligan (do -over). Head lamp is a great idea.
Gregg, have a question about the hitch on the truck, when you do a conversion you put a smaller hitch on than originally came with the truck the original hitch is bigger and stronger. Why do you convert to a smaller hitch and not just leave the original hitch?
+laz0524 Thanks for your excellent question. These heavy duty trucks (often called HDTs) have a rear axle that is designed to support a 20,000 pound downward weight. When we attach our light trailers, we have about a 3500 lb pin weight on average. Some of the heavier trailers MIGHT get up to a 5000+ pin weight. That is very light compared to what that one rear axle is designed for. The result of the light weight, is the truck actually rides very stiff back there. If we were to use the commercial 5th wheel plate and hitch, it transfers a considerable pounding to the 5th wheel RV. Those RVs are not designed to handle that force, and we have well documented examples of people breaking the structure of their trailers when they leave the commercial plate in place. Yikes - very expensive repairs. (ASIDE note: the trailer gets a rough ride, but the occupants of the RVHauler don't. The sleeper is on shocks and air-bags, and we get a smooooooth ride). To treat our trailers to a smoooooth ride, we install an air-ride hitch - that is what you see in this video. It has 4 air-bags under the hitch, that makes sure the trailer (and our wine-glasses in the cupboard) travel without damage. If you would like to hear more about these hitches, I have a video interview with the brilliant engineer of these ET hitches - czcams.com/video/D9b6Y4w-Q7w/video.html
As a long haul driver, myself, all of this is common knowledge for me, but I certainly appreciate the amount of detail you went through to explain the process. The way I look at it is not only could this information save the owner thousands (or millions) of dollars, it could also my life and the lives of everyone else on the highway. Not everyone that gets into the RV life has previous experience driving and operating this kind of equipment. Kudos to you for taking the time to share your experience and expertise.
It's about time. You have no idea how long I've been pining for an instructional video on this very subject. Thanks for the great video.
harvey5869 Hi Harvey - Thanks for your positive comment! If you have questions, or want to learn something else about our RVHaulers I am always happy to make a video if I know the answer.
A very good lesson and full of great information 👍
Hello Another Marc,
Thanks for watching. I am glad you found it helpful. Keep the questions coming!
Gregg
Great and enjoyable videos, please keep them coming Greg.
It is amazing that you people in Canada and the US can tow trailers at almost any weight using electric brakes.Here in Australia any trailer, caravan, or a fifthwheeler over 4500 km we have to have installed air brakes and that can cost up to $20,000.
Great video! It was interesting to see the differences between the way this setup functions vs the typical 53' tractor trailer setup most semi drivers learn on.
And from reading some of your replies to comments it sounds like there's good sound reasons why this setup is much better and more applicable for these 5th wheel rv's.
Liking your videos :-)
Hello Stan. Thanks for taking the time to comment, and for watching! And thanks for the 'likes" as well!
Don't have a Volvo truck just a Ford F-150 and a small 24ft fifth wheel Trailor. This was the best presentation on hooking up and un hooking up. Thanks. I dropped my fifth wheel on a Ford F-250 Bed and I had to replace the bed. It was. Friends truck. 1999 diesel. Had I had this it would not have happened.
Wow Jim. Thanks for the kind words. I am glad your found our video helpful.
I am fascinated by your videos Gregg as here in the United Kingdom, your type of company does not exist. To drive one of your trucks with a 5th wheel RV, UK drivers need a Class 1 HGV licence and cannot drive these vehicles at all on a standard driving licence. As this type of licence costs in excess of $2000 with the training and examination, the existence of this type of vehicle is very limited. Add to this campgrounds that will only take a maximum of 26ft motorhomes and you see more problems. I love watching you and your son delivering these great vehicles to their new owners.
Thanks for watching Alan. I see the solution. You need to plan a trip to Canada and come driving. A road trip for the guys.
Nice video. One comment on coming in straight for the hookup - yes it is best to come in straight. But you "can" come in at an angle and hook up without any issue. It is just harder to line up. A minor point. I love my ET Sr with "Super Binkley". I would not have another hitch.
Jack Mayer Thanks Jack for the clarification, and for taking the time to post. Hitchingis do-able at an angle. The only thing I personally miss is being able to use the "white lines" to get things lined up when I am coming in at an angle. Alternatively if you have an experienced spotter like Danielle, you are set!
Bought an Andersen Fifth wheel hitch for my F150. Works better for me on my rig. This is a awesome set up on the Volvo truck and a amazing hitch.
Hi Greg, I am not sure why your landing legs on the trailer aren't fitted with lager landing plates. If you take a look at the landing legs fitted to refrigerated semi-trailers, they have a roll plate which can take a fair amount of punishment when coupling and uncoupling. The other point is to go back and double check that everything is connected correctly after hitching.
I thought that Volvo's are equipped with electric ride height airbags, which I would prefer to use for coupling than the electric/hydraulic method that you use.
Great video
The trailer has great looking tires... 15/16"? Gregg, I recommend pads for the legs (bottom of the landing gear) and would definitely invest upgrading the landing gear. I've seen many trailers especially tractor trailers sink, and legs can actually penetrate parking lots/areas. Regina, SK was notorious for this... gumbo conditions. Good video.
