MEMORIAL DAY SALE 10% OFF ALL PRODUCTS!

Subtitle Text

Use code FREEDOM10 at checkout. May 24-27

Use code BOLT10 at checkout.

hook up a fifth wheel

How to Hook up a Fifth Wheel

Towing a fifth-wheel camper is a great way to see the country or simply enjoy a weekend getaway at a campground. However, fifth-wheel campers use a slightly different connection than your standard travel trailer, making installation a little more difficult. Thankfully, hooking up a fifth-wheel trailer isn’t hard once you understand what you’re doing. Here’s how to hook up a fifth-wheel trailer.

5 Steps to Hook up Your Fifth Wheel

Here’s what you need to know to hook up a fifth wheel!

1. Choose Your Location

To ensure a strong and easy connection, you should always connect your truck to your fifth wheel in a level and open location. Give yourself plenty of room to maneuver your vehicle. Connecting your truck and the fifth wheel on a flat location will help ensure your kingpin has a solid connection.

2. Prepare Your Fifth-Wheel

To prepare your fifth-wheel camper, you need to retract the lock bars and open the fifth wheel’s jaws, which gets it ready to couple with the truck. Generally, you can do this by pulling the handles on the side of the coupler and moving it into an open position.

3. Align Your Truck and Back up

Once your camper is ready to receive the hitch, the first step is to lower your truck bed. Forgetting this step will likely end with a large dent in the back of your truck. Align your truck and slowly back up towards the kingpin box of your trailer.

Have a partner stand behind the truck and to the side to help guide you into the kingpin box. They can help direct you and let you know when the hitch head is about 4″ from the box. At that point, put the truck in park.

At this point, you’ll want to adjust your trailer jacks until your king pin box is about ½” lower than your fifth wheel head.

4. Close the Fifth-Wheel’s Jaws to Secure Your Connection

Once everything is in the correct position, you can slowly back up your truck the rest of the way. The pin box should ramp up into the hitch plate if you adjusted your height correctly. Once everything is set in position, you can fully close and lock the jaws of your fifth wheel around the hitch.

5. Test Your Connection

After connecting your fifth-wheel camper to your truck, it’s important to double-check your connections and ensure all lights are working properly. To check your hard connections, release the emergency brake in your truck and slowly let up on the regular break. Your truck should begin to inch forward. At this point, you should feel resistance as you begin to tug the camper behind you. If no resistance is felt, put your truck in park, and double-check the kingpin box connection.

Let Us Help!

Gen-Y Hitch exists to better the lives of our customers, dealers, vendors, employees, and the automotive industry. We will always put our customers’ needs ahead of our own. Contact us today and let us help you!

Latest Posts

Products

Find a Dealer

GEN-Y Hitch offers world-class towing products for work or play. Locate a Dealer NOW!
Scroll to Top

GEN-Y Hitch Limited Lifetime Warranty

This Limited Lifetime Warranty covers defects in the materials or workmanship of All GEN-Y manufactured products and is limited to the repair or replacement of the product by GEN-Y Hitch. The decision as to whether the solution is replacement or repair shall be at GEN-Y Hitch’s sole determination. This Limited Lifetime Warranty is provided only to the original purchaser and applies only to the original installation.

TORSION-FLEX Hitches

All rubber components for TORSION-FLEX Hitches are assured for 5 years from the date the unit was purchased.

Click HERE to purchase a TORSION-FLEX Lifetime Warranty  

This Limited Lifetime Warranty Warranty is expressly IN LIEU of any other express warranty and is further IN LIEU of any implied warranty, including, but not limited to, any implied WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR PARTICULAR PURPOSE except as may otherwise be required by applicable Federal or State law at the time the hitch was manufactured.

This Limited Lifetime Warranty does not cover the following:

  • normal wear and tear 
  • the finish on the product  →  wear around the shank of the hitch, the ball mount & the pintle saddle is inevitable and should be expected with normal use of the hitch due to metal on metal contact from trailer couplers / lunette rings
  • replacement of the product by any person or entity other than GEN-Y Hitch
  • any consequential or incidental damages including, but not limited to: commercial loss, loss of time, loss or damage to personal property, lodging, meals or other related travel costs or any other incidental or consequential damages arising out of the use of the product, the inability to use the product or for any other reasonable delay in performance under this Lifetime Warranty
  • service or labor charges for:
    • installing the product 
    • removing the product
    • returning the product to GEN-Y Hitch or replacing the product by anyone other than GEN-Y Hitch
    • damages caused by abuse, neglect, misuse, misapplication, overloading or improper installation, improper maintenance, repair, negligence or acts of God
    • alteration of the product in any way other than by GEN-Y Hitch
    • failure to utilize the product in compliance with it’s User Manual
    • failure of any product to which the GEN-Y product was attached

GEN-Y Hitch shall not be held responsible for any or all “compatible parts or products” being used or being utilized for towing with or around a GEN-Y Hitch product. GEN-Y Hitch products shall never be altered in any circumstance or for any reason and will void any warranties if done so.

Governing Law and Jurisdiction

This Limited Lifetime Warranty gives you specific legals right, and you may also have other rights which vary from state to state. The laws applicable to any litigation, dispute, mediation, arbitration, or any claim whatsoever arising from the sale, purchase, or use of the product shall be the laws of the State of Indiana, without regard to rules pertaining to conflicts of law. The exclusive jurisdiction for deciding any claims, demands or causes of action relating in any way, from the sale, purchase, or use of the product shall be with the courts of the Circuit or Superior Courts of Elkhart County, Indiana.

Changes in the Design of and/or Improvements to GEN-Y Hitch products and substitution of parts or components

GEN-Y Hitch reserves the unrestricted right at any time and from time to time to make changes in the design of and/or improvements upon GEN-Y Hitch products without thereby imposing any obligation upon itself to make corresponding changes or improvements in or upon GEN-Y Hitch products already manufactured. GEN-Y Hitch further reserves the right to substitute parts or components of substantially equal quality in any warranty service required by the operation of this Limited Warranty.

If your GEN-Y product was involved in an accident, do not continue to tow with it. There may be structural damage to the hitch that you cannot see that could result in product failure