On a transport truck or recreation trailer the 5th wheel must be properly lubricated.
Greasing a 5th Wheel
This fifth wheel is dry.
And what happens when the fifth wheel gets dry up underneath the trailer it binds on the bottom the trailer apron that is also steel.
And also you can see here on the 5th wheel it has bare spots of steel.
The truck has been unhooked from the trailer for a few days and has been sitting out on the weather and has begun to rust.
You need to lubricate the fifth wheel so that there is smooth movement between the trailer apron of the semi-trailer and the fifth wheel.
This maintenance is especially important in the winter time when it gets cold and it freezes up.
It will begin to bind on the fifth wheel and when you turn if you're going at any speed and those two things begin to lock up if you let it get dry enough.
Tthe trailer rather will actually push you through a turn.
It's imperative that you keep the fifth wheel on the tractor properly lubricated to ensure your safety and the safety of the road users on the roads which are traveling because if the trailer binds up it could potentially cause a crash.
How to Apply Grease
I'm gonna show you how to do that.
One of the things that you can use is just go to the truck stop if you're out and you realize that the fifth wheel has gotten dry is just buy a tub of grease.
What happens is a lot of people who lubricate fifth wheels lubricate the entire surface.
You don't have to lubricate the entire surface.
Put the grease right here at the bottom on both sides.
When you go underneath the trailer and pick up the the trailer and then push into the kingpin, it will push the grease forward on the fifth wheel.
And when you turn it will move in across the top up the plate.
You don't have to spend all your time and energy greasing the entire fifth wheel you just have to put the grease down here.
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OK, so I got my bucket of grease here.
I'm just gonna put some grease on the back of the fifth wheel on both sides at the bottom.
And then I'll hook up the semi-trailer and I'll show you how this works.
So what I'll do is I'll move the camera and I'll get a better shot of this but you can see I haven't put very much on both sides.
You don't need a lot of grease.
It just needs to be lubricated with a nice thin film of of grease over the entire fifth wheel.
And as I said when you hook the truck up to the trailer the trailer apron plate will push the grease forward on the fifth wheel and as it turns it was smooth it over the whole thing.
So, you don't have to spend your time greasing the whole fifth wheel, okay.
I'll take a better shot & show you how much grease I've put on there and than I'll hook it up to the semitrailer.
I'll drive the semi-trailer, and I'll unhook it & I'll show you how it's moved around.
Lubrication
So as you can see here, the tractors been driven around.
It's been underneath the semi-trailer.
I've pulled it back out from under the semi-trailer and you can see there's a nice even spread of the grease over the entire surface of the fifth wheel.
And there's a nice shiny sheen.
You can see the whole surface of the fifth wheel has been lubricated.
So again, the method to put the grease on the fifth wheel is not too cover the entire thing, but rather put it in the back on both sides.
when you push underneath the trailer it'll push it forward.
And when you turn with the semi-trailer, it'll spread it out and you get this nice even lubrication of the entire fifth wheel surface, which will keep you safe on the roads.