Tony Hamilton Great suggestion - I will always use some big pads, as my 5th wheel trailer is approaching 20,000 lbs, and I think I have close to 4000 lbs on those front jacks at times. I took the liberty of going without pads for the video, as I was in my acreage driveway, and the driveway has been there for 60+ years. Good eye regarding the tires - those are actually 10,000 lb axles with dual tires on each side - 8 tires in total! I just had to buy new tires. They are a light truck tire, and at $200 each, 8 + 1 spare added up to a good bill. Thanks for taking the time to share your comment.
good tip~! i never hooked mine yet and im a full time rver.. wish me luck i have a 10 speed rockwell with a volvo truck and a big 5th wheel rv..
Drive safe!
Very good understood all of it!!!
Hi Daniel,
I am glad the video was helpful. Thanks for commenting sir!
Gregg
You are extremely brilliant
Gregg,
Great video. I want Nader if it would be helpful to have an air dump switch in the cab to dump the air bags on the hitch to relive the pressure on the fifth wheel when unhitching. That way you can just drop the trailer legs to the ground and not have to jack the trailer with the front legs.
Hello Bill. There is a risk / reward with every approach. Your idea has significant merit. Sometimes, I like to keep things really simple to avoid the chance of something going wrong with the elegant solutions. One risk might be the addition of the valve itself. If it ever fails in the future, we would lose our air-ride hitch capabilities. BUT you could certainly speed up the process, and save yourself a minute in having to raise those legs!
Actually, some tractors have dump valves in the cab for the rear air bags on your driver's. Currently my tractor does and it's great for those guys that are too lazy and drop our trailers in our yard to low. ALLWAYS GET OUT AND CHECK YOU PIN HEIGHT OR YOU COULD OVER RUN THE FIFTH WHEEL. NOT A GOOD DAY😠😂
What about adding an "air dump" to the hitch bags? Not meaning to avoid jacking the trailer landing gear, just to "zero" out the vertical position of the hitch.
Dump the air from the hitch before decoupling so that you are not waiting for the leveling valve to settle down. Then dump again prior to coupling to place the hitch in the same vertical position for coupling? Once coupled, inflate the bags again and you are ready to drive.
This could use the switch that would have controlled the slide function of the commercial 5th wheel plate (if equipped).
Thanks for sharing your idea. Yes, I can picture your idea working. Thanks for watching!
Is that a gooseneck ball i saw behind the et hitch? We pull both styles of hitch so having both would be great!
Good eye! Yes, we can do all three types of hitches - 5th wheel RV (cushioning), gooseneck, and bumper pull.
Thanks for watching! Gregg
great information - thank you
Hi Gregg, great video! on other 5th wheel hitching videos I've seen they cover the hitch plate with a layer of grease or put a Teflon (I believe it's Teflon?) disc on the pin to lubricate between the hitch and pin, is this not needed on these hitches?
Thanks for all the great videos and God Bless!
+TheHardTale Thanks for the excellent question. We never use grease. It produces such a mess, and a risk for getting it on your clothes. We have started including a specially designed plate that is not teflon. It looks very similar, but we have them cut to our specifications and our thickness needs. It has a natural lubricity that has superior friction reduction, and it does not compress like teflon. Our results have been very positive.
I'm in Canadian Ontario an I wanna buy a truck from u guy were are u located
would you not put any grease on the fithwheel to prevent wear and tear on turns
We like to use a thin friction plate between the head and pin box plate instead of grease. It keeps everything clean, and there isn't a risk of accidentally rubbing up against anything and getting your clothes stained.
Good video.
It's there aa chance Evan could wear a headlamp when he is taking video under the hitch? It's kind of hard to see.
Jason Guerard Thanks for the idea Jason. After we shot all the video, and I started editing it, I realized too late that it was way too dark to see the jaws closing very well. I think I need a mulligan (do -over). Head lamp is a great idea.
Gregg, have a question about the hitch on the truck, when you do a conversion you put a smaller hitch on than originally came with the truck the original hitch is bigger and stronger. Why do you convert to a smaller hitch and not just leave the original hitch?
+laz0524 Thanks for your excellent question. These heavy duty trucks (often called HDTs) have a rear axle that is designed to support a 20,000 pound downward weight. When we attach our light trailers, we have about a 3500 lb pin weight on average. Some of the heavier trailers MIGHT get up to a 5000+ pin weight. That is very light compared to what that one rear axle is designed for. The result of the light weight, is the truck actually rides very stiff back there. If we were to use the commercial 5th wheel plate and hitch, it transfers a considerable pounding to the 5th wheel RV. Those RVs are not designed to handle that force, and we have well documented examples of people breaking the structure of their trailers when they leave the commercial plate in place. Yikes - very expensive repairs.
(ASIDE note: the trailer gets a rough ride, but the occupants of the RVHauler don't. The sleeper is on shocks and air-bags, and we get a smooooooth ride).
To treat our trailers to a smoooooth ride, we install an air-ride hitch - that is what you see in this video. It has 4 air-bags under the hitch, that makes sure the trailer (and our wine-glasses in the cupboard) travel without damage.
If you would like to hear more about these hitches, I have a video interview with the brilliant engineer of these ET hitches - czcams.com/video/D9b6Y4w-Q7w/video.html
I thought that might be the answer but wasn't sure.
Thanks
Just like regular trucking on a down-sized scale! (regarding your hitch, like a 5th wheel)