Fifth Wheel Grease

What are the benefits of keeping your 5th wheel well greased? I know it can be over done, but what are the benefits of paying attention to this detail?

Personally, I carry grease with me on the truck and apply a thin coating whenever I see a sign of rust. The company shop has a policy to grease the wheel every time the tractor is in for any reason.

At various places where I see bobtails, it’s not uncommon to see 5th wheels in serious need of grease.

Come on Bruce...is this real? Without the grease, you have a metal king pin slamming into the skid plate and locking jaws. You have a metal trailer apron turning constantly and rubbing on a metal skid plate. Bouncing and bumping around during the ride. What happens with metal on metal if no lube? Bad stuff. Damaged equipment. Metal grinding. Excessive Heat from friction... and what happens with excessive heat?

Well I guess it depends what type of fifth wheel you have first and foremost.

They do have a teflon plate that doesn’t require grease. I highly recommend not greasing it.

The more common one generous supply is always better. Most trailers have it on the aparons from being hooked up. I just pickup the grease packs and through a couple on top of the plate before I back under a trailer if I think it needs it.

Grease is the second cheapest preventative maintenance item there is, just behind air in the tires. Grease reduces friction which reduces heat which reduces wear. Try sliding on a dry surface at a water park. Next, add water and try the same evolution. Same principle.

I hope you weren’t seriously asking what the benefits are if greasing your fifth wheel Bruce. You’ve been out here long enough you should know. Don’t be the guy who can have rocks bounced off his fifth wheel like this guy.

They do have a teflon plate that doesn’t require grease. I highly recommend not greasing it.

Yeah, since most of our rigs stay hooked together for months at a time, we've got the fifth wheel inserts. They're great, but have got to be checked on pretrips, the bolts holding them on, once in a while can shear off and the insert will slide right out. Just a couple hours of making turns with a missing insert will completely destroy the fifth wheel.

What happens when you don’t keep a pivot point lubricated? It won’t pivot properly. In the case of a truck and trailer when turning, rather than be fluid and smooth, it puts it in a bind causing abnormal wear on tires, suspension, steering and everything else. Once bad enough, rather than making a smooth transition in a turn it will cause the truck to push as the weight of the trailer wants to fight the tractor and in anything less than dry conditions can cause all sorts of bad things to happen. Honestly, this is a question that should have been answered when you first learned how to do a pre trip before earning your license and if it wasn’t covered, well, I’d have to say you had crappy training.

Come on Bruce...is this real? Without the grease, you have a metal king pin slamming into the skid plate and locking jaws. You have a metal trailer apron turning constantly and rubbing on a metal skid plate. Bouncing and bumping around during the ride. What happens with metal on metal if no lube? Bad stuff. Damaged equipment. Metal grinding. Excessive Heat from friction... and what happens with excessive heat?

Kearsey, I am serious. I know grease is important and I grease on a regular basis. I’m trying to fine tune my knowledge by finding out what other drivers do.

Plus, new drivers need to know this stuff.

I always carry the packs, and throw a pair on if I see a spot or two looking pretty dry. If it's been 10 trailers dropped and hooked, I'll make sure to throw the packs on next time. I think it's possible to over do it, but the number of drivers I have seen who scrape the entire lube from the shop onto the nose of a trailer, makes it pretty unlikely that the trailer apron has "enough residue" to suffice it.

New drivers will learn this during their training just like you did Bruce. At my previous company I had my fifth wheel re greased every time I got an oil change. But my company changed oil every 14k miles or so. Sometimes I would do it sooner if I saw some small dry spots. Depended how many drop and hooks I had going on.

Come on Bruce...is this real? Without the grease, you have a metal king pin slamming into the skid plate and locking jaws. You have a metal trailer apron turning constantly and rubbing on a metal skid plate. Bouncing and bumping around during the ride. What happens with metal on metal if no lube? Bad stuff. Damaged equipment. Metal grinding. Excessive Heat from friction... and what happens with excessive heat?

Kearsey, I am serious. I know grease is important and I grease on a regular basis. I’m trying to fine tune my knowledge by finding out what other drivers do.

Plus, new drivers need to know this stuff.