5th wheel power hitch

[Stubborn66]

Good Morning,

Does anyone here have any experience with a "5th wheel power hitch" made for a wheel lift?  It is made by In the Ditch and looks relatively easy on and off.  I am wondering about durability and stability when towing.

 

Thanks  

 

 

[Stubborn66]

[Stubborn66]

The spec shows a 12K towing capacity but does not give a vertical lift capacity.  I like the fact that is can do 5th wheels or Goose necks but I wonder about the ratings, especially goose necks, they can get well over 12K.

 

[Stubborn66]

Collins also makes one with greater GVW but needs tools to mount it and I dont see that it has the gooseneck option???

 

[GRUMPS The Towman]

I built my own about 10-11 years ago using a Reese 5th wheel and I also made an adapter for goose necks.and I still use it to this day. ( Well, my partner uses it more nowadays..) Looks very similar to the Collins one. As far as vertical lift, I dont Know if I understand what you mean. If your referring to tongue weight,  The rule of thumb is generally between 15% and 30% of total trailer weight. That style design is more than ample for those weights at 12,000 + lbs. So for arguments sake, A 12,000lb. trailer with a 20% pin weight ( about average ) would be around 4,500 lbs or so.. 

[Stubborn66]

From Collins:

The fifth-wheel attachment mounts on the wheel lift of both wrecker and carrier. It has a GVWR of 15,000 lbs. and VLR of 3,750 lbs. It attaches with one wrench and is indispensable when having to recover either fifth-wheel or gooseneck trailers. The wheel lift is still free to slide in and out while hooking up to the trailer. On a car carrier, the Fifth-Wheel Hitch makes it possible to recover both truck and trailer in a single-truck operation. This is cost-efficiency at its best.

 

This tells me that the "tongue weight" of this is 3750. That is what this piece can handle, my wheel lift is 6000# so I am good there.  The GVW of this unit is 15K so that is what this unit can handle, again the wrecker is rated higher so I am good on the truck end.

The In The Ditch unit is not rated as high, but the Collins unit will need tools to install.  The other thing I liked about the In The Ditch unit is that you used your safety chains and extended the boom until they were snug which adds stability to the unit. 

 

Does your unit need to be bolted on or does it go on with pins? 

 

I would tend to go with this unit based on the weight capacity.  There are a lot of gooseneck trailers running around here and they would  be over what the In The Ditch unit is rated for.

[GRUMPS The Towman]

I set mine up to use heavy spec drop pins similar to what you would see on a 3 point hitch of a tractor. The main pin on the wheel lift extension is 3/4"diameter and the side braces I used 1/2" diameter pins. I added grab hooks to mine after I used it a few times so I could use my safety chains and extend my wheel lift out if needed. Originally, I had designed it to be used only when the wheel lift was pulled in but ran into an issue once where I didnt have enough clearance on the intergrated boom with one particular trailer. the safety chains and grab hooks solved that problem. Now, I cant speak for the mass produced ones, but mine is a bit heavy and is certainly a 2 man job to install it or you use the boom and winch to lift it up and on. The mass produced ones I would assume to be considerably lighter and more than likely disassemble pretty easily for transport and storage. Mine hangs out at the shop untill needed.