[INTRO & MUSIC]
Hi There, Rick with Smart Drive Test talking to you today about how to grease a fifth 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 has as you can see here on this
bare spots of steel that this
fifth wheel actually 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.
Especially 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 in those two things begin to lock
up if you let it get dry enough
the fifth, the trailer rather will actually push you through a turn
it is 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. 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. So it's...
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. 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.
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.
I'm Rick with Smart Drive Test. Remember, pick the best answer,
not necessarily the right answer. If you like the channel
subscribe below. Thanks very much for watching and
have a great day! Bye now.
[OUTRO & MUSIC]